Title	EPLAYOFFS
Brand	TELIA
Product/Service	TELIA ESPORTS
Category	A05. Media / Entertainment
Entrant	TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Idea Creation	TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Idea Creation 2	TELIA Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation 3	FINNISH HOCKEY LEAGUE Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation 4	ASSEMBLY ORGANISING OY Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation 5	MTV Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Placement	TELIA Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Placement 2	MTV Helsinki, FINLAND
PR	TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Production	TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Production 2	FINNISH HOCKEY LEAGUE Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 3	ASSEMBLY ORGANISING OY Helsinki, FINLAND
Post Production	TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND

Name	Company	Position
Mikko Santonen	TBWA\Helsinki	Creative Planner
Jere Saulivaara	TBWA\Helsinki	Senior Creative
Laura Paikkari	TBWA\Helsinki	Creative Director
Heidi Vilkman	TBWA\Helsinki	Project Manager
Jyrki Poutanen	TBWA\Helsinki	Chief Creative Officer
Mikko Pietilä	TBWA\Helsinki	Executive Creative Director
Heikki Karstu	TBWA\Helsinki	Junior Copywriter
Iiro Hokkanen	TBWA\Helsinki	Director
Henrik Storsjö	TBWA\Helsinki	Editor
Saana Sundberg	TBWA\Helsinki	Junior Communications Specialist
Aija Saha	Liiga / Finnish Hockey League	Marketing Manager
Riku Kallioniemi	Liiga / Finnish Hockey League	CEO
Niklas Segercrantz	Telia	Commercial Manager – Esports
Mikko Kaarttinen	Telia	New Business Initiatives & Strategy
Hanna Forsström	Telia	Head of Consumer Marketing
Kati Riikonen	Telia	VP, Head of Marketing & Analytics
Aija Rainio	Telia	Marketing Manager
Markus Autero	MTV	Head of Sports
Jarno Salmivuori	MTV	Account Manager
Jukka Raatikainen	MTV	Vice President, Pay Content and Sport Rights
Lassi Nummi	Assembly	CEO
Juha Lahti	Assembly	Executive priducer
Ville Nokkonen	Assembly	Social Media Producer

Why is this work relevant for PR?

ePlayoffs generated positive global headlines in a media climate dominated by anxiety and escalating corona crisis. For the first time a traditional sports series was finalised with esports. By merging traditional sports and esports, ePlayoffs inspired the global media to challenge established sports series to take similar action and cheer the disappointed sports fans. ePlayoffs changed the Finnish sports scene for good. The success inspired two biggest Finnish sports leagues – Liiga in ice-hockey and Veikkausliiga in football – to launch their own esports leagues with Telia's esports brand Telia Esports Series. 'eLiiga' and 'eFutisliiga' will start in November 2020.

Background

Ice Hockey is a part of Finnish national identity. At the heart of local hockey love is the Finnish Hockey League, which culminates every spring in playoffs and championship games followed intensely by fans. Unfortunately everything ground to a halt when the coronavirus made its way to Finland and Finnish Hockey League was cancelled. Finnish telco brand Telia has been an active figure in developing the Finnish esports scene by hosting the largest esports series in Finland called Telia Esports Series. Telia, alongside with partners, saw an opportunity for esports to come to the rescue and bring joy to disappointed hockey fans. Telia wanted to bring entertainment to audiences during a stressful period of time and to bring esports in front of new audiences. The aim was to create a phenomenon and to prove that esports is a credible form of sport that deserves its place among traditional sports.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Finnish Hockey League, as many other leagues around the world got cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak. As an enthusiastic hockey nation, the people in Finland took it hard. It was then decided that the league wouldn’t get cancelled after all, but played online with EA’s NHL 20 console game. The ePlayoffs were presented by Finland’s largest esports league, Telia Esports Series hosted by Finnish telco brand Telia. The ePlayoffs were designed to be identical to the original league broadcasts to make them as approachable as possible to hockey fans. The execution hosted the original teams, followed the original playoffs match schedule and were broadcasted in national television during prime time. The games were also streamed on Twitch for hockey fans around the world.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

To reach the mainstream audience, ePlayoffs were designed to be as easily approachable as possible to hockey fans and audiences not familiar with esports. Telia set its focus to build a phenomenon that would bring joy to disappointed fans during a stressful period and familiarise new audiences with developing esports scene. To achieve this, the end result needed to be identical to the original playoffs and follow the original match schedule. On a global scale the execution aimed to inspire other series to take similar action. Main message of the communication was "Finnish Hockey League games go on after all!" The greatest barriers to the execution of the strategy were an extremely tight schedule and a minuscule overall budget. This framework directed the way the strategy was to be executed. Focus was to be set on utilising all partners' channels and earned media effectively to gain momentum and visibility organically.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

On a global level, we launched a PR-campaign to inspire and activate media to challenge other traditional series to take similar action. The PR-campaign was directed at news media, sports and esports medias alike to create a global topic amongst the crisis. The approach was created to help cheer people up and help to see possibilities in the midst of dark and uncertain times. On a local level the execution utilised earned social and media to reach hockey fans and engage them with the series. This was done by connecting ePlayoffs with the traditional series by visual style, tone-of-voice and broadcast execution. The approach made ePlayoffs approachable for media and audience not familiar with esports. TIMELINE * 13.3. Playoffs cancelled
 * 17.3. Idea is created.
 * 25.3. All materials are produced * 31.3. PR-campaign and announcement on local and global level * 8.4. ePlayoff begin
 * 25.4. Finals and championship

List the results (30% of vote)

ePlayoffs earned wide coverage in international media, won Finnish hockey-fans over and brought much needed entertainment in the midst of a global pandemic. The matches were viewed by over 300,000 unique viewers which is comparable to traditional playoffs. Earned media was worth 3 462 210€ and reach went up to 374 292 933 impressions. Brand awareness of Telia Esports Series catapulted from 21 % to 41 % among all Finns following the campaign. ePlayoffs brought Telia's long-term vision a step closer: to make esports a mainstream sport in Finland. ePlayoffs changed the course of Finnish sports culture. Following the success of ePlayoffs, Finland's two largest sport sports leagues – Liiga in ice-hockey and Veikkausliiga in football – both decided to start their own esports leagues in collaboration with Telia Esports Series. 'eLiiga' and 'eFutisliiga' will launch in November 2020.