TRANSLATED INTO TARTAN
Teaching Scotland fans how to sing the Ukrainian National anthem for Duolingo.
Just in time for their World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park.
The Background
The World Cup is a natural time to talk about language, so Duolingo wanted to get involved, but there was a much bigger story taking precedent. Ukraine was set to play Scotland, the first international game for the country since the Russia invasion. We knew the eyes of the world would be watching the fixture, which was a sell out, with everyone wanting to show support to Ukraine.
The Idea
“What if we could teach Scotland fans how to sing the Ukraine national anthem?”.
When football fans are usually pitted against each other, we saw a unique opportunity to bring them together, in a world first campaign that joined two sets of supporters in one national anthem. Oh, and we only had 4-weeks to pull the whole thing off.
Working with the Tartan Army and Ukrainian Opera Singer, Vasyl Savenko, we made it happen, through zoom rehearsals, radio days, a robust earned media strategy and social.
The result? Bucket loads of broadcast, appreciative tears from the Manchester City captain, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and coverage in every national and sports publication.
We took full page ads in the Scottish national newspapers.
Became a part of the official match programme.
And created karaoke style sing along content on social, which Three Lions legend David Baddiel reposted.
