Molson has launched an NHL season-long platform offering hockey fans the chance to win a variety of prizes, after a months-long delay.

“The Molson Drop,” by global sports, music and culture specialist agency Wasserman, gives hockey fans the opportunity to win fan experiences like giveaways, events, merch and tickets. It kicked off with a contest that ran from Dec. 8 to 17 for 100 participants to win a pair of tickets to see their local NHL team play.

The campaign was originally slated to launch Oct. 6, just days ahead of the start of the NHL season. But given the attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas on Oct. 7, the Molson team decided to postpone the launch, which meant cancelling its first giveaway, an all-inclusive trip for two to Stockholm, Sweden to attend the NHL Global Series from Nov. 16 to 19.

“Given what was going on in the world, we paused everything and wanted to come back in the holiday season and launch ‘The Molson Drop’ in a way that felt more appropriate for friends and family to enjoy,” says Sophia Lal, senior manager of Molson and Miller Trademarks for the Molson Coors Beverage Company. “I don’t think there was a single person on our team who felt comfortable going forward given all that was going on in the world. For us, it was the right decision not to take any air space away from that.”

Throughout the season, a number of ‘drops’ will be announced ahead of key games involving Canadian teams. The next one will take place in January, and Lal hints that it will involve a certain type of NHL insider, health and wellness, and a link to the time of year. Lal also pointed to the NHL All-Star Game hosted in Toronto as another opportunity for a drop, and Molson is open to adding “reactive drops” in response to news in the hockey world.

Earlier this year, Molson launched its “Everyone In” campaign, emphasizing the brand’s commitment to bringing Canadians together and helping them connect over shared passions and a beer. The company views “The Molson Drop” as an extension of that commitment, centered around a love of hockey.

“‘The Molson Drop’ was really born out of this idea that fandom has changed over time and really has become more dynamic: there’s second screens, there’s betting, there’s access and every streaming channel has a behind-the-scenes of some sort of league that gets the engagement to the highest level,” Lal says. “We wanted to make sure that Molson, as a proud partner in hockey and as a proud fan alongside our consumers, was keeping up with those traditions and keeping up with how the fan experiences change. So it was really about how we get fan participation in hockey with Molson, and how Molson makes new memories with consumers in hockey.”

The contest closed on Dec. 17, with more than 22,000 entries.

“Getting into some of these buildings is one of the trickiest things that some fans never get to do,” Lal says. “So we thought this would be an amazing way to bring together hockey fans over a togetherness season, when Molson is really all about having ‘everyone in,’ in 2023 and beyond. We knew that we have unique access with team partners and the NHL, and so we were able to bring that together for a pretty special holiday moment for the biggest ticket giveaway in our history.”

The campaign, which targets both next generation and loyal consumers and includes “The Molson Drop” website, rolled out via social media, OOH, PR,and via the channels of its partners.

Citizen Relations handled PR, Wavemaker looked after media and Volt took care of social media.