MMA CASE STUDY
The Call
of the Cup
Campaign Summary
Molson Canadian has been the official beer of the NHL for the past two years. During the second year of its sponsorship,
Molson Canadian wanted to engage new drinkers and increase its relevancy among American hockey fans. The brand
did this by providing die-hard hockey fans with what they craved: intelligent debate about hockey with other die-hard
fans through a real-time, mobile polling platform.
Strategy and Execution
The platform was built from scratch and designed to allow for quick interactions and instant feedback. It was created
using HTML5 and responsive design principles. By using unique short URLs, which were posted on bottles of Molson
Canadian, to represent 45 different questions, fans could reach out to others like them and talk about issues that mattered
to the game. To continue participating, Molson Canadian drinkers had to purchase another beer, driving velocity.
To generate awareness and drive traffic for the promotion, Molson Canadian released a steady stream of debate questions
to its Facebook fans. Those posts then promoted the 45 back-label questions that could only be found on Molson
Canadian bottles. In addition, Molson Canadian took over the homepage of the NHL to drive even more hockey fan
traffic to the promotion.
The campaign was focused on mobile because it allowed fans to participate in the debates from wherever they watched
games. The campaign’s small budget also made mobile a very appealing option.
When the 2012 NHL lockout hit, Molson Canadian was concerned that its sales might decline. Once the season finally
started (with the number of regular season games reduced from 82 to 48), expectations were low. However, hockeystarved fans embraced the promotion, and the campaign became a success.
Results
As a result of this campaign, social engagement increased by over 23 percent, and content promoting the campaign had
an average reach that was 41 percent higher than non-campaign content. Additionally, purchases of 24-pack bottles of
Molson Canadian increased in the U.S., and sales of 12-pack bottles rose by 10 percent in key markets. In hockey-crazy
Minneapolis, sales of 12-pack bottles increased by 61 percent.
Source
“The Call of the Cup.” 2013 MMA Smarties Submission, NA, Relationship Building/CRM, 2013 MMA Smarties
Submission, NA, Cross-Media Integration, 2013 MMA Smarties Submission, NA, Mobile Website, 2013 MMA
Smarties Submission, NA, Innovation. Brand: Molson Canadian USA. Lead Agency: Arc Worldwide/Leo Burnett.
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The Call of the Cup