WELCOME TO HAALAND

TitleWELCOME TO HAALAND
BrandNORSK TIPPING
Product/ServiceNORSK TIPPING
Category A03. Travel, Leisure, Retail, Restaurants & Fast Food Chains
Entrant TRY REKLAME Oslo, NORWAY
Idea Creation TRY REKLAME Oslo, NORWAY
Production MOTION BLUR Oslo, NORWAY
Credits
Name Company Position
Sebastian Rasch Try Art Director
Mads Krogh Try Copywriter
Jonas Kopstad Grønnern Try Copywriter
Lars-Kristian Harveg Try Art Director
Helge Gjertveit Try Account Director
Cecilie Thue Try Project Manager
Inge Fosseie Try Graphic Designer
Harald Zwart Motion Blur Director
Nina Lorentzen Motion Blur Producer

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

The film follows a group of four people at a British pub, watching television as Norwegian footballer Erling Haaland scores a goal. The strikers atmospheric rise to the top of European football hasn't gone unnoticed, and a seemingly rhetorical question about where he comes from kickstarts a conversation about where he is from, literally. From there, we’re taken on a journey into “Haaland”, a place that mixes fantastical elements with stereotypes of Norway. It culminates in utter confusion as Martin Ødegaard and Joshua King (other Norwegian internationals) are brought into the conversation.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

People around the world don’t know much about Norway. It’s either lumped in or mixed up with other Scandinavian countries or called “one of those Nordic countries”. They may have some vague idea relating to snow and oil, season that with myths about polar bears and universal blondness and you have Norway, viewed from abroad. Most of the time, there really isn’t that many good reasons to know much about Norway. But when a golden generation of footballers arrive, led by Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard, you’d think it would put Norway on the map. But does it? Ødegaard is regularly called a Dane in British newspapers, and Haaland seems to have transcended the idea of nationality entirely. This general ignorance about Norway is representative for how foreign betting companies enter Norway without an understanding of Norwegian sports, or how the state-funded lottery, Norsk Tipping, operates to benefit Norwegian sports.