Bacon mania is sweeping the country and Hormel Black Label is taking this craze to new heights with “Driven By Bacon,” a cross-country motorcycle ride like no other. For more than 100 years, the Hormel Black Label team has been passionate about making exceptional bacon, and is undertaking this effort as a legacy to the dedication, hard work and craftsmanship that it takes to make great bacon.

Hormel Black Label takes bacon very seriously and has a goal to elevate bacon to its rightful place in culture. To accomplish this, the brand created the first of its kind—a motorcycle entirely powered by Black Label bacon grease that will take a bacon-loving rider across the country to find people with similar passions.

“This program is a perfect example of our commitment to building the Black Label brand in the hearts and minds of our customers, and giving them something that represents their passion for Black Label,” says Steve Venenga, VP of meat products marketing at Hormel Foods.

Hormel Black Label and BBDO Minneapolis created the motorcycle out of a 2011 Track t-800 CDI with a 3-cylinder 800CC diesel engine that could be modified to run on 100% organic biodiesel distilled from Black Label bacon grease. Charlie Smithson of CSE Engineering did all of the modifications including creating custom components, suspension and a genuine pigskin saddle. Dan Kaderabek, founder of Bio-Blend Fuels, Inc. produced the biofuel. “The bike is the product, the brand and the brand message rolled into one. It behaves exactly like the product behaves. There’s absolutely no gimmick because it speaks for itself,” says Noel Haan, Executive Creative Director BBDO Minneapolis.

The Black Label-powered motorcycle will drive cross-country, departing on August 4^th from the Hormel headquarters in Austin, Minnesota and arriving on August 29th at the 2^nd Annual International Bacon Film Festival in San Diego, California. The film festival, now in its second year, will feature a collection of bacon-inspired cinematic short films made by filmmakers around the world.

Throughout the “Driven by Bacon” ride, acclaimed filmmaker Tony Franklin will be documenting the journey – excerpts will be posted during the ride to the brand’s Tumblr page (drivebybacon.com) to allow core followers to ride along, and a film will be created of the entire journey, which will premiere on August 29^th at the 2^nd Annual Black Label International film festival.

“’Driven by Bacon’ centers on a mission to show that the journey is more important than the destination. It’s never been done before, it’s inventive and we really don’t know if it’s going to work or not. I find it refreshing to head into this journey with such a sense of adventure,” says Haan.

Source: Hormel Foods Group