LABATT BEGINS NHL PLAYOFFS PROMOTION
By Adnews Staff
Labatt Breweries of Canada has released six collector bottles and an online trivia promotion tied to the start of the NHL playoffs. The series of "Original Six" bottles bear the markings of the original six NHL teams: the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. Each bottle displays a historic logo of one of the teams along with the years that team won the Stanley Cup. The bottles will be distributed in specially marked cases of Labatt Blue in Ontario, Nova Scotia, western Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland until the end of the playoffs. They are being promoted with a television commercial, an online ad and with in-store materials. D 3 created the online material, while Grip created the television ad and Echo Advertising handled the point-of-sale. All of these agencies are based in Toronto. The winners of The Labatt Blue Trivia Challenge will receive tickets to a Stanley Cup final game. Participants play six rounds of an NHL trivia game at <http://www.labattblue.ca>, collecting a virtual bottle at the end of each round. Each bottle increases the player's chance of winning. The trivia game will run until May 12. It is being promoted with banner ads on Hotmail.com, MuchMusic.com and NHL.com and with an animated bug at TSN.ca. Promotion of the "Original Six" bottles has also be added to existing Labatt Blue television creative. Public relations for Labatt are handled by Weber Shandwick Worldwide.