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Seagram's 7 Dives In For Dive Bar Relief


Above image: Comedian Iliza Shlesinger, who stars in Seagram's 7 dive bar videos.

 

Did your local dive bar take a dive during the pandemic?

Diageo’s Seagram’s 7 Crown, which has long fought to save dive bars from extinction, has an extra incentive to “Keep the Dive Alive” as it celebrates its fifth annual National Dive Bar Day on July 7.

“We hope this year’s campaign will provide some additional relief to help these local establishments recover from the past year,” said Gustavo Salguero, Diageo’s senior brand manager, Irish & North American Whiskies.

To that end, from July 7 through July 24, Seagram’s 7 will donate $7 (up to $77,000 total) to the small-business-supporting nonprofit Main Street Alliance for every Instagram and Facebook share of its new campaign videos that use the hashtag #KeepTheDiveAlive.

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Those videos -- in the form of four 15- to 30-second “training materials” -- lend themselves to sharing. They feature comedian Iliza Shlesinger covering everything from reminding patrons how to order a 7&7 cocktail -- the longtime dive bar favorite that mixes Seagram’s 7 with Keurig Dr Pepper’s 7 Up -- to suggesting what to do with sweatpants after a year of wear, to sharing tips on how to be a better dive bar patron.

Through the Seagram’s 7 donation, Main Street Alliance plans to award up to 22 grants for $3,500 each to small businesses. Info on how small businesses, including dive bars, can apply for the grants is expected soon.

Agencies for the “Keep the Dive Alive” campaign include Forsman & BodenforsTaylor and Starpower.

Seagram’s financial support for dive bars is nothing new, having marked the first National Dive Bar Day five years ago with a $25,000 donation to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Trust, by the way, has published a cool guide to seven (there’s that number again) historic dive bars across the country – from The Old Pink in Buffalo to Snake and Jake’s Christmas Club Lounge in New Orleans (the latter’s signature drink: the Possum Drop, consisting of a shot of Jagermeister liqueur in a pint of Schlitz beer).

“I did some of my first stand-up gigs at dive bars,” recounted Shlesinger. “I was so inspired by their [Seagram’s 7] cause that I’ve donated an additional $7,000 to go towards the Main Street Alliance grant fund”

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