If you attend popular business conferences, music festivals, film festivals, or ski lodge events, you probably already have had a taste of what you’re about to read, especially when it comes to event logistics and shipping.
Every year, Anheuser-Busch, America’s leading brewer, attends hundreds of events like SXSW, Coachella, Sundance and more, setting up “experiential marketing units.” Those portable bars serve up a lot of fun, but what event-goers may not think about is what it took to get these units there in the first place.
One of the main ways the Anheuser-Busch event marketing teams make it happen is through uShip, Proud Event Logistics Partner.
Historically, Anheuser-Busch hired full-time drivers through an agency. But over time, they realized this was not cost-effective model for their event logistics shipping and led to the team looking for an additional solution, one more flexible, affordable, and without the overhead of full-time drivers.
Enter uShip.
‘INSTANT ACCESS TO PROFESSIONAL TRAILER-TOW DRIVERS’
“We were looking for a unique way to reduce the costs of moving our experiential marketing units for our national and regional account brand team – and that’s where uShip came in,” says Nolan Sharkey, event consultant at Anheuser-Busch.
The custom bar units weigh under 10,000-lbs and have hitches, so they are ideal for the many pickup truck drivers across uShip’s vast network who can provide shipping for business.
“uShip’s marketplace gives us instant access to professional trailer-tow drivers, transparent service history, and upfront pricing, not to mention reliable backend support.”
USHIP’S MARKETPLACE SOLUTION BUBBLES TO THE TOP
Sharkey says Anheuser-Busch looked at a variety of solutions to serve its national and seven regional brand teams, including less-than-truck (LTL) services.
But LTL carriers used flatbeds to haul the units, resulting in too many damages. “These units are best pulled by a pickup truck, like a Ford F250, Dodge Ram 2500 or Toyota Tundra,” says Sharkey.
In the end, the team went with uShip’s marketplace model, transparent ratings and reviews that quickly display driver experience and reliability, and the value-add of the uShip team when they need extra help with their event logistics shipping.
“There’s really no other market like this for pickup truck drivers in the market today. They can just pull up and pull the custom units away,” says Sharkey.
