Pabst Is ‘The Place’…In Traverse City

Pabst Blue Ribbon promotions are often quirky and enjoyable—suppose Easter kegg hunts and ginormous packs of beer like 1844-packs and 1776-packs—however none of its promotions are as wild or fashionable as its newest endeavor: the “Pabst is the Place” marketing campaign.

By means of Labor Day weekend, Pabst has taken over three motel rooms within the Grand Traverse Motel in Traverse Metropolis, MI, and the rooms have been reworked into iconic representations of the place Pabst has historically been loved – the Rec Room, the Dive Bar and the Arcade.

“PBR is a model that transcends time,” says Nicole Schmidt, model director at DNA, which is Pabst’s new company. “They’ve stayed true to their roots of being a basic and nostalgic model, and we knew we needed to create one thing that will make a big effect.”

“There’s a spot your thoughts goes if you consider PBR, someplace basic and nostalgic,” provides Rachel Keeton, advertising director of PBR. “So, DNA proposed this concept to create motel rooms because the bodily embodiment of the model.”

And that’s precisely what Pabst has executed. To create the rooms, they performed off a Pabst tagline from the 80s, “Pabst is the Place.” “That unpretentious, acquainted expertise you get from a motel felt proper for PBR,” Keeton says. “The rooms themselves are custom-made with all these unimaginable particulars and props, all the way down to the wallpaper and specifically programmed jukebox, amongst different issues.”

Pabst selected Traverse Metropolis as their location as a result of it’s near a few of Pabst’s key markets, but additionally as a result of it’s a vacation spot that “provides motel company loads to do and see once they go to,” Keeton says.

“In addition they wished that old fashioned, household owned motel,” sags Brian Ritter, normal supervisor of the Grand Traverse Motel. “We have now metallic room keys, and company simply find it irresistible right here for the nostalgic really feel.”

Ritter says he’s directed Pabst company to the Oakwood Correct Burgers, which serves Pabst, in addition to Bubba’s and The Coin Slot.

That pure, old fashioned vibe really feel was constructed upon by Pabst within the three rooms, which followers can hire for $184.40 per night time by way of Labor Day weekend. That price factors to Pabst’s founding in 1844 in Milwaukee, and it’s barely lower than the common price of the rooms. Followers can examine into the rooms here, they usually can nearly tour the rooms here.

Every room is outfitted with Pabst decor, together with indicators, lights, and memorabilia, and every room additionally comes with cans of PBR for company 21 and over to take pleasure in – the rooms can’t be rented by these youthful or households. The Rec Room is what Ritter likes to name “the retro room.” “It’s like staying in your grandmother’s basement from the late 70s or 80s, however on the time, it was in all probability her lounge,” Ritter says.

The mattress seems like a 70s sofa, and there’s an old style tv with an vintage Nintendo gaming system and an Atari system, and company can play video games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There are two chairs, a crocheted blanket/rug, a 6-string electrical strat, a document participant and a rest room that appears prefer it was preserved from the Nineteen Seventies, together with a yellow, vintage Conair blow dryer. However there’s additionally a hidden fridge crammed with Pabst above a pretend hearth.

Loads of occasions, model promotions sound good, however then fall flat in actual life, says Ben Sitzes, a PBR fan who traveled to Traverse Metropolis from Lawrence, KS to expertise the Arcade Room. “It exceeded my expectations,” he says.

“It was in all probability the very best day of his life,”provides Chelsea Stitt, who traveled with him.

The 2 particularly appreciated the Pabst-dispensing claw machine, the customized Pabst (pop a shot) basketball hoop over the mattress and an precise arcade with greater than 900 video games. “There’s a joke all over the place,” he says, including that even the bathroom paper dispenser within the lavatory had a roll of tickets similar to an arcade. The toilet can be arrange like an awards counter for an arcade. The primary bed room is sort of totally lined by a carpet that appears prefer it was stolen from a Chuck E. Cheese.

The one draw back to staying within the room is that in case you don’t need the video games lit up, “it’s important to unplug every little thing earlier than going to mattress,” Stitt says.

Frank Colburn and Brittany Paris traveled in his 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix from the Detroit space to remain within the Dive Bar room. “The eye to element is above and past – it’s actually nice,” Colburn says, including that it was laborious to select one element that stood out within the room.

He identified that similar to an actual dive bar, a nook alcove holds a small duo VCR and tv with a group of VHS films like Independence Day. There’s additionally a stocked jukebox that not solely performs music,, but additionally, in case you hit the P, B, and R keys concurrently, it should play the Pabst jingle and dispense beer. There’s additionally a pretend payphone which performs cheeky, pre-recorded messages in case you dial the numbers on the wall subsequent to it.

There’s additionally a again bar, with humorous, Pabst-themed, spirits bottles, to not drink, however so as to add to the dive-y design, he says. And the lavatory is totally lined by outdated album covers from the 70s and 80s. “It has this dive-bar odor that I feel comes from the album covers,” Paris says.

And in case you shut the lavatory door, there are even some taped up Polaroid footage of the Dive Bar, too.

“We’re enthusiastic about Pabst, the Place and suppose there are quite a lot of methods we might apply it sooner or later, even past a motel expertise,” Keeton says.