Molson in the Community

I was traveling in western Canada when Adam and Tonia hosted the BREW 2.0 event at the Air Canada Centre’s - Lord Stanley’s Mug a couple of weeks back. I must say that I was impressed by the engagement and conversations that ensued, not only about the great food and brewing insights offered by our brewers - but about the discussion that unfolded on the merits of such an event.

At Molson we’re committed to being in conversations with folks related to our business and beyond. The amazing thing about beer is that Canadians usually have an opinion. In particular, this blog was created to connect with community partners from coast to coast to coast and feature some of our corporate social responsibility initiatives including responsible drinking and community investment.

I very much appreciate the conversations on all sides of the matter related to outreach to the blogging community - Postive, Very Positive or Negative. The fundamental objective was to build some relationships…which I think the team accomplished.

Speaking with Tonia & Adam about hosting Toronto’s social media and blogging community, I was impressed with their ability to dive into many different conversations online and represent Molson well. They encouraged me to join in, too, and I’ve been lucky to interact with and learn from Brew 2.0 attendees such as Dave Fleet, Accordion Guy, Rachel Segal & Bargainista. While I missed the event, I did track the Tweets zinging back and forth…and couldn’t wait to get back to hear about the event’s successes from my team firsthand.

This continues to be a fascinating community that Molson will continue to reach out to, learn and explore with. This kind of relationship building is akin to the way we go to market with our beer…locally. Although bloggers are out in the grand universe of the world wide web, we see them as a community we want to engage in conversation, conversations related to Molson and beer and in particular to this blog - Molson in the community.

I thought it was important to bring the various strings of conversation together here on the Molson Community blog to capture the learning of our outreach initiatives. If you have any questions or comments about the work we are doing in the social media space, please drop me a line or post a comment below.

Cheers.

P.S. The highly regarded For Immediate Release podcast spent quite a lot of time discussing the Brew 2.0 event and some of the reactions to it. If you’ve got a few minutes, it’s worth a listen. Just click the arrow below and fast forward to the 5:21 mark to hear Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson give their impressions of Molson’s blogger outreach efforts.

 

 For Immediate Release - Episode 361: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From Left:  Dr. Jack Bishop, K-W Oktoberfest Fund-Raising Director and Todd Lewin, Molson Sales Director

One of my favourite ‘holidays’ takes place in my hometown of Kitchener-Waterloo, and I’m super happy to share the news that Molson and the K-W Oktoberfest Inc. announced a new three-year sponsorship agreement for the festival know for its beer, lederhosen and Onkel Hans!

To help kick-off the celebrations for this year’s fest, which will run from October 10-18, a reception was held at the Molson Canadian Hockey Haus VIP area at the Kitchener Auditorium during the Memorial Cup.

So what is there to do at Oktoberfest?  There are tons of events for all ages – day and night.  From the Thanksgiving Day Parade to Grillefests to Miss Oktoberfest, there’s something for everyone…and yes, they even have Oktoberflest Idol.

This year is the marks the 40th anniversary of the K-W Oktoberfest, and I’ll definitely be joining in the celebrations – anyone else?

Last night was Molson’s first ever Brew 2.0 event!!!

About 20 or so 2.0-savvy folks joined Molson and the Brew 2.0 team at the ACC in the Lord Stanley’s Mug for few hours of minglin’, food and beer tasting, and a little brew education.  With a killer line-up of different foods paired with different beers — Molson Canadian, Coors Light, Corona, Rickard’s White, Rickard’s Red and Creemore – the guests were given a little history about the beer and why it was paired with certain foods.  Me, the vegetarian, watched from a far….man those mini burgers looked good

Brew masters Ian Douglass and Bryan Eagan led ‘brewing and beer school’ while Draught Prophets’ pro, Steve Reilley, gave a great presentation – draught education.  Who knew a clean glass was so important?

The evening ended with some innovative products, featuring Heineken’s 5L Draught Keg, the Coors Light Cold Certified Bottle, AND a sneak preview of upcoming Kasteel Cru, a champagne-yeast, lager.

Thanks to all who came out — and a special thanks to Joey deVilla, a.k.a. accordionguy who serenaded the group! 

Curious to know — which food + beer pair was your fav.?  

More photos along with some video coming next week!

Happy long weekend everyone

Molson returned to support the Queen’s Marketing Association Conference , again this year in Kingston. QMAC is one of the leading marketing conferences managed by university students in Canada and is designed to have students learn more about specific issues in marketing. Molson involvement this year, spearheaded by Reid Black, Brand Assistant Coors Light, focussed on an Interactive theme to explore the role of emerging media and attempts to strengthen brand loyalty. There was a survey conducted to construct the theme for a social event on the Friday Night of the conference. In total 83 particpants participated in event where participants “Dressed for the Rockies”. Two grand prizes were awards, one $450 scholarship and one $250 scholarship along with an afternoon with the Coors Light marketing team and their on line agency 58-Ninety. Molson has had a long standing relationship with QMAC and salutes the tremendous success as a result of the hard working conference organizors at Queen’s University at Kingston.