Title	THE DREAM HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Brand	ATRIA FINLAND LTD.
Product/Service	WILHELM
Category	G05. Cultural Insight
Entrant	ATRIA FINLAND LTD Nurmo, FINLAND
Idea Creation	TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Idea Creation 2	TBWA\SCREEN Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Placement	VIZEUM Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Placement 2	MTV3 Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Placement 3	IPROSPECT FINLAND Helsinki, FINLAND
PR	TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Production	MTV3 Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 2	TBWA\SCREEN Helsinki, FINLAND
Post Production	MTV3 Helsinki, FINLAND
Post Production 2	TBWA\SCREEN Helsinki, FINLAND

Name	Company	Position
Minna Berg	TBWA\Helsinki	Client Service Director
Mikko Kaivo-oja	TBWA\Helsinki	Associate Creative Director
Joona Mantere	TBWA\Helsinki	Art Director
Mikko Santonen	TBWA\Helsinki	Creative Insight Planner
Jyrki Poutanen	TBWA\Helsinki	Chief Creative Officer
Mikko Pietilä	TBWA\Helsinki	Executive Creative Director
Pia Mäkinen	TBWA\Helsinki	Project Manager
Heikki Karstu	TBWA\Helsinki	Junior Copywriter
Sirpa Lamberg	TBWA\Helsinki	Production AD
Lara Ala-Olla	TBWA\Helsinki	Designer
Nelli Pätäri	TBWA\Helsinki	Project Coordinator/Content Producer
Anna Nukarinen	TBWA\Helsinki	Content Producer
Nanna Järvinen	Atria Finland Ltd	Vice President Brand Marketing
Elina Vuolle	Atria Finland Ltd	Marketing Manager
Sini Teppola	TBWA\Helsinki	Creative
Viggo Holländer	TBWA\Helsinki	Digital Designer
Fanny Haga	TBWA\Screen	Photographer
Pekka Ollula	TBWA\Screen	Producer
Piritta Äikäs-Kovasiipi	Vizeum	Client Director
Riku Puhakka	Vizeum	Strategy Director
Elina Ylisuvanto	iProspect	Paid Social Specialist
Ville Hackzell	TBWA\Screen	Editor
Emmi Haapalahti	Vizeum	Activation Manager
Markus Autero	MTV Oy	Head of Sports
Sanna Stude	MTV Oy	Account Manager

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

The Ice Hockey World Championship is the biggest annual TV spectacle in Finland. Every year Wilhelm, one of the country's most popular sausage brands, runs its most important campaign during the tournament. This year, however, the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. Wilhelm organized a unique replacement event: The Dream Hockey Championship, where fans got to decide how the matches would have gone if they had been played. The Dream Hockey Championship included ten broadcasts which became the most watched broadcast during its airtime. The campaign boosted Wilhelm’s sales by 80%.

Background

The Ice Hockey World Championship always takes place in May. During the two-week tournament, the whole country lives and breathes ice hockey. The cancellation of the Ice Hockey World Championship due to the corona crisis was catastrophic news for the marketing of Wilhelm sausage because it automatically meant there was no environment for the biggest campaign of the year. So, the brief was challenging: how to reach all the hockey fans who would otherwise have watched the World Championship tournament and seen Wilhelm’s advertising? The games were now not being watched at home – and so the necessity to buy snacks and BBQ sausages was greatly diminished. There was a huge risk that Wilhelm products would be left on the shelf. Increasing sales seemed an impossible task. A defensive battle to prevent a collapse in sales seemed Wilhelm’s best choice – but fortunately, it was not the only choice.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Instead of an ad campaign during the Ice Hockey World Championship, Wilhelm set up its own tournament: the Dream Hockey Championship – a simulated tournament that invited passionate fans to share what their dream tournament would look like. It was a tournament which results depended wholly on the imagination of fans – because every single fan has sometimes wished they could decide the outcome of the game. Now for the first time, it was possible. The games were not played, but instead, fans designed the events and outcome of each game for the Finnish national team on the campaign website.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The target group of the campaign were young men following sports and especially ice hockey. They had just experienced a massive disappointment with the cancellation of the Ice Hockey World Championship. Instead of sulking over a canceled tournament, fans should be offered inspiring and activating content that would somehow be related to ice hockey. The Dream Hockey Championship was the perfect solution to this demand: Fans got to enjoy hockey in a completely new way and most importantly, they got the chance to speculate about the matches and demonstrate their own expertise.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Wilhelm partnered with Finland’s most popular commercial TV channel MTV3. The Dream Hockey Championship consisted of ten 15-minute episodes with studio discussion, interviews of the best hockey players in Finland, and of course a simulated hockey match that was based on the stories shared by fans. In addition, each episode also included a trip down memory lane, showcasing the highlights of previous tournaments. All the episodes were run by Finland's best-known hockey experts, airing primetime on the same channel, and on the same days the Finnish national team would have played. This meant that the campaign lasted a total of two weeks. And last but not least: all the simulated matches were announced by the legendary Antero Mertaranta – the man announcing the Finnish national team’s games for more than 20 years.

List the results (30% of vote)

The unique approach to hockey found its audience: the Dream Hockey Championship reached almost 1.2 million viewers: more than 20% of the population. The Dream Hockey Championship was the most popular prime time broadcast in Finland: gathering, on average, over 200,000 viewers per broadcast. And most importantly, Wilhelm’s sales skyrocketed: +80% from April to May and +86% compared to the same period last year.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland, the annual World Championships being the absolute highlight of the hockey season. The fans go nuts during the tournament and practically the whole nation is aware of the twists and turns of the tournament. The Finns, usually perceived as reserved and quiet, spend the tournament cheering passionately and loud for their national team. The tournament and especially its telecast is a marvelous opportunity for brands whose target audience consists of hockey fans. The games are being followed intensively on various channels and the discussion always heats up. This Spring, the cancellation of the tournament was a huge and unexpected disappointment for the Finns. For Wilhelm, the situation was extremely troublesome from a marketing point of view, as due to the cancellation, the most important campaign of the year had to be re-planned from scratch on an intensely fast schedule.