Situation

Fortum is a clean energy company with a mission to drive change towards a cleaner world. This year Fortum was looking forward to sponsor one of the worlds greenest sporting events - The Bislett Games in Oslo. The games was just weeks away when everything stopped. All major events got cancelled by the pandemic.

Brief

Come up with an idea to activate Fortums sponsorship of Bilsett Games.

Goals

1. Use sponsorship to save Bilsett Games

2. Create proof of concept for Fortums brand plattform: "Join the change".

The solution was "Impossible Games". A sporting event without physical spectators and where all infection precautions were upheld. We experimented with new, sustainable solutions that may make their mark on future sporting events. For example, technological solutions that allow athletes to compete against each other in real time from different countries, and thus removing the largest climate footprint from the event.

We knew that rescuing Bislett Games in an innovative way during the pandemic would create quite a media stirr. So we held a press conference, and prepared press releases both for national and international media. Each time a specific event, or a new profiled athlete would join Impossible Games, we used it as an opportunity to create newsworthy stories to give the press.

We also created a partnership with Norways largest broadcaster, NRK, that aired 4 hours of Impossible Games - making it the most viewed content in Norway that day. Even the Prime Minister of Norway attended the event and praised our efforts, resulting in even more PR-coverage.

The interest from the press exceeded our expectations, and the news spread viraly across media outlets around the world.

We changed the historical name of Bislett Games to Impossible Games, and revealed our plans for this one-of-a-kind sports event at a press conference. It created a national sensation. Even British BBC reported that Bislett Games would not be defeated by the virus. And on 11th of June, Impossible Games took place. Among the highlights were Team Ingebrigtsens race in Oslo against Team Cheruiyot in Nairobi. Armand Duplantis who high jumped against Renault Lavillenie i France, and a new world record set by Karsten Warholm in 300 m hurdles. This was the first time an international sporting event was held in such a way, leading the way for sustainable sporting events in the future. And proving that with a creative and relentless will to find a way, nothing is impossible.

Not only did we save Bilsett Games, it became a sensation like never before. PR efforts before, during and after the event resulted in 2917 news articles all over the world. Global powerhouses like BBC, New York Times, LA Times, France 24 and NBC reported that Bislett Games would not be defeated by the virus, and that Track and Field was back like never before. In Norway it became the most viewed broadcast in the country on the day of the event, thus increasing Fortums sponsorship value many times over.

Other sports events across the world has since followed our example, bringing true life to Fortums "Join the change"-plattform.