Fantastic Marketing

I'll be honest and admit that I've never been one to enjoy a "zero" adult beverage. I know there are several brands that produce a "zero" adult beverage, but it's never really been something to which I gave a lot of thought. Budweiser has joined the "zero" beverage options with their latest endeavour, claiming that their product "is an alcohol-free brew with only 50 calories and zero grams of sugar and is made for those who want to cut back on alcohol without missing out on the full flavor and refreshment of Budweiser". For those who want to be more responsible with their adult beverage consumption or want to avoid any excess carbohydrates and sugars, Budweiser Zero would be a good choice, it seems. However, I can tell you that the Capital One Arena in Washington likely won't be stocking cans of this beverage anytime soon after Budweiser kicked off a fun marketing campaign in a unique way for their Zero brand!

Starting today, Budweiser Zero began sending cans of their product in boxes to nineteen NHL goaltenders who faced Alexander Ovechkin in his quest to score 895 goals, but who surrendered no goals to the Washington Capitals forward. Among the names you'll recognize are Manny Legace, Manny Fernandez, Jocelyn Thibault, Braden Holtby, and the man to the right, Curtis Joseph! Each of the nineteen goalies recognized stopped at least one shot from Ovechkin without surrendering a goal, really putting the "zero" in the Budweiser Zero they received! Each can states "Zero of 895" above "The greatest goal scorer of all time couldn't score on you" with the number of shots each goalie stopped on the left and "0 goals" at the bottom of his individualized can of Budweiser Zero.

What may be even cooler is that the can's ribbon at the top reads, "This world-famous Budweiser Zero was brewed for you, the brick wall between the pipes. The greatest goal scorer has scored a record-breaking 895 goals. You faced (x) shots against, but zero got behind you. This Bud's for you, #XX, the King of Zero" where (x) is the number of saves they made against Ovechkin and #XX is the jersey number they wore. Just below that is a triangle with that same jersey number in it, and a goalie mask that has the words "Nothing got past you" around it. On the outside of the border surrounding the mask are "Zero Percent" on the left and "Zero Against" on the right. Clearly, Budweiser Zero put some effort into making these cans!

The nineteen NHL goalies shown on the image below kept Ovechkin off the scoresheet in their games against him. Perhaps the most notable are the guys who faced the most shots while still being active in Florida's Vítek Vaněček, Vancouver's Kevin Lankinen, and Seattle's Joey Daccord as those three men still play in the NHL and could eventually break twenty shots against without surrendering a goal. While Mike Condon and Mathieu Garon stand between Vaněček's 19 saves and Lankinen's and Daccord's 14 saves apiece, it's pretty amazing that Ovechkin was stopped by nineteen men in his quest to break Gretzky's record. Click the image below to see a larger version.

Again, all of this is just some tongue-in-cheek marketing for a product associated with zero, but kudos to the marketing team at Budweiser for jumping all over this opportunity to have some fun with their Zero brand. Nineteen NHL goalies have stood in front of Ovechkin's blasts and refused to flinch, and they certainly deserve a cold beverage after showing the world that they have ice running through their veins. That alone is worth a postgame beverage!

From Trent Miner and Jakub Dobeš who have stopped one Ovechkin shot to Vítek Vaněček who has withstood 19 blasts off an Ovechkin blade, nineteen men have put the zero in Budweiser Zero. I love the fun marketing campaign that Anheuser-Busch rolled out in honour of Alex Ovechkin breaking the goal-scoring record, so I tip my cap to them. After all, they deserve a cold Bud Zero for this great idea!

Until next time, keep your Budweiser Zeroes on ice!