Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum has launched virtual signage during broadcasts of Montreal Canadiens hockey games on Bell Media’s RDS this December.

The ads, which appear on either end of the rink on the glass to viewers at home, are a first on RDS for an alcohol brand, and the evolution of a nine-year partnership between Appleton and the NHL team, Peter Hottmann, regional sales and marketing director, NAFTA Region at Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum, tells MiC.

Hottmann says the ads, with media and creative by Toronto-based Huxley Quayle von Bismark, are a great way for the brand to reach its target of males aged 25 to 34 during the all-important festive season.

“We do 20% of our total annual sales in the time before Christmas,” he says. “The ads are part of a larger campaign running in Toronto and Montreal in the spring of 2012 that will include OOH billboards and transit ads to reach the target demo before patio season.”

RDS launched the virtual ads in November and has also run ads from clients including Scotiabank, Ford and Réno-Dépôt.