IFK Gothenburg’s ‘Support 24/7’ Radio Station provided football fans the live in-stadium songs and chants they missed when they were unable to go to games in person during the pandemic any time they missed the live stadium atmosphere and wanted to hear the songs they love (and sing along).
When Covid-19 hit fans of Sweden’s IFK Gothenburg – like supporters all over the world – were missing being able to sing along on the stands in support of their team and were only able to watch silent games from empty stadiums on TV during lockdown.
So, IFK Gothenburg teamed up with agency Forsman & Bodenfors to launch ‘Support 24/7’ – an online radio channel which broadcasted team songs and crowd chants 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week (click ‘Support 24/7’ here).
100s of recordings from previous IFK Gothenburg games were turned into audio-only files and mixed into a never-ending audio stream of the team’s classic crowd songs and chants.
Supporters could then turn on their radios whilst watching the achingly empty and silent games on TV to feel some of the atmosphere, or even just tune in whenever they missed the sounds of a full ‘Gamla Ullevi’ stadium.
When it came to game day itself, the live streams were adapted in real-time to what was happening on the pitch: with louder cheers and celebratory singing when IFK Gothenburg were playing well and scoring.
Support 24/7 was launched when some of Sweden’s tightest and toughest restrictions were in place and ran until October when fans were finally able to return to stadiums for the first time in 18 months.
“We couldn’t bring the fans to the stadium, so instead we brought the sound of the stadium to them”, explained Forsman & Bodenfors Creative Gustav Johansson.
The campaign was created for IFK Gothenburg’s media and information manager Marcus Modéer by a team at agency Forsman & Bodenfors AB which included Art Directors Sophia Lindholm and Karl Risenfors, Copy Writer Gustav Johansson, Client Director Marie Murphy, Account Executive Anna Börve, Designer Christopher Ek, Digital Strategist Peter Gaudiano, with Web Designers Lundgren+Lindqvist AB, Case Production was handled by Cutback Studio and sound and voice over by TMP.
Comment
This was an innovative, fan-friendly and highly accessible way for one of Sweden’s biggest football clubs to keep connected to their fans during the crisis.
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