CASE 05 / Swedish Tourist Association (STF) / 2016
The Swedish Number
Make a brand value something a stranger can experience immediately.
Credits: Swedish Tourist Association with INGO Stockholm, as listed in the Cannes Lions campaign archive. This was STF’s campaign, not a Visit Sweden campaign.
Recognition: 2016 Cannes Lions Grand Prix, plus a 2017 D&AD Black Pencil. A separate 2016 D&AD Impact entry records a Graphite Pencil.
Launch / edition: 2016. Award years: 2016, 2017.
The problem. The idea. The experience.
STF wanted more people to become curious about Sweden and to let residents tell their own stories.
How the idea came to life
Launched on 6 April 2016, a national phone number routed overseas callers to randomly selected registered Swedish volunteers. The campaign connected openness to the 250th anniversary of Sweden’s freedom-of-the-press law.
How it reached people
The public invitation was simple: call and speak with a person in Sweden. Volunteer ambassadors supplied the experience. The campaign’s site explains that a switchboard kept private phone numbers hidden.
Supporting sources: Primary brand source, Swedish → Primary campaign site → Primary award archive → Primary award archive →
Read the data in context.
The numbers below describe different kinds of outcomes. Their date, scope and reporting source are part of the result.
- Reporting period
- by 21 April 2016
- Scope
- 176 calling countries; interim campaign snapshot
- Evidence
- Brand-reported
On 21 April 2016, STF reported more than 100,000 calls from 176 countries and over 22,000 registered ambassadors. The original campaign site says the number closed after 79 days.
The creative mechanism.
An open invitation + real people + a surprisingly literal interface
The interface contains the proposition
A country claiming to be open could buy an ad about openness. A country answering the phone makes that value testable. The execution itself becomes evidence for the message.
The next step resolves the curiosity
A surprising headline often leads to a passive video. Here the interested person could immediately try the idea. The story and the call to action were almost the same sentence.
Real people create variation
Each conversation could produce a different anecdote. That gives participants a personal account to share rather than forcing them to repeat a centrally written testimonial.
Trust is created by yielding some control
An unscripted human encounter can feel more credible than a polished tourism promise. That credibility comes with operational responsibilities: privacy, boundaries, availability and abuse handling.
The intended behavior loop
- 01Encounter the unusual invitation
- 02Call and meet a resident
- 03Discover a personal detail about the place
- 04Tell someone about the conversation
- 05Consider learning more or visiting
Growth job: Curiosity → direct experience → destination consideration. This is an interpretation of the mechanism, not an audited attribution model.
A direction to take into the room.
Original editorial analysis and proposed adaptation. This is a proposed adaptation, not historical campaign execution or a forecast.
Offer a scheduled chance to ask a real specialist one useful question before making a buying decision.
The tension
Words such as open, helpful and expert are easy to claim. A bounded conversation can make the promise tangible, but only if the experience protects participants and meets demand.
The opening hook
Proposed B2B invitation: ‘Ask the person who builds it.’
Visual direction
Show the specialist, their role, available topics and the actual session format. Use a plain booking interface and honest capacity information rather than staged spontaneity or implied round-the-clock access.
A three-beat story
- 01
Name a practical question that product copy does not fully answer.
- 02
Show a consented specialist answering within a clear scope.
- 03
Invite a scheduled conversation and offer an optional next step after the answer.
Give the audience a useful next move
Submit an in-scope question or book an available session, then choose whether to continue.
Build for the channel
- Landing page: Explain who is available, the scope, session hours, privacy handling and booking process.
- Social invitation: Lead with an example question and link to real availability.
- Consented Q&A article: Turn approved, nonconfidential questions into useful reading for people who could not attend.
The first idea to test
Does direct specialist access improve qualified next-step requests compared with the standard inquiry experience?
Measure and protect the idea
Compare with normal inquiry handling. Measure qualified next-step requests per completed conversation, helpfulness, wait times and subsequent conversion over a defined period. Conversation volume alone does not establish bookings or sales.
Use opted-in, appropriately compensated participants, protected contact details and clear capacity limits. Provide abuse controls and an exit route. Exclude confidential customer information. Do not advertise an unscripted exchange while scripting praise.
Turn the lesson into a test.
What you can borrow
Translate an abstract promise into a small interaction someone can try. If the claim is “helpful,” provide help. If it is “open,” create appropriate access. If it is “expert,” let people test that expertise.
What needs a rethink
Unrestricted access to staff or customers creates privacy and harassment risks. Use consented volunteers, protected contact details, clear hours, abuse controls and a way to leave. Do not promise an unscripted experience while secretly scripting praise.
Illustrative adaptation, not a historical campaign fact
A small-team experiment
A specialist travel company hosts a limited “ask a local” session with paid, opted-in guides. A B2B company offers a scheduled “ask the engineer” window with approved topics and no confidential customer information.
Build the test
- Choose one brand promise people currently have to take on trust.
- Create a bounded human interaction that proves it.
- Set expectations, privacy protections and capacity limits.
- Offer an optional next step after a useful conversation.
Measure the right thing
Primary: qualified next-step requests per completed conversation. Secondary: wait time, helpfulness, opted-in referrals and later booking conversion. Compare with normal inquiry handling.
Know when to stop
Reduce or pause access if response quality drops, volunteers feel unsafe, or the experience cannot meet its advertised promise.
How this reading fits your brief
Start with the useful part.
Best for: Curiosity → direct experience → destination consideration
What to adapt: Translate an abstract promise into a small interaction someone can try. If the claim is “helpful,” provide help. If it is “open,” create appropriate access. If it is “expert,” let people test that expertise.
Prerequisites: Willing ambassadors; Contact privacy; Routing infrastructure; Availability and abuse handling.
Smaller-team route: A bounded scheduled expert session can test the brand-promise principle without an always-on phone service.
Budget: Not established by the cited sources. No cost-fit claim is made.
Trade-offs and evidence: Read the limits below before choosing a test. There is no guaranteed reach, sales lift or ROAS.
Questions for your next brief
- What would it look like if our brand promise had a button?
- Who can make the promise believable through a real interaction?
- What needs to be protected before we invite the public in?
Sources & further reading.
Brand and award-entry results are attributed claims, not independent causal audits. Source links open the original third-party pages.
- STF: 100,000 calls, 21 April 2016 →Primary brand source, Swedish · Supports: Launch date, objective and dated call/ambassador totals.
- The Swedish Number: original campaign site →Primary campaign site · Supports: Mechanic, switchboard privacy and closure after 79 days.
- D&AD: The Swedish Number, 2017 →Primary award archive · Supports: Historical concept and 2017 recognition.
- Cannes Lions archive: The Swedish Number →Primary award archive · Supports: INGO Stockholm, STF and 2016 campaign credit.
- D&AD: Swedish Number, 2016 Impact →Primary award archive · Supports: Separate 2016 Graphite Pencil.
Independent educational analysis of external campaigns. These are not SNS client projects, endorsements or claims of involvement. Campaign facts and reported outcomes are attributed to their sources. Explanations, adaptations and test plans are original analysis and hypotheses, not proven causal findings.