Brand Experience and Activation > Channels

UGLY TRUTH SWEATER

TBWA\HELSINKI / HELSINGIN SANOMAT / 2019

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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

The work is relevant as it brings important issues in a new activating way to a new target audience. The work uses an existing light hearted trope in the opposite way than it is commonly used.

It is an experience like no other, as it hangs in peoples wardrobes, reminding them of the issues that we all need to tackle.

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Helsingin Sanomat is the Nordics largest newspaper. The last few years have been a time of transformation as the paper is targeting a younger audience base.

This Christmas, the paper wanted to highlight how it doesn’t shun from the truth and informs people on important matters, every day. Its purpose is to counteract indifference and make the important interesting.

As the holidays approach, people tend to push bad news aside. To illustrate its relevance, Helsingin Sanomat aimed the spotlight on more important matters that need attention during Christmas; the ugly truths, climate change, war, and abuse of power.

Describe the creative idea

One of the biggest Christmas trends for the last past years has been the ugly sweater with the tacky Christmas-themed illustrations from reindeer to snowmen. It has quickly become a part of modern culture and a must-have for any young adult with a fashion sense. But what if Rudolf was replaced by a burning globe or the cute little snowflakes became bombs?

To highlight the ugly truth, Helsingin Sanomat created its own limited collection of ugly sweaters that depicted some of the ugliest news of year. Each sweater was dedicated to a single subject and illustrated accordingly. The subjects ranged from sexual harassment to climate change, war, technological manipulation and plastic pollution.

Describe the strategy

In order to renew its subscription base and sustain a viable business model, Helsingin Sanomat needs to attract an urban, under 40-year-old demographic. This necessitates underlining the brand’s relevance to modern society through value-driven actions and communication.

The paper’s approach to executing this has been coined in the phrase: “make matters matter.” Surfacing important and topical matters and making them feel more interesting and noteworthy is at the brand’s core. Tapping into topical themes has proven to be an effective strategy for many brands, but especially for a news brand timeliness is a key factor.

In this campaign, Helsingin Sanomat focused on making the most important topics of the year relevant over the holidays by riding on a timely fashion phenomenon. The light-hearted nature of the sweater trend juxtaposed to the heavy subject matter gave weight to the brand’s message.

Describe the execution

Helsingin Sanomat created five different sweater designs to depict the ugliest news topics of the past year, as chosen by the editorial staff: climate change, war, plastic pollution, technological manipulation, and sexual harassment.

The topics were illustrated with a specific lo-fi style to pay homage to the ugly sweater tradition and underline the problem in a minimalistic fashion. The pixelated style also highlighted the sweaters’ production method. Instead of printing the designs, the shirts were knitted from 100 % merino wool in a local production facility.

The sweater collection was highly limited: 100 sweaters were produced in total, with 25 going to people fighting to resolve the issues and 75 put on sale online. The shirts sold out in a matter of hours.

The sweaters were accompanied with a series of interviews in the newspaper to complement and deepen the brand experience.

List the results

The ugly sweaters generated a total earned reach of 52 million impressions with an earned media value of 483 000 €, a 928 % return on investments.

The shirt collection was sold out at 105 €/piece.

The sweater campaign showed a clear brand impact for Helsingin Sanomat. In a consumer study, 37 % of respondents reported an increase in brand image and consideration. Consequently, Helsingin Sanomat exceeded its sales targets by 23 % in December.

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