CONCEPT, SOCIAL, WRITING

Breaking the Internet with the 1891 Black Edition

Introducing the World’s Most Stylish Club

Allsvenskan is ranked as the 22nd best league in Europe. So when a pre-season kit is released, there should be no reason for the World to care. Unless that pre-season kit is the 1891 Black Edition. Then it will crash servers, snatch headlines from China to Chile and––to a degree––create more buzz than Ronaldo joining Juventus. And all for a good cause: Raising funds to counter segregation in the Stockholm suburbs.

Agency: River
Role: Creative strategist / Copywriter

Read more

The Challenge
In 2018, AIK marked their joining of the Nike roster by releasing two limited edition jerseys; replicas of their first ever gold-winning kits. The kits became a global success and the season ended in another league trophy, AIK’s first in nine years. For the 2019 pre-season, we wanted to repeat success without repeating ourselves.

The Solution
We wanted to establish the iconic design of 1891 as a brand within the brand, making it synonymous with high-end fan attire, and prime the market for future releases under that umbrella. The strategy was to go global-first, partnering up with news outlet SoccerBible and their affiliated retailer Pro Direct. Thus, we guaranteed global spread that would allow for a local trickle-down effect.

We charged the kit with a narrative rooted in AIK lore. The story contained four “buckets” of talking points––sports, lifestyle, finance and CSR––and was seeded to relevant media gatekeepers.

The kit was released without prior announcement and sold in 128 units exclusively at aikshop.se, one for every year the club has been about. An equal quantity was released to the global fanbase the day after, at ProDirect. The small quantity and premium packaging aimed for talk value, to give the reigning champions a PR platform prior to the upcoming season.

The Result
The release matched and exceeded the success of the 2018 release, selling out in seconds and creating a huge buzz on social media that left the fans wanting more.

Show less

The release shot of the 1891 Black Edition became a social media record-breaker for global retailer Pro Direct, amassing north of 2,25 million impressions across all channels––more than doubling that of previous record holder: The first picture of Ronaldo in a Juve kit. Read on to learn how.

The story


Sports
The reigning champions don’t rest on their laurels, but focus on the mission ahead. Black on black means back to work.


Lifestyle
The most stylish club in football? This limited drop in premium packaging will look just as good on the street as in the stands.


Finance
Sold out in seconds! The kit was destined to crash servers and boost demand for further 1891-branded releases.


CSR
All for a good cause! AIK’s sponsors agreed to donate all revenue to an AIK-led youth programme for inclusion through sports.

The Roll Out

Step 1: We released the black-on-black design as a digital tifo prior to the first friendly of the year. Subscribers to AIK:s newsletter where provided with assets and prompted to “Paint the Web Black”.

Step 2: Game day. The kit was revealed through a picture of the AIK locker room with the simple caption “It sure feels good to be back at work 🖤🖤”. Team captain Seb Larsson made sure the kit made the news and sparked conversation by playing in short sleeves and an all black boot-kit-combo––in minus degrees Celsius. Fans started wondering if and when the kit would go on sale…

Step 3: Hurry up and buy! The drop was announced the morning after the match and went live that same afternoon. This gave prospect buyers hours to prepare for the “first come, first served”-style release at aikshop.se. The result: A social media frenzy and crashed servers, both at the AIK fan shop and at global retailer Pro Direct. This gave us something to talk about…

Step 4: Spread the word! With social media buzzing, editorial pictures were seeded to media outlets and published on social channels. Soccer Bible released a series of feature pieces on AIK, proclaiming the club to be the “undisputed dons of footballing replica” and “every bit the club that you wish your club were“.

During the weekend, the 1891 Black Edition became a hot topic from China to Chile, snatching headlines on High Snobiety, Sky Sports, Dagens Industri––and anything in between totalling over 40 articles in more than 15 languages. But the true impact was on social media…
With the buzz generated from the limited drop, and the players acting as influencers, we managed to reach millions in just a few days.
The campaign also helped fuel demand for the upcoming 1891-product line, a Nike led brand within the brand.

And that is the story of how a Swedish pre-season kit––for one moment is time––was bigger than Ronaldo.