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The Swedish Number

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The Swedish Number
Mission statement"spark people’s curiosity about Sweden," to "connect people in troubled times," and to recruit more people to the tourist association.
Owner
CountrySweden
EstablishedApril 6, 2016 (2016-04-06)
DisestablishedJuly 25, 2016 (2016-07-25)
StatusEnded
Websitewww.theswedishnumber.com

The Swedish Number was a tourism campaign that included a phone number to call Swedes that volunteered to participate, by the Swedish Tourist Association, Intelcom, Ingo Stockholm [sv] and the Swedish Institute. It was released on April 6, 2016, and was ended on July 25.

History

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The campaign was in development for 2 years. Near a month before the campaign released, Visit Sweden left development.[1]

On April 6, 2016,[2][3] the Swedish Tourist Association along with Intelcom, Ingo Stockholm, and the Swedish Institute released the campaign.[4] The campaign was released on the 250th anniversary of the removal of censorship in Sweden.[5]

The date when the campaign was supposed to end on was June 6th if it didn't find a sponsor for the amount of money for maintaining the campaign's calls,[6] but on July 25th, the campaign ended.[7][8]

Overview

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A screenshot of the app used for the people who participated.

The campaign had a phone number (+46-771-793-336), to call random Swedes who signed up to be called on a website.[9] In order for a caller to have a call, the Swede on the other side must accept the call through an app,[10][11] and requests for calls only go to people who enable calls to go to them.[12] Before the caller gets a response, a synthetic voice will say "You are calling Sweden, you will soon be connected to a random Swede somewhere in Sweden."[13][14][15]

The mission statement of the campaign was to create more interest to Sweden, to "connect people in troubled times,"[16] and to recruit more people to work in the tourism association.[17][18]

The campaign reportedly had ~11,000 calls.[12] With most of the calls coming from the United States, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.[15][12][11]

Reception

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Multiple sources note that this is the first phone number for people from a specific country.[note 1]

One year after the campaign started, UNICEF, and Forsman & Bodenfors created a spinoff named "The Syrian Number," in reaction of to the popularity of the campaign, and the Syrian civil war.[20]

Accolades

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List of awards and nominations
Year Award Category Result Ref.
2016 Clio Awards Innovation Won [21]
Direct Won
Cannes Lions Direct Won[note 2] [22]
Innovation Won[note 3] [23]
Engagement/Experiential bronze [24]
Public Relations Shortlisted [25]
2017 One Show Mobile Advertising Won[note 4] [26]
User-Generated Content silver [27]
Innovation in Direct gold [28]
Effie Awards Leisure & Lifestyle silver [29]
The Digital Dozen: Breakthroughs in Storytelling Awards N/A Won [19]
DMA Echo Awards Best Campaign under 250,000 Dollars Won [30]
Transport and Hospitality Won
Best Use of Mobile Won
Best Use of Experiential Won

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Sources are: [4][7][9][11][19]
  2. ^ Won Grand Prix.
  3. ^ Won Grand Prix.
  4. ^ Won The Best In Discipline Pencil.

References

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  1. ^ Winberg, Yasmine (August 7, 2017). "Spelet bakom The Swedish Number – hoppade av månader innan lanseringen". Resumé (in Swedish). Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  2. ^ Brokaw, Alex (April 9, 2016). "I called Sweden's new national number to talk to a random Swedish person". The Verge. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  3. ^ Trembath, Brendan (April 8, 2016). "The Swedish Number: You can now call Sweden and chat to a random Swede". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Sweden Creates the World's First Telephone Number For the Country". Marketing Communication News. April 18, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  5. ^
  6. ^ Chokshi, Niraj (April 8, 2016). "'Hello, Sweden speaking': Official hotline connects you with a random Swedish resident". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Wittig, Rob. "CHAPTER 9. GAMES, ROLE-PLAY, AND NETPROVS IN THE REAL WORLD". Netprov. Amherst College Press. pp. 189–190. doi:10.3998/mpub.12387128. ISBN 978-1-943208-29-6. JSTOR 10.3998/mpub.12387128. S2CID 245087341.
  8. ^ Camilleri, Mark; Campoverde, Beder; Alves, Gisela; Chan, Chung-Shing; Coelho, Arnaldo; D'Auria, Anna; Dedeoglu, Bekir; Corte, Valentina; Di Caprio, Veronica (December 4, 2018). The Branding of Tourist Destinations: Theoretical and Empirical Insights. Emerald Group Publishing. doi:10.1108/9781787693739. ISBN 978-1-78769-374-6.
  9. ^ a b
  10. ^ Burke, Michael (June 22, 2016). "Want to call a random Swede? Better hurry, because time is running out". USA Today. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  11. ^ a b c White, Daniel (April 8, 2016). "You Can Now Speak to a Random Swedish Person on the Phone". TIME. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c Davidson, Helen (April 8, 2016). "Sweden launches Phone a Random Swede hotline - but don't mention the chef". The Guardian.
  13. ^ Weller, Chris (April 8, 2016). "Sweden now has an official number you can call to talk to random Swedes". Business Insider. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
  14. ^ Weaver, Hilary (August 2, 2016). "Watch Alicia Vikander Call Random Swedes". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Victor, Daniel (April 8, 2016). "'Calling Sweden. You Will Soon Be Connected to a Random Swede, Somewhere in Sweden'". The New York Times. p. 4. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  16. ^ Horton, Helen (April 7, 2016). "'Call a random Swede' - We tested the Swedish tourist board's quirky new initiative". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  17. ^ Ritter, Karl (April 7, 2016). "Sweden invites world to call 'random' Swedish citizens on new hotline". Global News. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  18. ^ "A Random Swedish person is waiting to take your phone call". New York Post. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  19. ^ a b "THE SWEDISH NUMBER". Digital Dozen. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  20. ^ Beltrone, Gabriel (March 14, 2017). "Swedes Are Asked to Call 'The Syrian Number' in Sobering Spinoff of 'The Swedish Number'". Adweek. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  21. ^ Nudd, Tim (September 28, 2016). "REI's #OptOutside, The Swedish Number Each Win a Pair of Grand Clios". Adweek. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  22. ^ "Succé för The Swedish Number – INGO vinner sitt första Grand Prix någonsin" [Success for The Swedish Number – INGO wins its first ever Grand Prix]. Resumé (in Swedish). June 21, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  23. ^ "The Swedish Number". Clios. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  24. ^ "The Swedish Number". Clios. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  25. ^ "The Swedish Number". Clios. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  26. ^ Kelly, Alan (May 16, 2017). Best Of Discipline Mobile Alan Kelly (Video). The One Club for Creativity – via YouTube.
  27. ^ "THE SWEDISH NUMBER". The One Club. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  28. ^ Langseth, Tove (May 16, 2017). Best Of Discipline Direct Marketing Tove Langseth (Video). The One Club for Creativity – via YouTube.
  29. ^ "The Swedish Number". effie. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  30. ^ Nilsson, Thomas (October 9, 2017). "Elva svenska priser i Echo Awards" [Eleven Swedish prizes in the Echo Awards]. Resumé (in Swedish). Retrieved March 17, 2024.
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