In June 2021, as the playoffs for the Stanley Cup entered the second round, the official NHL beer in Canada Molson Canadian activated its rights through an integrated initiative built around a limited edition batch of beer which had been poured through the trophy itself and which thus brought to life every hockey fans dream of ‘sipping from the Stanley Cup’ in a pandemic effected season when many fans had been unable to enjoy their hockey passion in person.
Territory: Canada
Agency: Rethink
Objective
Background
Back in 2011 the National Hockey League (NHL) announced a seven-year agreement with brewers Molson Coors in Canada which saw the company’s flagship brand Molson Canadian take over the exclusive league rights in the beer category and becoming the Official Beer Of The NHL (in Canada) from the 2011-12 season onwards.
The sponsor across the border in the USA is held by Bud Light.
The latest iteration of the Canadian partnership deal was penned in January 2020 and saw Molson Coors sign a multi-year partnership that extended the brand’s status as the league’s official beer in Canada with rights to the NHL marks and to activate throughout the regular season and across all major NHL tentpole events (including the Heritage Classic, All-Star Weekend, Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final).
Aim
In summer 2021 Molson sought to leverage its league rights around the season’s playoffs and Stanley Cup climax and tasked agency Rethink to develop an activation which brought fans closer to the game and to the cup than ever before in a way that would cut through the other sponsor clutter and which would further tighten the associations between fans, the beer brand and the Stanley Cup.
The brief also referenced the fact that due to the ongoing pandemic, games were being played in reduced capacity arenas and many fans were restricted to watching matches from home.
Activation
Agency’s Rethink’s response to the brief was based around bringing to life the idea that ‘every hockey fan dreams of drinking from The Stanley Cup’.
As almost all Canadians know, drinking from The Stanley Cup itself is one of the most revered traditions in North American sport and it is an act reserved only for the players who have actually won the trophy.
But during 2021 even the winning players wouldn’t be able to sip from the famous cup due to Covid-19 health protocols. So the idea was to give all Canadian NHL fan beer drinkers a chance to drink like champions.
So the Molson Canadian marketing team set out to enable all hockey fans to do something they’d always dreamed of and drink from Lord Stanley’s fabled massive mug. Working with the brand’s brewing team and with the league, a limited edition Stanley Cup batch was created by pouring beer through the cup itself. Molson Canadian transported the three-foot tall, 35-pound league championship trophy to its brewery and poured some beer through trophy to create a limited-edition batch. The brewery stated that ‘strict sanitization protocols’ were followed.
The ‘Stanley Cup Batch’ featured fresh, trophy-themed bottles and packaging and is available at retailers across most of Canada (not in Quebec due to distribution issues) and the special, limited edition beer was then marketed and sold across Canada in controlled releases throughout the playoffs to give genuine fans a chance to have a taste
It was promoted via an integrated digital-first campaign, launched on 7 June as the second round of playoffs began, with content linked by the #DrinkFromTheCup hashtag and led by a hero spot.
“This was one of those ‘We need to make this happen’ ideas, and for sure it was a big undertaking when you take one of the most iconic sports trophies in history and incorporate it into the beer process,” said Rethink Partner Joel Holtby. “But as soon as we shared the idea with the Molson Canadian team, they saw the potential, and same was true with the NHL. We had to bring several stakeholders on board and work through some crazy manufacturing logistics.”
“This is for every die-hard hockey fan out there, the players, the coaches and, well, every Canadian,” Holtby added. “Hockey is Canada’s game, and we grow up dreaming of one day sipping from the Stanley Cup. We wanted to give that chance to all lovers of the game.”
Outcome
The campaign drove a 27.8% lift in sales – 1m extra bottles sold during the campaign period in the market and saw Molson Canadian overtake rival Budweiser in Canada.
Its success is also reflected not only though scooping several marketing awards, but also by the fact that bottles are available for sale on platforms such as eBay for exorbitant prices.
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