Title	HOME SWEDE HOME
Brand	SVENSKA SPEL
Product/Service	SVENSKA SPEL
Category	C04. Competitions & Promotional Games
Entrant	JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation	JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR	JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production	JUNG RELATIONS Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Max Hafelt	Jung Relations	PR advisor/creative
Fredik Manuel Persson	Jung Relations	Production manager
Per Holmquist	Jung Relations	Creative
Calle Lindholm	Jung Relations	Junior advisor
Jakob Bjerkesjö	Jung Relations	Producer
Marcel Karlsson	Jung Relations	Producer
Joel Sköld	Jung Relations	Advisor
Eva Evesjö	Svenska Spel	Marketing manager
Johan Svensson	Svenska Spel	PR manager

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

Via a competition, Svenska Spel, a state-owned gaming operator and main sponsor of the Swedish national football team, gave fans and customers the chance of a lifetime – to live in a national team player’s home during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. We activated our fans and customers to apply as the “residential sub” to Sweden’s top striker Marcus Berg’s apartment. This unique competition turned out to not only activate Swede’s, but people from all over the world, making the target audience rate it as Svenska Spel’s most unique campaign ever.

Background

Betting and gambling advertising have exploded in Sweden with gaming operators shouting the same generic “bonus” messages after each other. Ahead of the 2018 World Cup, the main sponsor of the national team, state owned gaming operator Svenska Spel, wanted to distinguish itself against the competitors by engaging the target audience (Swedish sports fans 18-49 y/o) with something unique and credible – something that only a main sponsor could to. The objective was to build the brand by generating attention, publicity and consumer engagement and activation for Svenska Spel's sponsorship, and together with Svenska Spel’s other World Cup campaigns, contribute to a sales increase compared to the previous World Cup. Specific objectives: 1) Achieve 3 million impressions/earned media reach in traditional media, in Sweden (Sweden’s population = 10 million). 2) Get 50% of the target group to find that the brand activation distinguishes itself from the competitors’ communications.

Describe the creative idea

To see Sweden play in Russia was an expensive affair for the supporters: not only were the match tickets expensive, even the hotel prices soared with over 3000 percent. And as Sweden’s three match locations were the furthest apart of any team, it meant travelling over 7600 kilometres. The majority of the Swedish fans were thus forced to follow the World Cup in Sweden. Via a competition, the idea was to offer the Swedish fans at home a chance to get closer to the championship – and can you get any closer than to stay in a national team player’s home during the World Cup? Never before has a sports star lent his residence to a supporter – but it was exactly what we did when Sweden's top scorer, Marcus Berg, opened up his home in Gothenburg for one lucky supporter while Marcus was playing for Sweden in Russia.

Describe the strategy

The strategy was to offer the target audience, sports interested Swedes 18-49 y/o, something unique, something that Svenska Spel’s competitors couldn’t offer by utilising the sponsorship of the national team. As the target audience love sports, we knew that they themselves love to compete, thus a competition would be the perfect activation. As the idea and competition was unique and first of its kind, we completely relied on earned media to activate our customers and target audience. As the objective was to create credible communication (in contrast to the competitors) that generate customer engagement, and to make the experience unique, we changed nothing in Marcus’ apartment. Everything was just like when Marcus left the apartment for the national team gathering. For us, it was very important that the winner got to live the same life as Marcus in Gothenburg.

Describe the execution

We recorded a typical “MTV Cribs” video with Marcus and photographed the apartment. We then placed a competition disguised as an apartment ad (cost 10£) on Sweden’s biggest housing site, where we were looking for a "residential substitute" that during the World Cup could stay and look after Marcus’ apartment. The rent was free, and everything was included. Just as a “normal” housing ad, you were supposed to describe yourself and tell why you should win. The news spread like wildfire – not just in Sweden, but also internationally, which resulted in applications from all over the world, such as Korea, UK, and US. The lucky winner became a hot topic with media interviewing him about the unique prize, creating publicity even after the competition was over. Even when it was time for the winner to move in, media was interested to see him showing off his temporary accommodation.

List the results

The results were far better than expected. The target of 3 million in earned media reach was beaten by 233 % and we reached over 10 million in Sweden (population of Sweden = 10 million), all with a 100 % sentiment. In total, we generated 133 million in earned media reach globally. There was no doubt that the campaign was unique compared to the competitors, as 78% of the target audience thought that the campaign stood out in comparison to other gaming companies. This is Svenska Spel’s highest recorded number ever (Target: 50%). When Marcus was interviewed by foreign media between the matches in Russia, many journalists asked him if the campaign was for real – and applauded the initiative – and questioned whether any of their own national team players would ever agree to do something similar.