Labatt Breweries of Canada has signed a “multiyear deal to get its Budweiser brand on CBC’s ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ during the well-known ‘Coach’s Corner’ segment with Don Cherry,” according to Susan Krashinsky of the GLOBE & MAIL. The beer brand will “also appear in two other parts of the broadcast, and as a sponsor of a new package of digital extras the network will offer on computers and mobile devices.” The deal begins Saturday with the start of the regular season, and it is an “opportunity for Labatt to steal some of the hockey spotlight it lost last year” when MolsonCoors signed a seven-year, US$375M deal “to be the NHL’s beer sponsor for North America.” Molson will remain an “active advertiser in the game broadcasts,” but it “will not be alone” this season. When The CBC’s "Coach’s Corner" sponsorship deal with Cheetah energy drink “ran its course, Labatt saw another opportunity to tap into hockey.” Talks between Labatt and the net “began before the NHL lockout.” Molson is “keeping mum on its specific marketing plans for the return of NHL hockey.” However, Molson Senior Communications Manager Forest Kenney “suggested there will be in-arena promotions by the brand to welcome fans back this weekend” (GLOBE & MAIL, 1/18).
