In July, Tampa Bay Lightning and NHL beer partner Coors Light brewed a celebratory beer from melted ice scraped up off the rink on which the team won its second Stanley Cup.
The Lightning’s own on-ice support team shovel shavings cut up by the players during Game One of the NHL’s 2021 Stanley Cup Finals, bottled it up in Hydro Flask containers and shipped overnight via FedEx to the Coors brewing facility in Golden, Colorado. It was then melted and the brewers used an advanced filtering technique before brewing the new Champions Ice beer.
The brewing process was accelerated to ensure that Champions Ice could be available in a few Tampa Bay bars as close to the victory as was possible.
After Tampa Bay Lightning rookie Ross Colton slipped the puck past Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price to give the Bolts a 1-0 win in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals and secure the Lightning second straight Championship season, Coors Light shipped 55 half-barrel kegs, as well as supporting T-shirts and 32-ounce collectible crowlers to the Tampa Bay area.
Tampa Bay fans were able to check its availability on the Coors Light Champions Ice website.
The limited-edition Champions Ice beer was promoted through a national and local PR and social media campaign created by DDB Chicago, but was only be available locally in participating Tampa bars within days of the win.
A victory beer like no other. Cheers to the champs @TBLightning https://t.co/H20iaItNsv
— Coors Light (@CoorsLight) July 8, 2021
“As an official beer partner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, we’re proud to celebrate the team’s second-straight championship win by giving Bolts fans a literal taste of the action,” Coors VP Marketing Marcelo Pascoa.”We’re no strangers to the magic of the ice, both in the arena and outside it. And now, we’ve taken that ice and have brewed it into a refreshing beer.”
“We’re definitely leaving it to Tampa Bay fans to decide what they think it tastes like,” said Coors Light’s North American Director of Activation Chris Steele who explained that a higher ABV (alcohol by volume) version of the beer was brewed first and then was blended down to 4.2% by adding the melted Finals ice. “We thought it’d be awesome to celebrate with the people in Tampa by creating a special batch of Coors Light for them to enjoy, created from the ice where the Lightning put all of their blood, sweat and tears into winning the championship.”
Comment:
We know what you are thinking. If the Lightning hadn’t won the trophy, then all that beer would have just been dumped – apparently.
This initiative follows in the footsteps of a previous ‘Stanley Cup Beer Batch’ brewed by Molson Canadian Brews (Coors Light’s Canadian brewer) for a Canadian activation created by agency Rethink.
While early last year Swiss brewery Brauerei Schützengarten partnered with Wunderman Thompson Switzerland (Zürich) to produce a beer from the real playing field ice of the SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers (an ice hockey club from Rapperswil, Switzerland).
All three campaigns show an (albeit slightly gimmicky) understanding of how brands can exploit sports fans’ passion (irrationality) to add value to a largely unchanged product and to bring to life its support and tie up with the game and the fans.
There are also echoes of Dutch soccer club Ajax rewarding its loyal season ticket holders for their support during the pandemic by melting down their Eredivisie trophy into 42,000 ‘Silver Star Mementoes‘ in that both activations offer fans a literal slice of the action.
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