In Your Name
Edelman launched the Swedish women national football team jersey for adidas by replacing player names with messages from female role models, earning more than 1 billion media impressions.
Case in 60 seconds
The jersey launch for the Swedish women national football team normally drew no attention and sold very poorly, because few Swedes could name any player on a team the page describes as one of the best in the world.
The campaign appears to turn on the page's own account of girls quitting football by 14 for want of the inspiration boys receive, which makes the absent role model, rather than the product, the thing the launch had to supply.
The jersey back, normally a place for a player's name, was reframed as a carrier for messages from women who refuse to back down, so the launch operated as a social initiative while keeping the sponsorship visible.
Players chose messages from female role models for their jersey backs, including "Believe in your damn self" from Zara Larsson; the jerseys premiered at the Algarve Cup in Portugal, influential women tweeted about them, and interactive jersey screens at Stockholm Central Station took public quotes on International Women's Day.
Edelman reports jerseys sold out at retail in one week, brand purchase intent 40 percent higher among those who viewed the campaign, brand loyalty and preference up 16 points, pride in wearing adidas up 22 points, and +1 billion media impressions, without paid media.
Strategy Breakdown
The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.
Creative & Execution System
Assets & channels
Partners
- Edelman (lead_agency)
Participation mechanic
- On International Women's Day, interactive jerseys displayed on large screens at Stockholm Central Station allowed anyone to post a quote onto them.
Creator role
- Zara Larsson — creator
Results & Evidence
| Metric | Value | Result type |
|---|---|---|
| brand purchase intent uplift among campaign viewers | Brand purchase intent 40 percent higher among those who viewed the campaign | brand_lift |
| media impressions | +1 billion media impressions, without paid media | impressions |
| pride when wearing adidas increase | Brand loyalty and preference rose 16 points; feeling pride when wearing Adidas rose 22 points | performance |
Why Edelman's strategy worked
- 1
A product surface that already carries meaning, such as the name on a jersey back, can be repurposed as the message itself, which keeps a social initiative inseparable from the item being sold rather than layered over it.
- 2
Letting the players select the messages appears to have supplied the endorsement that outreach then travelled on, because the role models tweeting about the jerseys were the same voices printed on them.
- 3
Anchoring the premiere to the Algarve Cup and the Stockholm activation to International Women's Day gave the work two fixed dates to be covered against, which reads as the reason the page can report reach at that scale without paid media.
