Canada’s athletes have delivered exceptional performances so far and we are acknowledging the Medalist our own Molson Coors way by presenting each of them with at special gift! Our medal count is at 6 and COUNTING! As the official beer supplier of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, Molson Coors has also put on spectacular performance, and the Molson Canadian Hockey House is the place to be seen in Vancouver. We’re hosting, athletes, hockey players, A- listers and most importantly the world ‘s Olympic fans! All of the athletes from around the world have shown so much heart in this competition—no matter if they’re representing a major world power or a smaller country. In today’s Dispatch, we bring you interviews with Canada’s Gold Medalist Alexandre Bilodeau and Mellisa Hollingsworth who’s competing for a medal in Skeleton Luge today and tomorrow up in Whistler, don’t miss her performance.
Nos athlètes canadiens ont livré des performances exceptionnelles jusqu’à maintenant et nous reconnaissons les médaillés à notre manière Molson Coors en leur offrant chacun un cadeau très spécial! Notre décompte de médailles s’élève présentement à six et nous demeurons optimistes! En tant que fournisseur officiel de bière pour les Jeux olympiques d’hiver de 2010 à Vancouver, Molson Coors a aussi fait preuve d’une performance spectaculaire avec la Maison du hockey Molson Canadian qui est le lieu de rencontre de choix à Vancouver. Nous y recevons des athlètes, des joueurs de hockey, la crème de Vancouver et surtout les amateurs des Olympiques de partout à travers le monde! L’ensemble des athlètes du monde entier ont fait preuve véritable dévouement dans cette compétition – peu importe qu’ils représentent un pays en puissance mondiale ou un plus petit pays. Dans la dépêche d’aujourd’hui, vous trouverez des entrevues avec Alexandre Bilodeau, le médaillé d’or du Canada, ainsi que Mellisa Hollingsworth ,qui compétitionne pour une médaille en skeleton aujourd’hui et demain à Whistler. Ne manquez pas sa performance!
Bonjour! Je suis moi-même originaire de Montréal, alors le fait d’être aux Olympiques pour le « Jour du Québec » revêt une importance particulière pour moi. La planète a les yeux rivés sur le Canada et cela nous donne l’occasion de présenter la culture et l’héritage de chacune de nos provinces. Pour Molson Coors, le Québec occupe aussi une place particulière puisque c’est dans cette province que John Molson s’est établi et qu’il a fondé sa brasserie sur les rives du St-Laurent en 1786. C’est un grand honneur de pouvoir être les hôtes des Jeux d’hiver et le monde entier a les yeux rivés sur le Canada. Molson Coors est tout aussi fière de pouvoir faire partie de ces Jeux à titre de fournisseur officiel de bière. Ces Jeux permettront aux organisateurs et aux partenaires de représenter la culture et l’héritage de chacune de nos provinces. Hier, le 15 février marquait le Jour du Québec ici aux Jeux de Vancouver. Il est donc de mise de vous proposer une entrevue avec Geoff Molson, l’arrière-arrière-arrière-petit-fil de John, qui est fier de représenter Molson Coors dans sa province natale. Dans le reportage d’aujourd’hui, nous vous présentons aussi un entretien avec Jean Charest premier ministre du Québec et des faits saillants de la réception tenu a la maison du Québec en l’honneur du Jour du Québec ou des invites Québécois présent à Vancouver assistaient dont les deux médaillés olympique Québécois de ces Jeux à ce jour – Alexandre Bilodeau et Jennifer Heil ainsi qu’un entretien avec Denny Morrison un des athlète récipiendaire de l’appui de Molson Coors.
Bonjour! I’m from Montreal, so being here for “Quebec Day” at the Olympics was especially important to me. The whole world is watching Canada, and that gives us the chance to showcase the culture and heritage of our unique provinces. We at Molson Coors are bursting with pride about being a part of these games as the official beer supplier of Canada’s Games. At these Games the organizers and partners are doing a great job showcasing the culture and heritage of our unique provinces. Yesterday was Quebec Day, and la belle province is where John Molson made his home, and founded our first historic brewery. On this broadcast dedicated to his home , hear what Geoff Molson has to say about our contribution to the Vancouver 2010 Games. We’ll also bring you the highlights of the reception held by the premier of Quebec Mr. Jean Charest at the Maison du Quebec in Vancouver. The reception was attended by Gold medalist Alexandre Bilodeau and Bronze medalist Jennifer Hail. Also, listen to the interviews done with Jean Charest, premier of Quebec and Denny Morrison one of the athletes supported by the Molson Canadian Fund a Champion program.
Above pictured on the left; Francois–Louis Tremblay, Short Track Speed Skating and three time Olympic Medalist with Geoff Molson, Vice President Marketing at Molson.
At the barbecues, we took the opportunity to announce the Molson Fund a Champion Campaign, in which the company has committed an initial amount of $80,000 to support 10 designated Canadian athletes. we also announced the names of the ten Molson employees who will be representing us on the Olympic Torch Relay as torch bearers, and everyone got a taste of the exciting fundraising, sponsorship and promotional activities that are upcoming.
Melissa Hollingsworth – Skeleton – Eckville, Alberta
The events also included raffles for great prizes, ball hockey, and other games, while employees in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver had a chance to meet some of our Olympic athletes recipients of the Fund a Champion Campaign. With the Games fast approaching, our Canadian athletes have a pressing need of vital funds necessary to complete their final months of intensive training leading up to the Games in Vancouver. At the BBQ in Toronto Scott Ewart, Molson Chief Officer Legal and Public Affairs said, “Our donations will make a difference to these extremely talented athletes, and help them realize their dreams.”
