Underwear revolution

Björn Borg was once an equally famous Swedish export during his career as a world tennis sensation from 1974-81. Despite this international fame, few people outside Sweden had heard about his second career as a fashion underwear icon.

The challenge was to turn Björn Borg, international tennis star and playboy from 1980, into Björn Borg, international fashion brand 2010.

In Sweden, young hipsters wear Björn Borg. This uninhibited generation share their lives, their fashion and their sexuality online. Björn Borg decided to partner with and target digital creators and influencers online to carry the Björn Borg brand, and Sweden's unique brand of liberated sexuality - to new territories across the world.

Björn Borg would take Swedish Underwear Liberation to the world. Young influencers across the world were tasked with bringing the Swedish spirit of openness and self-confident sexuality to the lesser fortunate nations.

Bjorn again

All they had to do was to upload a picture of themselves in Bjorn Borg underwear, and they would become a certified Swedish export. People were asked to craft their own unique, cutting-edge look - contributing to a gallery of playful photos of people in their underwear that were certain to spread around the internet.

To encourage participation, Björn Borg started a competition - one which would be judged by the social media peers of the entrants.

A special Swedish export section of the bjornborg.com site was created, and an app developed to showcase the gallery of photos. A simple rating system allowed people to score all the pictures and sharing tools allowed for social media interaction.

It was important to make sure that as many people as possible would quickly catch on to Swedish Underwear Liberation in the 14 countries where Björn Borg was being launched. The international blog platform Bloglovin and the online network of hipster bible Vice magazine were the main platforms of communication, featuring influential opinion leading youngsters. Bloggers and creators created shout-outs to the competition, which was also promoted through Facebook, Google Ads and YouTube pre-rolls.

Prizes to the Swedish exports included a weekend at the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjörvi and the chance to win their weight in underwear.

Each week, one participant was selected to become ' Export of the Week' and the most popular pictures were added to a hall of fame.

Results

Agency metrics recorded more than 600 million eyeballs, representing a 350% increase in traffic to bjornborg.com.

More than a million people shared Swedish Underwear Liberation content. 50 000 new friends were added to the brand Facebook page. 1400 people from 40 countries uploaded photos.

International sales of Björn Borg underwear increased during to US$190 million (+12% during campaign period)

The campaign was shortlisted at the M&M Global Awards in three categories, including 'Best Communication Strategy' and 'Best Use of Digital'.

Why is this on Cream? Appealing to the exhibitionist that probably hides within all of us, Björn Borg have created an irreverent and entertaining platform, that is both relevant to the brand - and sometimes very easy on the eye!