Countdown to Super Bowl XLVI - Soon-to-be ex-Hampton to leave Bud Light on for you - Ingles

Meridian Street's Hampton Inn was bustling Saturday.

Located in the thick of pre-Super Bowl activity at 105 S. Meridian St., guests were in and out, checking out the sights.

But the 180-room, nine-floor hotel will get busier this week when it's rebranded the Bud Light Hotel, becoming the host site for four major Super Bowl XLVI events.

A Playboy Party -- featuring 16 Playmates and a carnival theme -- is scheduled there on Friday. A concert featuring rappers 50 Cent, Lil' Jon and Pitbull is set for Saturday, and the rock band Barenaked Ladies will perform for a tailgate party on Super Bowl Sunday. Thursday, the hotel will be the site of the EA Sports Madden Bowl XVIII.

"It really is a unique experience," said Mike Sundet, senior director of Bud Light marketing. "The hotel is all themed out."

No kidding.

When the Hampton Inn opens as the Bud Light Hotel on Wednesday, its nine floors will be filled with Bud Light blue. Its roughly 360 guests -- most of whom earned their rooms through contests run by the brand -- will use Bud Light everything, from pillows, towels and shampoo to key cards. There will be lots of cold beer, too, and Bud Light mints to freshen guests' breath.

The hotel will even have its own reporter, who will update its Facebook page with party photos and news.

"It's a very unique way of approaching Super Bowl . . . and marketing around Super Bowl," Sundet said. "We're excited to do it."

The brand's concept was created for the 2010 Miami Super Bowl, when the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts.

But this is the first year that the brand -- which has been the official beer sponsor of the NFL since spring 2011 -- has been an official partner with the league, allowing the hotel to be in the thick of Indy Super Bowl activity.

"In Miami (2010) and Dallas (2011), we couldn't hold the hotel within the confines of NFL activities," Sundet said. "In Indy, we are going to be right across from the stadium."

Currently, a couple of white tents surround the Hampton Inn's Meridian Street property. But, starting Tuesday night, the rebranding to the Bud Light Hotel will be in full swing, and guests will begin showing up Wednesday, according to Sundet.
It amounts to quite a lot

The change involves approximately 3,000 man-hours and affixing the Bud Light brand to:

225 pillows.

1,250 bottles of shampoo.

500 towels.

26,400 square feet of tent space for events, with an upper mezzanine level of 5,635 square feet.

(source Indianapolis Star)

Posted by Necesitamos Mas Football on 11:03 a. m.. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0