Alex Ovechkin - Gr8 Chase For Victory Over Cancer

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

As he neared the National Hockey League’s all-time career goals record, Alex Ovechkin launched "THE GR8 CHASE for Victory Over Cancer," a campaign in partnership with the V Foundation for Cancer Research, Hockey Fights Cancer, and the Washington Capitals to fund pediatric cancer research. For the remainder of his NHL career, Ovechkin – now the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer - is donating funds for every goal he scores, with Monumental Sports & Entertainment matching the contributions to the V Foundation.   

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

This work sets a new benchmark by proving that athletic performance can fuel real-time philanthropy.  With the season long nature of the campaign continuing throughout Ovechkin’s career, it showed that sustained campaigns narratives can sometimes be better than one-offs.   

The campaign was also extremely unique as it combined the efforts from the V Foundation NHL, NHLPA, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals as part of Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation. There was also support from national broadcast partners in ESPN and ABC to embed the campaign as part of game broadcasts.  It is rare that many organizations align together for one cause.   

This campaign sets the bar for how sports organizations can design impact campaigns in the modern era.  A priceless engagement metric is the smiles and families impacted by Ovechkin’s charitable efforts.   

Objective

The goal of the Gr8 Chase for Victory over Cancer was to transform a personal career milestone and arguably one of the biggest records in the NHL into a catalyst for social good, providing sustained fundraising and awareness for pediatric cancer research while engaging fans and leveraging partnerships to broaden its impact. The campaign specifically focuses on pediatric cancer research funding — channeling 100% of donations to the V Foundation for Cancer Research through a dedicated pediatric research grant. This emphasis recognizes how childhood cancer continues to be a major health challenge and uses Ovechkin’s platform to bring visibility and resources to that cause. 

Strategy & Execution

THE GR8 CHASE for Victory Over Cancer was intentionally built to resonate with the modern sports fan — digitally native, socially engaged, and motivated by Ovechkin as purpose driven.  With how modern sports fan consume sports, this campaign naturally embedded philanthropy directly into that behavior. 

The campaign was also approachable to all fans – encouraging fans to donate to $8 or whatever they can (a nod to Ovechkin’s jersey number).   

The promotion of the campaign was done through in-game, broadcast and digital to meet fans where they are already are. There were also QR codes embedded into much of the promotion to make it as turnkey as possible for fans to reach the donation page.   

With this campaign, the record meant so much off the ice.  Fans are also more likely to support athletes and teams that use their platforms to have impact.   

Through different content pieces, such as having pediatric cancer patients share their own messages directly to Ovechkin – there was emotional storytelling at its core to connect to the audience and potentially increase donations.   

Organizations

• Alex Ovechkin

  The V Foundation 

  NHLPA 

  NHL 

  Washington Capitals 

  Monumental Sports and Entertainment 

Links

•   Website

Credits

Amanda Tischler
SVP, Marketing
Washington Capitals

Megan Eichenberg
VP, Communications
Washington Capitals

Sergey Kocharov
SVP, Communications
Washington Capitals

Caroline Potolicchio
Director - Fan Development
Washington Capitals

James Heuser
VP, Digital
Washington Capitals

Rachel Segal
Group Vice President, Social Impact and Strategic Integration
National Hockey League

Jena Starring
Senior Director, Partnerships
V Foundation

Melissa Ostrowski
Assistant Director of Partnership Stewardship
V Foundation

Eric Dwyer
Strategic Planner and Rightsholder Relations
National Hockey League

David Abrutyn
Global Chief Business Officer
CAA Hockey

Hunter Lochmann
CMO
Monumental Sports and Entertainment

Aimee Brillhart
SVP, Productions
Monumumental Sports and Entertainment

Andrew Wolfe
NHLPA Goals and Dreams Director
NHLPA

Liz Pace
President, Monumental Sports Foundation
Monumental Sports and Entertainment