Title	THE WORLD’S FASTEST 70-YEAR-OLD
Brand	ÅHLÉNS
Product/Service	DEPARTMENT STORE.
Entrant Company	FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Advertising Agency	FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Media Agency	MINDSHARE Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Production Company	ACNE PRODUCTION Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Susanna Glenndahl Thorslund	Forsman/Bodenfors	Advertiser Supervisor
Sara Kling	Forsman/Bodenfors	Account Manager
Silla Levin	Forsman/Bodenfors	Art Director
Marcus Hägglöf	Forsman/Bodenfors	Copywriter
Håkan Larsson	Forsman/Bodenfors	Designer
My Troedsson	Forsman/Bodenfors	Planner
Helena Wård/Andreas Johansson	Forsman/Bodenfors	Digital Agency Producer
Chimney Pot	-	Post Production
Anders Jedenfors	Acne Production	Director
Kalle Wettre	-	Agency Producer
Philip Ekström	-	Music
Pia-Maria Falk	Åhléns	Project Manager

Brief Explanation

Sports ads are extremely normative. They are always fronted by young people with six packs and defined triceps. It’s supposed to be inspiring, but to a lot of people these images has the reverse effect. It’s like exercising belongs to the fit and few, and the rest of us feel excluded. Åhléns is positioning themselves as ”the conscious department store”, so when they opened their new sports section for women, we chose to challenge this norm. Because we believe that exercising is for everyone! By using Barbro, the world’s fastest 70-year-old, we showed that it’s never too late too start working out and that you don’t have to be in a certain way or age to exercise. If Barbro can do it, anyone can.

The Campaign

Åhléns is positioning themselves as ”the conscious department store”, so when they opened their new sports section for women, we chose to challenge the norm within sports advertising. Instead of using the typical super fit 20-yar-old, our campaign was fronted by a true inspiration. Barbro Bobäck started running at age 68, and today she is World Champion on 100 and 200 meters. We photographed her like any other sports star, and put her on billboards, ads and display windows. In a big event you could run 60 meters, and try to beat Barbro’s record. We also told her inspiring story in a online film. The reactions were overwhelming. Åhléns were applauded for highlighting a group that is seldom seen in media, and never in this particular context. And Barbro was praised for inspiring people to work out, or to do anything that they ”aren’t supposed to do”.

Creative Execution

We made a short film about Barbro, where she told her inspiring story. The film was launched on Youtube and Facebook. We used sponsored links on Facebook to get the video out there, but we mostly relied on shares. When we launched the film, we also rolled out an outdoor campaign, with Barbro on the running track. The ads talked about the opening of the new sports section, but they also pointed towards #HejaBarbro (GoBarbro), where you got more information about Åhléns and Barbro. A few days later, during the opening weekend, there was a big event outside the store where you could run 60 meters and try to beat Barbro’s record. The pictures of Barbro and the film were shown in the display windows.

This was a small campaign, with a tiny budget. But thanks to Barbro, it still got a lot of exposure. Barbro’s story, and the fact that she was fronting Åhléns new sports section, was picked up by Sweden’s biggest news sites like Aftonbladet and Expressen, and other popular websites like vardagspuls, damernasvarld and uppskattat. The film was Åhléns most liked and shared post ever on Instagram and Facebook. Actually, papers and TV-stations are still contacting Barbro to do a story about her. But what’s really uplifting is reading people’s comments in social media. People got inspired to pick up a sport, start jogging, or just try something new – whatever it might be. Because thanks to Barbro, they now know it’s never too late. And they know Åhléns is the place to go to gear up.