MARRIAGE UNBLOCKED

TitleMARRIAGE UNBLOCKED
BrandBJÖRN BORG
Product/ServiceSPORTSWEAR
Category E02. Social Purpose
Entrant NORD DDB Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation NORD DDB Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production HOUSE AGENCY Stockholm, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Andreas Dahlqvist NORD DDB Stockholm Chief Creative Officer
Fredrik Simonsson NORD DDB Stockholm Creative Director
Anna Salonen NORD DDB Stockholm Art Director
Ida Jonsson NORD DDB Stockholm Art Director
Tove Andersson NORD DDB Stockholm Art Director/Blockchain expert
Martin Lundgren NORD DDB Stockholm Senior Copywriter
Hanna Ternström NORD DDB Stockholm Account Director
Victor Forsberg NORD DDB Stockholm Account manager
Susanne Johansson NORD DDB Stockholm PR Director
Robin Löthberg NORD DDB Stockholm Social Media Manager
Sebastian Reinbring NORD DDB Stockholm Creative Designer
Felipe Fiuza NORD DDB Stockholm UX designer
Anna Johansson NORD DDB Stockholm UX designer
Haris Badic HOUSE Agency Director / Editor
Robert Eskekärr HOUSE Agency Editor / Grade / Online
Tomas Wall HOUSE Agency Producer / Post Producer
Georg Bungard HOUSE Agency DoP
Eric Josjö Söderberg Agentur Photographer
Anders Wadin Söderberg Agentur Retoucher
Marcus Forsberg Winter Agency Lead Developer
Marc Biskop Winter Agency Front-end Developer
Rickard Lundén Winter Agency Front-end Developer
Thomas Backlund Superblocks CEO/Co-founder
Carl Gärdsell Superblocks COO/Co-founder

Background

Today, love is controlled by states and institutions, given same-sex marriages are forbidden in 87% of all countries in the world. That’s the background to the initiative Marriage Unblocked – a digital platform where everyone, no matter the label, can propose, exchange vows and get married on the blockchain. Swedish sports fashion brand Björn Borg has long been an ambassador for equality. Driven by their belief “sports is love and love is equal”, they are no stranger to challenging norms and institutions with boundary-pushing campaigns. As Björn Borg is a small sports brand, their marketing budget is nowhere near that of big brands. So, to support equal love, Björn Borg wanted to create a campaign that boldly continues their fight for equal love – in a surprising way.

Describe the strategy

With the Marriage Unblocked initiative and platform, we wanted to send a major sign of acceptance for people held back by discrimination. To lift the debate on equal rights, we also wanted people to engage in our cause internationally, given 87% of all countries still do not accept same-sex marriages. We approached this by showing how new technology can fight discrimination and push the boundaries of society. Together with a message of equal love, we aimed to prove Björn Borg’s position and open access to same-sex marriages by using one of the most open platforms that exists - blockchain - and literally unblock marriages. With the initiative, Björn Borg’s goal was to strengthen emotional connections outside their target audience. The desired target audience was LGBT and tech communities.

Describe the execution

The campaign rolled out in June 2018 to coincide with the global Pride Month. The aim was to make people engage with the cause online, both in Sweden and globally. For shareability, we created a short film with same-sex couples talking about their relationships to show that love is love, no matter the label, only to then hear their stories about discrimination. The film also portrayed the first couple to get married on the platform – a couple that can not get married in their home country. We spread the film on Björn Borg’s social platforms and to journalists. We also reached out to niche communities and media, focusing on tech, blockchain, lifestyle and LGBT. The platform was built by a startup pioneering in leveraging blockchain technology for good, which also gave us credibility to talk about blockchain. The platform trended in LGBT and blockchain communities and forums online.

List the results

–With 85 million media impressions, the expected reach of 20 million was exceeded with over 400% –The campaign increased emotional connection by 29% –90% of the reach was outside the sports fashion segment –With 1.5 million social media exposures, the initiative became Björn Borg’s best-performing social media initiative ever –Thousands of people visited the website - with 5700 unique visitors during the first 24 hours - and 240 people got married during the first week –With over 200+ publications all over the world, including magazines such as AdAge, Huffington Post, LBBOnline, Out, Elle, Milenio, Campaign, Pink News, Trendhunter and Business Insider, the initiative ignited a conversation about how technology can help shed a light on and fight discrimination