We who remain

Hammarby Football

Mission

Hammarby Fotboll’s campaign “I’m still standing!” campaign managed to secure 12,345 supporters out of a possible 16,000. The campaign appealed to supporters not to demand refunds for season tickets purchased for 2020 when the pandemic struck.

Before the end of the season, Hammarby Fotboll wanted to thank those supporters who stuck with their season tickets – but they didn’t know how.

Solution

We produced the portrait series ‘We Who Remain’. The series consisted of five supporter portraits to celebrate the supporters who chose to “stand by” during the campaign.

These personal portraits would be intimate insights into the lives and thoughts of supporters in their decision to support the club in this trying time. The feeling would be documentary – raw and real.

As the only common denominator for all supporters is their love for the club, a major challenge was to try to represent as wide a range of supporters as possible – women and men of all ages and backgrounds were to be represented, as well as partners.

Results

The videos ran during the 2020 Christmas calendar on Hammarby’s website and their social media channels. The aim of the films was to highlight the individual stories behind supporters decisions to remain and to celebrate the “regular” supporter.

The comments were clear – the videos were appreciated and the campaign laid the groundwork for season ticket sales for 2021 – a year when they also didn’t know if matches will be played in front of a crowd. At the time of writing, over 14,000 season tickets have been sold, a figure that is unique in Swedish football.