In an announcement on June 6th, Zed Run revealed that it has partnered with Budweiser to bring the company’s legendary Clydesdales to the racing track. The specific group of horses, which are often seen in Budweiser commercials, will be available for purchase as skins in a drop later this month. Here are the details:
- The drop will start with Budweiser Passes, available for $225 plus a flat gas fee
- Holders of the Budverse Heritage Can NFTs and either a Genesis Zed Run horse or a NASCAR Zed Run pass will have an early purchasing window before the public sale
- The early access sale starts on June 9th, with the public sale occurring 24 hours later
- Only people aged 21 and over can participate in the sales
Zed Run will later airdrop a Budweiser skin to all those who acquire a Budweiser Pass. The skins come in three rarities: Gold (250 available), Budweiser Bottle (750), and Clydesdale (1,500). Pass holders will also receive a Budweiser x Zed Run Decentraland t-shirt that their avatars can wear.
The Budweiser skin drop is part of a larger sponsorship deal between the beer company and Zed Run. Specifics about the agreement — such as how much it was worth — are limited, but Budweiser is planning on providing prize money for three tournaments in 2022. Two of those tournaments will have a prize pool of $45,000 each, while one will have a pool of $95,000. All three tournaments are reserved solely for Budweiser Pass holders.
Chris Laurant, the co-founder of Zed Run-creator Virtually Human Studios, said that Budweiser is a brand that epitomizes the American dream. Working alongside the company will allow Zed Run to expand its community.
Spencer Gordon, a vice president at Anheuser Busch (Budweiser’s parent company), said that the partnership with Zed Run shows how the company is constantly innovating with new technologies. The goal of such a strategy is to bolster its brand and provide experiences to its customers.
The Zed Run Partnership Is Not Budweiser’s First Foray into Web3
Although its partnership with Zed Run is exciting news, it seems par for the course for Budweiser. Since it ventured into Web3 in 2021, it has had a history of interesting and engaging moves.
Its first high-profile purchase in Web3 was none other than the Ethereum Name Service domain “beer.eth.” It used this ENS domain in marketing tweets for Budweiser as the 2021 NFT was gaining momentum. These types of domains are a quick way for Web3 proponents to self-identify, and Budweiser’s purchase and use of one likely won over some friends in the community.
In addition, Budweiser bought a Tom Sachs rocket with the Budweiser logo, which the company then changed to its Twitter profile picture. This move went in line with many NFT holders using their non-fungible tokens as profile pictures, further ingraining Budweiser into the Web3 culture.
Later, Budweiser issued an NFT drop — The Budverse Heritage NFTs. The company said at the time that the NFTs would be the keys to entering the Budverse. Finally, Bud Light, a subsidiary of Budweiser, joined the Nouns DAO. Nouns then gave Bud Light one of the Nouns NFTs in exchange for using the Nouns NFT art in a Super Bowl commercial.
Time will tell how the Budweiser and Zed Run partnership goes, but there’s no doubt the beer company is paving its own path in Web3.