BRCC Events Team Finds That Nashville Looks Good on Them
Driven by the opportunity to be a part of the NASCAR events at the Nashville Superspeedway, Black Rifle Coffee Company’s events team launched a weeklong adventure based on connecting with and serving the Nashville community.
Jessie Ashdown, BRCC senior events manager, led the charge, with team members driving from headquarters and flying in to support the event.
“We [were] in town primarily for NASCAR,” Ashdown said. “We thought we might as well go out and show support to the area by doing supply drops at five police departments and five fire stations. We also sent a crew up to Fort Campbell to distribute coffee there to active-duty service members. In addition, we also hosted a customer-appreciation event at our Clarksville store.”
Photo by Lauren Warner/BRCC Blog.
The Clarksville appreciation event consisted of many of the same elements as a store opening, minus the numbered mugs, but plus meet-and-greet opportunities with Ty Dillon and Matt Crafton. From hosting a house DJ for the day to an inflatable obstacle course, from free coffee samples to free whiskey samples courtesy of Leatherwood Distillery, and, most importantly, with adoptable dogs from Haven 12:10, there was certainly something for every age group.
Photo by Kaila Fain/Black Rifle Coffee Company.
Alongside the coffee drops at law enforcement departments around Nashville, a second team of BRCC members traveled up to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to hand off coffee to active-duty service members and spend time with them ahead of a deployment.
“We did a drop with the 19th Air Support Ops Squadron TACPs [Tactical Air Control Parties],” Kaila Fain, central events manager, said. “A bunch of them are deploying between Monday and next week. They’ll be in field conditions the entire time and we’re also getting an address to be able to send them coffee downrange.”
Photo by Lauren Warner/BRCC Blog.
This multifaceted trip saw members of the events team setting up in the Fan Zone at the Superspeedway, hosting the Clarksville customer-appreciation event, and donating coffee from a 5-ton truck around the city. Amid all of the events, BRCC even hosted a party at The Valentine downtown on Broadway during the NASCAR weekend for first responders and military service members, inviting service members from Fort Campbell and LEOs from each of the departments they visited with Hell on Wheels.
“The VIP party was so important,” Ashdown said. “We really wanted to show appreciation to our law enforcement, fire departments, military — both active duty and veterans, and we just wanted to show up and give everyone a night to remember with BRCC.”
Photo by Lauren Warner/BRCC Blog.
From Friday, June 24, through Sunday, BRCC offered coffee in the Fan Zone and the Campgrounds, making sure that the NASCAR fans were well caffeinated before the drivers headed onto the track. Each of the BRCC-sponsored drivers — Matt Crafton, Noah Gragson, and Ty Dillon — stopped by the Fan Zone for meet-and-greet opportunities over the weekend as well.
Photo by Lauren Warner/BRCC Blog.
“This kind of trip takes an army,” Ashdown said. “We started planning and prepping about six weeks ago, not only tying in special partners and influencers but working with marketing and advertising. From that to working with our supply team and graphics for materials and legal for contract negotiations for the giveaways and the NASCAR track, it really depends on every part of the company.”
For not only being the first NASCAR event hosted by BRCC but the first time that any of the events on the trip had occurred, the team knocked it out of the park, connecting with customers of the brand, introducing the coffee to new fans, and forming new relationships with the Nashville community that’s sure to see them again.
