Behind the Budweiser Campaign Commemorating Alexander Ovechkin’s Crowning Achievement

When Wayne Gretzky retired from professional hockey in 1999, aged 38 years old, many suspected his scoring record of 894 goals wouldn’t ever be broken. It was thought to be one of the ultimate achievements in the sport – something only achievable for a player of his sheer, irreplicable stature.

However, years later, in 2025, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals would officially do the unthinkable, shattering the Canadian’s longstanding achievement on the night of Sunday April 6th. Although the gradual buildup to this moment certainly had silenced many of the doubters, nevertheless, this achievement was momentous and generational, and something which Budweiser Canada, a brand historically associated with hockey culture, knew needed to be capitalised on.

Working alongside its creative agency Anomaly Toronto, the two were keenly aware that many would be seizing the moment to focus on the number 895. So, to stand out a little more, they decided to shift gears, instead focusing on the mere 28 goalies who’d shut out the Russian left winger… which created a whole new opportunity, specifically for the brand’s non-alcoholic Budweiser Zero. Having realised a campaign around zero goals conceded coincided perfectly with the beverage’s name, the resulting creative saw the agency custom design Budweiser Zero cans, which were then sent to this elite cohort to commemorate the occasion. Each featuring the goalie’s jersey number, shots faced, and the stat that said it all – zero goals against – it was the perfect way to help the brand stand out in a heavily-saturated marketing moment.

To learn more about how this reactive campaign came together, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with the team from Anomaly Toronto, including group creative director Neil Blewett, account director Dominic Neukom, business director Joachim Holmgren, and creative team Chris Stapleton and Liam Haggarty, for a chat.

LBB> Promoting Budweiser Zero via Ovechkin’s breaking of the NHL scoring record is super clever! Where did the idea to tie the two together come from?

Joachim> Budweiser has long held a significant place in Canadian hockey culture. It’s had a finger on the pulse of hockey fans over the years, amplifying what they love most about the game, with everything from goal-synced red lights at home, to a recent campaign weeding out the excuses that get in the way of enjoying hockey together.

So, when talk about Ovechkin breaking Gretzky’s all-time goal record flooded the internet, we knew we had to find an authentic way to join the conversation.

Chris & Liam> When we were ideating on different ways to join the conversation, we stumbled across an interesting statistic that caught our eye immediately: the various goalies who faced off against Ovechkin, but never let a goal in against him. This idea of shining a light on a different side of the conversation – while still celebrating Ovechkin’s feat – was really intriguing to us. Not to mention that ‘zero goals against’ and ‘Budweiser Zero’ had a natural ring that worked really well for the brand, and allowed it to authentically join the conversation as a non-alcoholic beer.

LBB> With that in mind, was this originally a brand or agency-driven initiative? Who got the puck moving here?

Dominic> The ask to have Budweiser Canada join the conversation was initiated by its brand team, but the idea to shine a spotlight on the 28 goalies who shut out Ovechkin was created by us, during the creative development phase. The idea then took shape in partnership with the Labatt Brand team in the months leading up to the launch.

LBB> Of course, turning around a reactive campaign is no small task. At what point did you know this was something you could feasibly pull off? Tell us about the strategy and planning phases!

Neil> To be honest, we started ideation and production early enough that there was never a doubt this campaign couldn’t happen. We were pretty meticulous in our planning phase and made sure that we had a process to pull it off.

That said, there was a certain point where Ovechkin actually broke his leg, missed a bunch of time, and his pace really slowed down… We weren’t even sure he’d break the record this year. But of course, as he does, he heated up, and at that point, we kind of knew it was imminent.

LBB> Given that you prepped them so early, what was the craft process like for the custom-designed cans?

Neil> We knew these cans had to be special, both in what they represented, and how they looked. While rooted in the original can design, the detail throughout pays tribute to the position, from an updated creed to a goalie mask, and then individualisations for each goalie, right down to their name, and number of shots they faced.

LBB> From here, what was the leadup time like for the launch? How did you ensure everything would be ready for whenever that vital goal went in?

Dominic> We had everything ready to go the second Ovechkin broke Gretzky's record. When Ovechkin was 10 goals out, we started packing up all the cans and organising the shipping labels. We had a master schedule that helped us keep a close eye on which active goalies Ovechkin was playing again as he closed in on the record. We also received almost daily stat updates from the NHL directly, to ensure accuracy.

When Ovechkin was three goals out, we shipped all the cans on rush. To help communicate the idea in the days leading up to his record-breaking goal, we also rushed out a video asset that communicated the idea and could be shared on social, which was the last major push.

LBB> Speaking of this, what was production like for the spot?

Neil> We were fortunate to work with some incredible partners at the NHL and NHLPA, who allowed us to use game footage of all the goalies who Ovechkin never scored against. We actually didn’t know if we’d create a video, but once we got closer to the historic goal, we all felt like this approach would help launch and crystallise the idea.

Ultimately, the concept, edit, and shipping all happened on the same weekend Ovechkin broke the record.

LBB> Tell us more about distribution! What was the process like for getting everything to market exactly on time?

Dominic> Distribution of the cans began very early in the process. At the start of the 2025 season we worked closely with Veritas, the NHL, and NHLPA to collect the addresses of all the goalies.

We were fortunate to work with incredible partners – Veritas, Starcom, and of course, the Budweiser team – who had the foresight to plan for this moment, but also the ability to move at the speed of light the second the record was broken. With ideation starting at the close of 2024, we all worked together to plan for the moment and the second the record was broken, we met daily to react, respond, and add fuel to the conversation that naturally took off with the hockey community.

LBB> Since launch, how have people responded?

Joachim> It’s been incredible. We’ve had 70,000-plus social mentions, and over a billion total impressions.

Beyond the hard metrics, however, we had a bunch of current and former NHL goalies engage in the conversation as well. There’s been some great comments like, “If I knew about this, maybe I would have tried harder.”

LBB> Finally, seeing as breaking the NHL scoring record doesn’t exactly happen too often, is there anything you’d like to say to commemorate this moment?

Joachim> Haha, no it doesn’t, and may never happen again.

As for what I’d like to say, Anomaly and Budweiser Canada have a deep legacy within hockey and its culture. So, to be able to respond to a historic moment – in a meaningful way for the brand that reverberated across the entire sports world – was pretty special.