Bravo's Vanderpump Rules Bar Crawl
November 2016. New York City, Various Venues
To kick off the fifth season of hit docuseries Vanderpump Rules, Bravo Media wielded the power of the sexy series and social media to draw huge crowds of loyal fans to a one-night-only bar crawl in New York City, attended by eight of the show’s cast members. Empire was thrilled to partner with Bravo Media to plan and execute this experiential consumer event.
Vanderpump Rules follows the sexy aspiring actor/model waitstaff of Los Angeles restaurant SUR through the drama at work and off-hours. The bar crawl event, aptly-named VanderCrawl, attracted close to a thousand fans to the Meatpacking District, eagerly queueing up on the sidewalk hours in advance for their chance to meet the Bravolebs and to sip drinks prepared by them.
VanderCrawl kicked off at newly-opened restaurant/club, Kola House, and featured Tom Sandoval as guest bartender, mixing his SUR-inspired cocktail “Hot Pink”, a peach vodka & grapefruit elixir, while DJ Lily Vanili spun tunes for the crowd. Fellow cast members including Stassi, Scheana, Kristen, Tom Schwartz and Katie chatted with fans and VIPs including latest Bachelorette Jojo Fletcher and her fiancé, Jordan Rodgers.
Fans followed the Bravolebs down the street to The Tippler, the second stop on VanderCrawl, for more revelry, as well as the chance to try bartender Ariana Madix’s cocktail, “Pinky’s Lemonade,” also inspired by SUR. DJ Jon Blak mixed upbeat pop hits as the Bravolebs snapped countless selfies with fans and handed out purple #PumpRules shades and branded t-shirts.
The escalating party continued around the corner at the third and final destination, No.8, the latest hotspot by nightlife maven Amy Sacco of Bungalow 8 fame. Vanderpump Rules’ bad boy Jax Taylor was on full display as he served his SUR-inspired cocktail “Cape Fizz” from the head of the horseshoe-shaped bar.
Fans and Bravolebs had a blast that night with fans asking for a VanderCrawl 2.0 and Vanderpump Rules cast member Scheana tweeting, “I cannot get over how EPIC the #VanderCrawl was last night”. (More fan/Bravoleb photos and tweets can be viewed at #VanderCrawl)
In addition to the fans that joined the VanderCrawl, press including the New York Times, E! News, and PageSix came along for the ride, publishing play-by-play rundowns of the epic evening.
Empire is a leading producer of experiential events and innovative event marketing in New York City and across the country.