The Rivian R3X is one of the most desirable prototype vehicles being shown by any manufacturer. When I learned it was coming to Texas to be displayed in the Rivian Austin Flagship Space, I knew we had to do something special.

Austin has a rich history with BMX, and the area is home to a handful of professional riders. I met one of them, Aaron Ross, in early 2024, and we stayed in touch, looking for something to work on together. As soon as I found out we were going to have R3X in Austin, I sent him a note asking if he had ever jumped a vehicle, and if not, would he be interested in doing so? 

Two important things to consider: 

1. At this point, and probably still today, there is one R3X prototype that costs around a million dollars or so to put together. So, jumping this car was no joke, and it took a lot of persuading to get anyone at Rivian to think this was a good idea. 

2. Not all of this was really my job. While I had done influencer deals and created plenty of content in my previous life, my job at Rivian was to get people into our Spaces, and this idea was doing just that, while also utilizing my experience in making influencer deals and creating compelling content to turn into a bigger, 360-ish, idea. 

After receiving a tentative yes from my boss and my boss’s boss, I jumped through a variety of hoops with the internal Rivian legal and risk team to ensure we were all on board. I worked with Aaron Ross to build a team of incredible Austin BMX riders, including Brett Silva, Chase Hawk, Jayden Mucha, and Darryl Tocco, who captured all the content. Then, on 11/7/24, we jumped the hell out of a million-dollar R3X prototype. 

Results: 

• The highest attended event at the Rivian Austin Space (600+ RSVPs)

• 500K earned impressions 

• The BMX content posted on @RivianOfficlal was one of the Top 3 most viewed and engaged with posts in 2024. 

• Total cost for influencer, content, build, promo = less than $15,000