As the eponymous beer for Canadians, Molson Canadian has served as the unofficial beer of hockey and has been there for every win of the Cup for over 50 years. But, for the first time ever, Molson Canadian had to share its official NHL sponsorship with AB InBev. With hockey sponsorship becoming an increasingly cluttered space, being outspent by our American competitor, and Molson Canadian’s exclusivity as the NHL beer sponsor in Canada no longer applicable, we were struggling to maintain our role as the beer that facilitates human connection for this unique occasion.

So, we had to do something big. We needed to earn back our share of hearts and minds, and reclaim the mantle of Molson Canadian as the beer of hockey by generating considerable earned media, tightening the market share gap between Molson Canadian and Budweiser, and driving consideration and sales volume for Molson Canadian.

To reclaim our spot in the fridges of Canada’s hockey fans, we needed to win over the hearts of rookie and diehard fans alike. For the ones who just like to catch a game on TV, and the ones who have played their whole lives. For the ones who had what it takes but blew out their knee playing junior, and the ones who play beer league because they love the game so damn much.

So, we partnered with the NHL and Hockey Hall of Fame to bring the iconic Stanley Cup to a Molson Canadian brewery, pass our beer through the Cup, bottle it, and give hockey fans across the country a chance to drink from the Stanley Cup.

When Canadians reached for a beer to watch the hockey game, the number of Molson Canadians in hand were dwindling. That needed to change. And when they thought about hockey, Molson Canadian was coming to mind less and less. That needed to change too.

So, we set out to do two things. First, we needed to engage the diehards and casual hockey fans alike. For the ones who just like to catch a game on TV, and the ones who have played their whole lives. Second, we needed to reverse Canadians’ preference for American beer.

We needed to get Canadians to drink Canadian beer when watching Canada’s sport. And to achieve all of this, we had to do something uniquely Canadian… and big.

We filmed the entire beer production process from start to finish, featuring famed Cup Keeper Phil Pritchard running the beer through the Cup and into the vat.

On June 6, right in the thick of hockey playoffs, Ron MacLean gave a personal introduction to our innovation before a special viewing of the :60 TV spot during Hockey Night In Canada, with paid media support for the :30 and :15 cutdowns.

Bottles of the Stanley Cup batch were made available on shelves across the country. Using the design of the Stanley Cup as inspiration, the Stanley Cup batch bottles featured silver labels and were contained in a black carton mimicking the flight case that safely nests the Stanley Cup during its travels around the world.

We earned over 12 million earned media impressions, surpassing the program goal by 254%. In fact, the campaign broke impressions benchmarks across paid, owned social, and sponsored media as well, a stunning result given Budweiser’s continued domination of share of voice.

From a business standpoint, the campaign drove a 13% lift in consideration among Canadian hockey fans of legal drinking age (LDA). The program resulted in strong activation awareness results among LDA and hockey fans. Consideration for Molson Canadian was also positively impacted by the campaign, exceeding our program goal by 8% among LDA. With over 1 million bottles made available from British Columbia to Newfoundland, volumes of the 6-pack SKU were +27.8% versus the plan.

Canadians across the country were given the chance to have their dreams come to life and drink from the beloved Stanley Cup, helping Molson Canadian stake our claim as the beer of hockey.