• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, September 11, 2015

Buffalo Wild Wings (aka "B-Dubs") recently stunned the members of a local fantasy football league by having Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson show up at their annual draft meeting at one of the chain's restaurants in Wisconsin.

The gamers had been told that B-Dubs was going to film their draft party as part of a potential commercial. But as the draft started, the league's "commissioner" was presented with a headset, and heard Nelson on the other end, ready to offer his top picks advice. And as he listened, Nelson emerged, live and in person, from the back of the restaurant.

All of which, of course, was captured on video to feature on YouTube and other social media channels (screen shot shown).

That stunt was one in a series of "Alive Events" that the chain has been orchestrating this year to, in its words, "celebrate moments that matter" in its fans lives.

All four on YouTube so far involve sports stars — not a startling choice, given that sports enthusiasts are the chain's core customer base.

Other recent events have included Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson crashing a graduation party; retired NFL star Hines Ward playing against a B-Dubs fan at the release party for the Madden NFL 16 game; and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin practicing with a local softball team. 

The graduation party crash video has generated more than 14,000 YouTube views since its posting on June 26, and the fantasy football draft event video (currently being featured on the brand's Facebook and Twitter pages) has pulled 2,000 YouTube views in its first three days on the channel. The Madden game release video drew 500 YouTube views between Sept. 3 and 11, while the softball video has generated just 60 views on the channel since Sept. 1.

B-Dubs currently has nearly 12.4 million "likes" on Facebook; 653,000 followers on Twitter; and 21,000 followers on Instagram.