In Montreal, Geoff Molson, Vice President Marketing Molson spoke to employees and said, ” Molson is proud to be an official supplier of the Vancouver 2010 Games but more importantly we are great fans of our Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Athletes and we are excited to be able to meet and support them in their quest for an Olympic medal.”
Watch a video of the event and Geoff Molson’s speech in Montreal (in French).
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Proud to play our part
The 2010 Olympic Games belong to Canada, and they belong to us. At Molson, we are proud to play our part in uniting Canada’s Olympic spirit from coast to coast. We are looking forward to sharing a true taste of Canada with the world in 2010. Not only is Molson an official supporter of Canada’s Games but we’re also fans – let’s go, Team Canada!
On May 22nd and 23rd, Caroline Losson (Marketing Director, Molson Brand), Dave Gagnon (Director, Trade Marketing Strategy), Sean Kennedy (Operations Manager, St. John’s Brewery) and I had the privilege of being asked to lead a philanthropic event at Camp Les Bosquets which is dedicated to the Quebec Society For Disabled Children. We were asked to assist the camp with some much needed maintenance and cleanup to prepare for their opening in June. To our surprise the response to the request for volunteers was almost too good. Over two days we had 48 volunteers. I guess we should have expected the Molson community to step up and help out.
Caroline, Dave, Sean and I each led teams to tackle the various tasks to prepare the camp for its opening in June such as mowing the lawn (it takes the camp’s Operation Manager Mr. Desbiens two and a half days to do it himself!), repairing/painting the decks and tables, clearing junk from the cabins, seeding the grass and other landscaping. There was some uncertainty whether we could have all 36 people be productive on the first day but as soon as we got the teams together and said “Go!” everyone “took off like a shot” as our videographer Scott stated when I spoke to him later in the day. Scott added “You guys started so quickly I had to run around the entire camp to get the before footage!”
The before and after look of the campground was quite impressive. The effort put in by everyone really hit home when the Camp Director, Richard Rioux came to speak to us on the last day before we left. Mr. Rioux explained “We get many volunteers and their efforts are always appreciated, however, I was very impressed by the intensity and organization of the Molson team”. We surpassed his expectations with how hard everyone worked and that we accomplished as much as we did in such a short time (we even ran out of paint on the first day to the Mr. Desbiens’ surprise).
It was a great experience for Caroline, Dave, Sean and I. We learned how a little effort by a group of organized people can really help non-profit organizations such as Camp Les Bosquets. Despite waking up with a few stiff joints and muscles the next day it felt good to know that Molson’s community involvement really does make a difference. Oh, and we were also able to make a contribution of $2,500 to the camp from the Molson Donation Fund. Not a bad way to cap off the event.
Seventh generation Molson family members Geoff and Andrew Molson participated in a 45 minute panel Q&A with moderator Professor James Tansey from the UBC Sauder Business School. Over dinner the audience in excess of 600 guests at the Hyatt in Vancouver had a chance to write their questions down for an open Q&A period following dinner.
Geoff and Andrew Molson reflected on aspects of Molson’s business and the family’s dynamics in Canada over the past 222 years. Also discussed was the long standing commitment to community, the success of the 2005 merger of equals between Molson and Coors and the commitment to innovation and quality Molson brands in the evolving beer business.
Geoff responded to many of the day to day business queries in his role of VP Marketing and Andrew fielded most of the questions related to governance as a member of the Molson Coors Brewing Company board, in addition to his expertise in this area.
A toast to the Molson family in continuing to perpetuate this truly remarkable Canadian success story and their continued pursuit of building stronger communities.
Molson is North America’s oldest brewery…and proud of it !
Final note…a picture of Chairman of Molson Coors Brewing Company – Eric Molson with Geoff and Andrew Molson in Montreal.
Last week, I traveled to Vancouver with several colleagues (look for their Blog post soon about it) to take part in a series of events Molson organized for all our stakeholders to mark the 50th anniversary of Molson brewing presence in Vancouver. It is in 1958 that Molson acquired the Capilano Brewery from Sick’s Brewery. With this acquisition Molson, the oldest brewery in North America founded in 1786, established itself in Canada’s westernmost province truly becoming Canada’s brewery from coast-to-coast.
Kevin Boyce, Molson president and CEO and Geoff Molson, (a 7th generation direct descendant of founder John Molson) were also in Vancouver to celebrate this milestone.
Kevin and Geoff
The Molson brewery is situated near Burrard Bridge in downtown Vancouver. It opened in 1953 as Sick’s Capilano Brewery, and Molson acquired it in 1958 in a transaction to purchase all of Western Canada’s breweries operated by Sick’s.
Molson recently completed a $32-million upgrade of the brewery, installing seven new fermentation tanks, a bottle washer and a bottling line. The expansion increased the production capacity by more than 40 per cent to 2.1 million hectoliters a year.
For this anniversary week Molson hosted events at the brewery to celebrate its presence in the city. The events where an occasion to meet & greet with Kevin Boyce, Geoff Molson, Gord Rickard’s and Vancouver brewmaster Kerry Scarsbrook as well as several other local members of the Vancouver brewery and sales team. Brewery tours were arranged for guests, members of the media and bloggers of the Vancouver scene. Culinary hors-d’oeuvres, and a special beer crafted especially for the occasion were served delighting everyone. The splendid weather, food and beers were enjoyed and will be remembered by all.
