Situation:

As a beer brewery, how do you underpin your sponsorship commitment to ice hockey fans when these fans are not allowed to enter the stadium because of Covid? This was precisely the challenge Schützengarten faced in what was the most successful season for the SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in a long time. The fans wanted to see their team's goals and victories – but they were not allowed to. And thus had no contact with the stadium beer.

Brief:

The beer drinkers and ice hockey fans should remain emotionally attached to Schützengarten, even if they could not drink the beer in the stadium.

Objectives:

To connect the fans with the brand in an emotional way, so that they also consume the beer brand from the stadium at home.

We turned the ice hockey field the players fought and won on into the first ever beer created entirely from the melted water of an ice hockey rink.

Insight:

If the fans can't go to the stadium, celebrate their team's victories and drink beer, then the stadium, including the emotions, must come home to them.

Key Message:

The first ever beer created entirely from the melted ice of an ice hockey stadium.

Target Audience:

Emotionally driven ice hockey fans and beer drinkers.

Creation and distribution:

Immediately after the last game, the ice field was scraped off and melted. The water was filtered and turned into the first beer made entirely from ice-field water over the summer months.

The whole process was accompanied and thus, content was generated over more than half a year.

The beer was filled in a bottle with a scannable label that led fans to limited content - which generated interaction between the target group and the brand.

The launch was celebrated with the players in front of a full crowd and all the press.

Schützengarten simply made the best of this lousy situation. And the best is, of course: beer.

Immediately after the last game, the ice field was scraped off and the ice was melted. The water was filtered and turned into the first beer made entirely from ice rink water over the summer months. The whole process was accompanied and thus, content was generated again and again.

The special beer was bottled in a special bottle and the scannable label led fans to limited content - which in turn generated interaction between the target group and the brands.

The launch of the beer was celebrated with the players in front of a full crowd and all the press.

The high-quality bottle and its limited edition made the beer and the Schützengarten brand a sought-after fan and collector item in the hockey and beer scene.

The entire campaign around the design bottle led to a sales increase of 9.8%.