On this Wednesday the 16th of April, the NHL Playoffs started off with a series of intense games, won by Montreal, Pittsburgh and Anaheim. However the puck drop announced not only the quest for the Stanley Cup, but also the time for brands to deploy their last NHL efforts of the year and an on air battle.
As we sat glued to Hockey Night in Canada, there were two advertisers that caught our attention, Budweiser and Molson Canadian; yet each used a different approach to catch our attention.
As we sat glued to Hockey Night in Canada, there were two advertisers that caught our attention, Budweiser and Molson Canadian; yet each used a different approach to catch our attention.
Molson Canadian promoted their brand by asking what fans would do for hockey. Reusing some of their best moves from the Sochi olympics (i.e. the Molson Canadian’s fridge around the world), the brand brought an exciting new ad on air:
The advantage of this strategy is clear: it starts a conversation among the fans. The #anythingforhockey hashtag had a good start with a mention every hour or so, coming mainly from participants expressing their joy of winning hockey tickets (search for #anythingforhockey on twitter for updated news). The success was also great using the french counterpart #fouduhockey. However, no matter how great their twitter movement, Molson Canadian lost the battle on air and is trailing in terms of TV exposure, as we recall seeing the spot only once during the Habs-Lightning game, the only one with a Canadian team.
On the other hand, we saw Budweiser investing differently in the playoffs. Starting with a revamped website for the occasion (http://www.budweiser.ca/en/), Budweiser also invested a significant amount in TV media buys as we have seen their new TV spot appear at least 3 times in the Habs-Lightning game alone.
Take a quick look at Budweiser’s new ad:
Even though the red light concept is nothing new, Budweiser made the effort to produce original content for their TV spots and it should eventually pay off, as frequency is likely to be huge as the playoffs progress; an event prone to viewership in real-time, eliminating consumers ability to fast-forward through ads. However, where Molson Canadian succeeded early on, Budweiser seemed to have missed the mark - with a non-existent participation rate on their microblogging platform. Indeed, they were the only one to use their #playoffexcuses the other night, and had their post retweeted only 5 times…
The following questions now arise: with clear and distinct strategies for both competitors, where will the 2014 playoffs beer battle be won? Is TV placement enough to secure this spring’s sales or will Molson’ participative approach yield higher results? We want to hear your thoughts!
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