Heroes Campaign

The Slovenian Basketball Federation was faced with one of its biggest challenges as well as opportunities to date by being the organizers and host country of the biggest sporting event in Slovenian history: EuroBasket 2013. It was crucial to carefully convey the key communication message of the national team to a demanding audience. Whilst creating the message we wanted to ensure that the promise we make can be delivered regardless of the final result. 

Our attitude in choosing the campaign slogan had to resemble the attitude needed on the court. We had to be brave as did the players. For this reason we launched the IT’S TIME FOR HEROES campaign and created a hashtag #junaki (#heroes), which was used in all communication tools. This gave a central “meeting point” for all opinions regarding the national team. Our promise was not a medal, but the national team promises to be an outstanding role model and will join Slovenia in a heroic way.

The Slovenian national team did not win the championship or a medal, as a matter of fact they were fifth. But the #junaki (#heroes) movement brought the tough Slovenian fans together and united them with the team and the sponsors during the championship. The interest and support for the national team increased to such an extend that there was a more than 20% enrollment increase into basketball schools around the country. 

In sports victory is a vital ingredient for success. However the #junaki (#heroes) campaign showed that maybe for the first time in Slovenian history the media and fans did not find the achieved result as a failure even though it was viewed as an underachievement by many. We did not promise a medal, we promised to be heroic, and this promise we kept.

AWARDS

- Best digital communication at Sporto 2013