SPORTS SWEDISH FOR IMMIGRANTS

TitleSPORTS SWEDISH FOR IMMIGRANTS
BrandSVENSKA SPEL
Product/ServiceSTATE-OWNED BETTING
Category A09. Corporate Social Responsibility
Entrant JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Jonas Sevenius Jung Relations Co-founder
Johan Nyman Jung Relations Project Manager/Advisor
Hampus Klint Jung Relations Designer
Per Holmquist Jung Relations Creative
Fredrik Manuel Persson Jung Relations Production Manager
Joel Sköld Jung Relations Junior Advisor
Jasmine Falk Jung Relations Junior Advisor
Jakob Bjerkesjö Jung Relations Producer
Wessam Altabbaa Jung Relations Intern
Måns Dohns Jung Relations Producer
Mårten Strassburg Jung Relations Project Manager
Max Hafelt Jung Relations Advisor

The Campaign

To manifest how Sweden’s largest sports sponsor takes social responsibility, we developed “Sports Swedish for Immigrants”, a creative and visual textbook developed to teach Swedish using the language of sports. The idea was to make learning more fun, introduce popular sports to immigrants, and welcome newly-arrivals and asylum-seekers to the Swedish sports community. By doing that, we wanted to engage schools, sports clubs, organizations, refugee centers, volunteers – and media – in Svenska Spel’s cause. "Sports Swedish for Immigrants" was produced in collaboration with five of Sweden’s national sports associations and two educational companies. The sports associations guaranteed relevance and engagement from sports clubs, and the educational companies guaranteed teaching material that was not only creative in the packaging, but also in line with educational science and teaching practice.

Creative Execution

In November 2016, we launched "Sports Swedish for Immigrants" through a dedicated web site (http://www.sportsvenska.se), where sports clubs, schools, organizations, refugee centers and individuals could order the book for free. A day or two after putting your order, you had the book in your mailbox. To grab the attention of media, we kicked everything off with a first IRL Swedish lesson with newly-arrivals in a suburb close to Stockholm. The response from the students was fantastic, making it a magical moment not only for them, but also for the teachers and the media that were invited to participate. To drive traffic to the website and to get people to actually order the book, the initiative was supported by PR, online video and strategically targeted posts.

Results

Tapping into a real social challenge, this initiative engaged people all over the country, grabbed the attention from almost all major news media and build a positive brand perception for Svenska Spel. • The first edition of 1,000 books was gone within days. Today more than 26 000 books have been ordered and distributed to sports clubs, schools, refugee centers, libraries and volunteers. • More than 50 major news outlets covered the initiative, with an earned media reach of 16M+. • After the initiative, 27% of the yearly betting customers associate Svenska Spel with "a company that is engaged to increase diversity in sports", putting Svenska Spel in the no 1 position (new measurement) - After the initiative, 34% of the yearly betting customers associate Svenska Spel with "a company that shows social engagement", putting Svenska Spel in the no1 position (in 2016 Svenska Spel was #2).

Svenska Spel is a state-owned betting company. To manifest their role as a corporate citizen, we created Sports Swedish for Immigrants – a long-term initiative teaching Swedish to newly-arrivals, using the language of sports. Our visual textbook has been ordered in 26,000 copies and distributed to sports associations, sports clubs, schools, libraries, refugee centers and volunteers all over Sweden. We provided the tool they needed to welcome newly-arrivals to the Swedish sports community. We also changed Svenska Spel brand perception, making them the betting company in Sweden that is most frequently associated with diversity and social engagement.

We had two target audiences: 1) customers who prefer to bet with a company that takes social responsibility, 2) the Swedish sports movement, to which Svenska Spel is the main sponsor. To build positive brand perception among customers, the strategy was to manifest that Svenska Spel's sponsorship of Swedish sports is not only about money contributions - but about real change and positive contribution to make sports more diverse and inclusive. As for the second target group, data showed that many sports clubs do a great job integrating newly-arrivals in their operations, but the lack of language skills was a great barrier. Our strategy was to lower that barrier, by providing sports clubs, schools and others with the tool they needed to teach Swedish to immigrants. The call-to-action was simple: order Svenska Spel's "Sports Swedish for Immigrants" and join us in making Swedish sports more diverse, inclusive and welcoming.