2022 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Canada is one of the most diverse countries in the world, but Canada’s game isn’t diverse at all. With 93% of hockey players identifying as white, and national broadcasts only in English and French, the sport was far from representative of our cultural mosaic. As the beer with the country’s name on it, Molson Canadian had to be the catalyst in reshaping hockey culture to truly reflect our country. So, Molson Canadian set out to grow hockey by finding a way to make it more accessible.

For the approximately 350,000 people who immigrate to Canada each year, hockey can be a way to unite them with their new home. Becoming a hockey fan is as daunting as playing the sport itself - following a fast-paced sport with a lingo of its own can be challenging, making language a key barrier to entry. For nearly 70 years, hockey games have been called in just English and French, but what about the other 192 languages spoken in Canada? If hockey needed to speak to more Canadians, Molson needed to change the way Canadians heard hockey.

On April 24, 2021 Molson Canadian, in partnership with Sportsnet, created the first-ever multilingual edition of the iconic Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. Molson Canadian broadcasted the Leafs vs. Canucks game followed by the Oilers vs. Jets game in Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, Vietnamese, Tagalog, German, and Arabic. The seven languages selected were the most commonly spoken in each Canadian city with an associated NHL team. Leading up to game day, their digital and social placements drove to the branded microsite where games would be streamed in the 7 languages.

To further build momentum, PR kicked in with content from Matt Dumba, Patrick Chan, and Leon Draisaitl as spokespeople, and TV segments including Breakfast Television and Tim & Friends. Plus, PR coverage was secured with language-specific outlets to further help the brand speak directly to new Canadians. The first-ever multilingual edition of Hockey Night In Canada was also supported at retail with limited-edition multilingual cans of Molson Canadian, reflecting the languages spoken in their trailblazing broadcasts. News of the initiative also spread across ethnic channels thanks to tailored media pitching with multilingual lingo sheets in each of the 7 languages, making headlines in publications like Forbes, Eve News, NHL.com, Philippine Showbiz, CanIndia, The Globe and Mail, and other shared media.

The campaign garnered 79.4M impressions: besides the 32M across paid media and 4.5M impressions across owned social channels, they saw 55.5M impressions across earned and sponsored media, surpassing the earned media impressions program goal of 15M by 254%. Over 1.1 million Canadians tuned in on game day, with the broadcast microsite bringing in 31,000 visitors over the campaign period. They spoke to millions of Canadians in their native language, and streamed games for fans at home and abroad. They didn’t just translate a game; they translated a sport. 7 languages down. 187 to go.

Credits

Agency: Rethink
Client: Molson Canadian
CCO: Aaron Starkman
ECD: Mike Dubrick
Head of Art & Creative Director: Joel Holtby
Creative Director: Dhaval Bhatt, Jamie Marcovitch, Allan Topol
Art Director: Shawn James, Dorota Pankowska
Writer: Irfan Khan, Geoff Baillie
Designer: Erin Struble
CSO: Sean McDonald
Strategist: Nicole Rajesky
Producer: Todd Harrison
Digital ACD: Alex Fleming
Production Company: Sportsnet
Group Account Director: Karim Tubbeh
Account Director: Tori Zenko
Account Manager: Megan Christopher
Account Manager: Jessie Durand

Media: Wavemaker
Alice DiGiovanni, Group Account Director
William Hart, Strategy Manager
Jared Aldridge, Strategy Director
Peter Forde, Manager, Media

GroupM: Sport and Entertainment
Jim Kozak, Senior Vice President
Kyle Morrison, Associate Director

PR: Citizen
Joe Cariati, Senior Director
Natalie Gardner, Account Manager
Jake Pare, Senior Account Executive
Kate Dresser, Account Executive
Alicia Oliveri, Account Executive

Social Media: Volt
Kristine Kobe, Business Director
Georgina Sahota, Account Manager
Eric Zaworski, Community Manager
Emma Cunningham, Social Strategist

Sportsnet
Matt Boyd, Manager, Digital Sales Development
Brian Jones, Manager, Client Services
James Johnston, Sr. Manager, Client Services
Joel Darling, Director, Production - CBC
Derek Normandin, Manager, Development
Eddie Khang, Manager, Digital Development
Amanda Ramondino, Campaign Lead, Commercial Integration
Dan Kim, Sr. Manager, Operations
Meghann Cox, Manager, Communications

Client:
Joy Ghosh, Marketing Director, Molson & Global Brands Canada
Katie Rankin, Senior Marketing Manager – Molson TM & Miller TM
Brian Collins - Sr. Manager, Sports & Entertainment Partnerships
Brittany Harris - Marketing Manager, Consumer Experiences + Partnerships
Madison Desousa - Assistant Marketing Manager, Molson ™
Jessica Vieira Teixeira - Manager, Brand Public Relations