Many racing fans will never get the opportunity to attend a Formula One Grand Prix in person. Red Bull brought this opportunity to FGCU students by promoting their upcoming Formula One Miami Grand Prix on campus over the course of two days from April 10 to 11.
Red Bull brought racing simulators, a mocktail bar and Red Bull Racing’s championship winning RB19 to campus for students’ enjoyment. There was a contest on the line challenging students to run the fastest lap around the Miami International Autodrome on the video game F1 23. The fastest driver won a $250 gift card to the Red Bull Shop for their efforts.
“Red Bull is partnered with FGCU. We are sold at several campus outlets,” Red Bull Student Marketeer Frankie McMahon said. “So, in working with business services, [the] Programming Board and ShopFGCU, I wanted to bring something memorable to campus to connect the brand to the student body…”
This was done to generate excitement about the upcoming Formula One Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, where Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez will compete from May 3 to 5. The team has won the last two iterations of the event and is encouraging students to come and support them in the hopes of winning their third.
“I think it’s cool that they’re promoting the race in Miami,” FGCU student Cade Mitchell said. “I like Red Bull a lot, so I mean, I’m all for it.”
The largest event that Red Bull has hosted on the campus of FGCU up to this point was their Red Bull Doodle Art event last February. This was a global competition in which students submitted their doodles to try to advance to the top 25 globally to be put in an art exhibition at the Taj Lifestyle Center in Amman, Jordan. Due to the success of the event last year, McMahon and Red Bull wanted to do something to top it.
“We brought Mini Coopers, we had a doodling lounge and we had the mocktail bar there,” McMahon said. “So, once we saw the success of the mocktail bar at that event and how students took to it, we were looking for the next opportunity to do that again.”
Alongside the upcoming race, Red Bull is traveling to different college campuses around Florida to promote its Wings for Life World Run campaign. This campaign is a virtual run that will start on May 5 at 7 a.m. local time for runners, promoting research to find a cure for spinal cord injury. Students and faculty who signed up to partake in this event were given the new Red Bull Summer Edition 4-Pack and an Adidas athletic T-shirt.
“The amount of people that have come up to me in the mocktail bar and been like, ‘you made my day; I needed energy. I wanted to get a Red Bull, and you were here for that moment.’ is so great. So that’s my favorite [aspect of the event],” McMahon said.
