THE SWEDISH NUMBER

Bronze Eurobest

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleTHE SWEDISH NUMBER
BrandTHE SWEDISH TOURIST ASSOCIATION
Product/ServiceTOURISM
Category A04. Travel, Leisure, Retail, Restaurants & Fast Food Chains
Entrant INGO Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation INGO Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR GREY ACTIVATION & PR New York, USA
PR 2 COHN & WOLFE Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production INGO Stockholm, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Björn Ståhl INGO Creative Director/Executive Creative Director
Joachim Ewert INGO Account Director
Julia Blomquist INGO Planner
Magnus Ivansson INGO Copwriter
Gustav Westman INGO Art Director
Tero Marjamäki Cohn & Wolfe PR manager
Cecilia Lindquist Cohn&Wolfe Pr manager
Amy Tunick Grey Pr & activation, NYC President
Magnus Ling Swedish Tourist Association General secretary
Jenny Engström Swedish Tourist Association Marketing Director
Josefine Billström INGO Stockholm Planner

The Campaign

As the first country in the world, Sweden got its own phone number. When calling it from abroad you get connected to a random Swede, somewhere in Sweden. Then you can talk about anything. The Swedish Number gave the control of the image of the country to the Swedes themselves. Nothing was censored or pre-arranged. In the name of freedom of speech - what ever opinion you may have, it matters. The Swedish Number is open for anyone to call just by using a normal telephone, but only from abroad. Swedes register as "telephone ambassadors" simply by downloading an App.

Creative Execution

The hub of the campaign was a tailor made sophisticated cloudbased switchboard. One of the largest in the world. The switchboard made sure that calls can only come in from outside Sweden and the it connects it to a random Swede in line to answer. That person is then moved to last in line. If you have a Swedish phone number (+46) you can download The Swedish Number App from App-Store. Register your email and phone number, that's it, then you can start taking calls. The calls shows up like a normal call on your phone. More than 32.000 Swedes enlisted as "telephoneambassadors". On the web page theswedishnumber.com, you get the simple background, i.e. The Swedish Number film and statistics regarding the campaign. A general film was released, explaining the project. And one week after a film with the Swedish Prime Minister answering calls for The Swedish Number was released.

The Swedish Number instantly spread rapidly across the globe. People from all countries found it on tens of thousands Live TV-Shows and News channels, Live radioshows, in newspaper articles, in bloggs, on Twitter, on Facebook. Calls came in by the 100.000 and the Swedish people answering represented all parts of society - geographically, ages and opinions. Nothing (ZERO!) was spent on bought media or seeding. The results: Total calls: 188.625 Swedish Phone Ambassadors: 32.069 No of countries calling: 186 (194 in the world) Accumulated calling time 376 days. Longest call: 4h 42min Total media impressions: 9.324 billion. Media Value: 147 million dollars (US).

As the first country in the world Sweden got its own phone number. When people call it from abroad they get connected to a random Swede, and in the name of freedom of speech, they can talk about anything. In a digital world where people hide behind key boards, The Swedish Number created numerous of wonderful person to person meetings with Sweden and Swedish values in focus. By using something old fashioned and analog - a simple telephone. Every phone call created an unique picture of Sweden. Tens of thousands of tips were being giving about what to do here.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The Swedish Tourist Association is an organisation with deep roots in Swedish tourism since 1885, running hotels and hostels all over Sweden. Their main objective is to develop tourism and to encourage both Swedes and foreigners to discover Sweden as a country. The world is getting more uncertain, countries are shutting down ways of communication. The Swedish Tourist Association wanted to to the opposite - they wanted to sell Sweden with its people's values and opinions, whatever they might be. Since every Swede has his/her own perception of his/her country, every call becomes a unique description of Sweden. On the web page theswedishnumber.com, you get the simple background, i.e. The Swedish Number film and statistics in real time regarding the campaign - number of calls, latest calling country average calling time etc.