AAA Auto Club South, Anheuser-Busch Offer Free Tow to Go Service to Football Fans

MIAMI, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As a major advertiser and event sponsor of pro football's biggest game of the year, Anheuser-Busch is doing its part to ensure fans and partygoers who participate in local festivities celebrate responsibly and arrive home safely.  

Today, Anheuser-Busch, its local distributor Eagle Brands Sales and the City of Miami Beach joined AAA Auto Club South, Florida Highway Patrol, Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, Miami Beach Police Department and Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Department to announce the specific responsibility initiatives.

"Our top priority is ensuring the safety of local residents and visitors traveling in for the big game by encouraging the use of designated drivers and reinforcing responsible behavior," said Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower.  "To support this goal, Anheuser-Busch is working with its many community partners to ensure fans have a good time, but also get home safely after their game-day celebrations."  

Fans are encouraged to designate a driver for their group, use public transportation or take advantage of complimentary car-towing services.  Adults may sign up to be designated drivers at www.facebook.com/buddesignateddriver.  The Facebook application makes it fun and easy to organize rides for your group by allowing adults to volunteer to be designated drivers or letting the application randomly select one for the group.  

Anheuser-Busch and AAA Auto Club South are partnering to bring the Tow to Go program to the South Florida area from Friday, Jan. 29 through Sunday, Feb. 7.  The program offers patrons and their vehicles a free ride – and tow – home if they may have had too much to drink.  The service, which has provided more than 11,000 safe-rides home in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, is endorsed by the Florida Highway Patrol and is available by calling 1-800-AAA-HELP.

"As the host of various concerts and events throughout the week, Anheuser-Busch helps ensure our guests celebrate responsibly and get home safely," said Kathy Casso, vice president of corporate social responsibility, Anheuser-Busch.  "Whether they're attending festivities at our Bud Light Hotel, hosting a game-watching party at home or hanging at their favorite sports bar, fans should designate a driver before the celebrating begins."

In recognition of Anheuser-Busch's efforts, Mayor Herrera Bower declared Jan. 29 "Bud Bowl Responsibility Matters Day."  

"We've partnered with Anheuser-Busch to offer Tow to Go during pro football's biggest weekend for six years," said Ed Schatzman, senior vice president of automotive services for AAA Auto Club South.  "Whether you're hosting a party at home or attending the big game, we encourage everyone to plan ahead for a safe-ride home and consider our Tow to Go service as the life-saving option you can take advantage of, should your other plans fall through."

In addition to Tow to Go, complimentary eco-friendly road services also will be available to the general public as part of AAA Auto Club South's GREEN TEAM, supported by Anheuser-Busch.  Assistance is provided to stranded motorists by AAA Service Technicians using Segways and battery-operated golf carts – modes of transportation that offer tremendous agility to maneuver through crowds and parking lots, are free of exhaust and consume no fossil fuels.  First introduced at the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., this quick, on-site service is available for lockouts, flat tires and dead batteries in parking garages on Collins Ave. (at 1st – 17th Streets) in South Beach.  

From Jan. 29 to Feb. 8, the world's best-selling light beer is heating up South Beach and creating the ultimate football fan experience when it transforms Miami's Surfcomber Hotel into the Bud Light Hotel.  Bud Light is re-branding the entire Surfcomber property and has planned a full lineup of exclusive events, star-studded live concert performances and sports exhibitions making the Bud Light Hotel the place to be on South Beach.

At the Bud Light Hotel, guests will be encouraged to visit the "Designated Driver" desk for information on Anheuser-Busch's responsibility efforts, including designated-driver and safe-ride home initiatives.  Patrons who leave the hotel's nightly events will have several safe-ride home options available to them, including the Tow to Go service.  

Super Bowl partygoers who "do the ride thing" will join the more than 148 million Americans who have been a designated driver or been driven home by one, according to a projection based upon survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation CARAVAN® 2009.

Through Anheuser-Busch's Good Sport program, in partnership with TEAM Coalition, which promotes positive fan behavior and the use of designated drivers at pro-football stadiums across the county, the "Designated Drivers of the Season" for the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts will have the opportunity to attend the big game in Miami and cheer on their teams, while the Houston Texans' "Designated Driver of the Season" was randomly selected to attend the Pro Bowl game on Jan. 31.  

For nearly three decades, the company and its nationwide network of 600 wholesalers have invested more than $750 million in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs to promote responsible drinking and prevent alcohol abuse.  In 2009, for the sixth year in a row, the company ranked first in the beverage industry for social responsibility in FORTUNE magazine's "World's Most Admired Companies."  For more information on these efforts and the progress being made in fighting alcohol abuse, visit www.beeresponsible.com.

SOURCE Anheuser-Busch