As announced last week, Bevi has been on the road with Live Nation and U2 on the Joshua Tree tour. How does one get the Bevi machine ready for five straight months of being on the road? We thought our very own Tim Phan would be the best person to answer this and a few other questions.
This is part 1 of our mini blog series on being on the road with Live Nation x U2.
Tim, what is your role with Bevi?
I am the Marketing Operations Manager. Essentially, I work cross-functionally to plan logistics and provide technical support on the Bevi machine to execute experiential marketing projects. I have the pleasure of traveling nationwide to assist the sales team, and serve as the face to the customer on behalf of Bevi at conferences and trade shows.
Tell me about the Bevi tour with Live Nation and U2.
Partnering with Live Nation and U2 has been an experience of a lifetime! We have the great opportunity of leveraging Live Nation and U2’s influences to help spread our sustainability mission.
What are some sustainability opportunities on a band tour?
With access to Bevi machines, we allow users to customize flavored and sparkling beverages, adding a fun variety to their daily hydration needs on the road. By promoting the use of reusable water bottles, we eliminate the need to bring in cases of plastic water bottles. One cool functionality about our machine is that it is Internet connected. This allows us to calculate our impact in real-time. We have saved an average of 1,000 to 3,000 bottles at each tour stop.
What are some challenges of getting a Bevi machine “tour ready”?
The main challenge of getting a Bevi tour ready was meeting the aggressive timeline. To kick off the tour, we had about nine days to have a machine manufactured and delivered. By working cross- functionally with our engineering team, we did some modifications to make the machine extra sturdy for the road. It was both exciting and nerve-wrecking to meet this aggressive timeline! On top of that, we had the added pressure of having the machine perform well every night. I’m very proud of our team and the successful launch of Bevi on our first concert tour. We will follow the band through the European segment of the the U2 tour.
What are your favorite moments during the tour?
The obvious would be seeing U2 play live, and meeting so many amazing, hard-working people on the tour’s production team who love what they do. Aside from that, I’ve been able to share what I’ve learned about how the machine operated on the tour with the Bevi product team, in order to further improve our product.
Favorite U2 song and why?
Definitely Beautiful Day! It is a meaningful song that delivers a message of hope during the worst times and uplifts your mood.