The NHL trade deadline is coming up on Friday, and the league’s beverage partner BioSteel is using it as an opportunity to let consumers make a trade of their own.

Last summer, BioSteel replaced Gatorade as the official hydration partner of the NHL. It was part of PepsiCo rethinking its sports sponsorship strategy, which came at a time when Canopy Growth-owned BioSteel was looking to expand beyond the athlete-specific partnerships it had used to establish its brand.

That meant the recognizable green Gatorade bottles on NHL benches were replaced with red BioSteel ones. Now, the brand is letting consumers make their own swap.

Exchange bins are on display in about 100 sporting goods stores across Canada, with a focus on Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. The bins explicitly invite consumers to trade in their Gatorade bottles ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline this week, though all squirt bottles are eligible for trade-in.

The gambit is to drive consumer demand and move toward the top of the hydration category, says John Celenza, co-founder of BioSteel.

“We started this program in sporting goods stores because most consumers make team bottle purchases in that type of retail location,” he says. “With hockey fans seeing our sports drinks on NHL benches this season in Tetra Paks and in the BioSteel team bottles, we saw many consumers going out to make the same switch for their own team bottle.”

All work for the program was handled by the internal BioSteel marketing and sales teams. Promotion is largely organic, with the retailers posting videos of the bin on their own social channels.

This year, Celenza says it has doubled down on its hockey commitment. Even though NHL players were already hydrating with BioSteel, it is now in the open through the partnership, he says, and the brand is highly visible as the players drink BioSteel sports drinks during every game.

Celenza tells strategy that programs like the bottle exchange it is running capitalize on that increased exposure for the BioSteel brand, and that it is able to increase brand visibility at retailers at the same time.

“We’re already excited about the initial results of the program, and expanding into grocery for similar programs in the future is a strong consideration for us.”

In its most recent earnings call, Canopy Growth reported that BioSteel has reached a 10.4% share of convenience and gas channel in Canada, up 300 basis points sequentially, and 13.8% share in Ontario. 

In addition to expanding its sports sponsorships, last fall, BioSteel announced that it teamed up with fitness brand F45, making the beverage available at 200 fitness studios and several events.