Memorial Day isn’t always about heading to the beach. For popular beer brand, Indio, and its fans, May 24 kicked off the first weekend of CASA Indio, a new multi-city event series where art, music and culture live under the same roof, encouraging consumers to “Do Their Thing” and interact with talented artists from Mexico and the U.S.

Indio, the dark lager Mexican beer, joined forces with VICE Media for the events, which began in Los Angeles and will continue into Chicago, Austin and San Francisco through November. The events are private and help to raise funds for the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA).

“We worked with all of our agencies to bring CASA Indio to life, including the event producers VICE Media, our PR agency FORMULATIN, creative agencies iNSPIRE and Olabuenaga Chemistri, and our media agency MediaVest,” says Gustavo Guerra, brand director for Indio. “Together, we’ve developed a strong, multi-prong promotional campaign in support of CASA Indio and the brand.”

The brand engaged with independent bloggers who are relevant to the target consumer – Hispanic millennials 21 and older. To encourage these media contacts to spread the word about the events, Indio gave them the “key” to CASA Indio: key-shaped, branded USBs that were loaded with everything they needed to promote, including press materials, artist lineups, flyers, photos and videos.

“We distributed the USBs in several ways, including a pre-event mailer to key bloggers as well as to contacts who attended the events,” says Guerra. “We leveraged VICE’s media networks and other digital networks like Townsquare Media, YouTube, Facebook, etc. to share artist lineups, while targeted PR efforts helped us secure editorial coverage and media attendance to the events.”

Each city will leave its CASA Indio doors open for up to two weeks, allowing guests to RSVP and make the most of the unique event. At each happening, guests are treated to live music from bands like I Can Chase Dragons!, Elis Paprika and Los Macuanos, as well as art workshops and Indio beer samples.

Also as part of the PR strategy, the team outreached to blogs like L.A. Taco and Galería Alternativa to give their readers the opportunity to have a VIP experience at CASA Indio and win screen-printed posters autographed by participating artists.  

L.A. Taco offered two winners (plus one guest each) VIP access to a special happy hour on May 24, where they could meet the artists who were performing that night. Once the events began, the winners had access to a VIP area where they received free Indio beer and food, and they were guaranteed spots on the guest list to all the events listed on the flyers.

“We are very pleased with how CASA Indio turned out in LA, and are looking forward to connecting with our consumers in Chicago, Austin and San Francisco in the next few months,” says Guerra. “The essence of CASA Indio will remain the same in each market; however, we’re taking great pride in tailoring as much as we can to the host city, from the artists that we showcase, to the type of workshops, and even the type of venue we select.”