The whole Finland saw red
HIFK
Challenge
How to get people to attend HIFK's games throughout the entire season? There are plenty of alternatives for leisure activities, and it's easy to stay at home. The regular season is lengthy, spanning from September to March, and HIFK has 30 home games. An additional challenge was the record inflation and recession, leading people to cut back on all extra expenses.
In hockey, it's all about emotions. HIFK is the most loved and hated team in Finland. Therefore, the insight is very clear: the more successful we are in evoking emotions in fans of other teams, the more our own fans love HIFK.
Insight
Strategy
The strategy of the campaign was unconventional. The campaign was specifically targeted towards other league cities. The executions were based on understanding what triggers the emotions of other fans the most. It is a boldly confident claim that Helsingin IFK is the top team not only in Helsinki but in all league cities. We wanted to make the whole of Finland see red, and thereby have fans of other teams spread our campaign.
The other league cities
Just before the season started, we took over every league city’s main spot to highlight which team is the city’s true number one and that the people there are devoted HIFK fans. Of course, this was done using their dialects to maximize the impact.
Radio & TikTok
In Turku, Tampere, and Oulu people heard radio ads about the city’s top team. The reception was so warm that on TikTok, the radio ads became viral, thanks to fans of other teams.
Home city
Contrary to popular belief, HIFK is more than a bilingual club. HIFK is an open community where anyone with a red heart is warmly welcome. We communicated this in Stadi’s different languages – including sign language.
Objectives
The goal of the campaign was for our own fans to love HIFK even more. The more this happens, the more they attend games.
Results & Findings
On TikTok : over 500k views, 15k likes, more than 5k shares & 600 comments with zero media spend. In addition, HIFK set a new record for the league’s average attendance.
