Entering organisation: Cymru Wales (Welsh Government)

In November 2022, the Welsh national football team flew out to Qatar to compete in the FIFA World Cup finals. The first time in 64 years that the nation had participated in the world’s biggest sporting event. This was a big deal for the country. The global audience of 5 billion people presented the team with a unique opportunity to showcase Wales to the world and create a legacy.

With Wales last to qualify, timescales were tight. The team needed to work at speed on comparatively modest budgets. The political controversy surrounding human rights issues and Qatar’s hosting of the tournament meant they needed a pitch-perfect campaign.

The Welsh Government’s brief was to take Wales to the world - to introduce the country, often for the very first time, to new international audiences. An incorporated element was to reignite the hiraeth (longing for home) of their worldwide diaspora; and to create a legacy on which to build further international promotion of the nation.

The team were tasked with developing and delivering a multilingual integrated campaign that showcased our progressive, values-driven nation to the world, and doing so through an innovative collective of partners that could amplify Wales’s stories beyond what could have been done alone by Government.

The insights-led strategy allowed them to cut through noisy media landscapes with a creative solution that was single-minded to create consistency, yet flexible enough to be delivered through the many executions, territories, and media that they needed to reach. The creative solution was ‘This is Wales, C’mon in’ — an authentic, people-led campaign that introduced Wales and invited the world to get to know them better.  It communicated Wales’s brand proposition and embodied the nation’s values. The people of Wales became the messengers — telling stories, championing values, culture, and traditions in an engaging, unscripted, and authentically Welsh way. They created a suite of multilingual content that allowed bespoke audience journeys pre, during and post tournament — through a multichannel strategy, with an adaptive CTA which was tailored to purpose.

An exciting graphic language brought energy to the campaign — using a bespoke typeface, bold colour palette, dynamic animations and soundscape that blended real sounds of Wales with a re-imagined take on a centuries old folk tune. A suite of hero films deepened audiences’ understanding of the country and values. As well as a pre-tournament ‘croeso’ (welcome), supporting stories were crafted for owned channels and media packs, including stories of LGBTQ+ fans, Welsh supporters’ global charity work, and an inclusive club that helped locals and refugees through difficult times.

KPIs included doubling Wales’s global share of voice (Halo Impact Report) with a 10% increase in global mentions. In addition, the target was to drive addition traffic of 200,000 people to Wales.com and generate 20,000,000 video views and 50,000,000 impressions through paid activity.

The team planned three flexible campaign phases — pre, during and post tournament — to evolve as interest in Wales and football grew and peaked, identifying territories where interest in the World Cup overlapped with existing and future Welsh Government activities - USA, Qatar, UAE, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Ireland, and UK.

Paid digital was informed by qualitative and quantitative research, search trends, social mentions, audience profiles and channel preferences. Each identity was accompanied by a paid media targeting and messaging framework, leading people on a carefully curated content journey across Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.

An additional NatGeo partnership amplified the messages in the USA. Organic, timely, relevant, and engaging social content created a sense of excitement throughout the campaign — shared across owned channels and amplified through cross-posting relationships with key partners.

Co-ordinating ‘Team Wales’, involved innovatively collaborating with 24 major partners, including broadcaster S4C with a ‘Wales on Broadway’ showcase to major influencers and decision makers, including Hollywood A-listers Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Activations included a giant Bucket Hat — an iconic emblem for Welsh football — which became a focal point in Doha, Qatar and attracted global media. The team took a distinctive Welsh Dome to London’s South Bank, showcasing Welsh food and drink, plus a Wales v USA screening for global stakeholders. Digital packs helped people become Welsh fans through engaging content, and the team shipped 1,000 bespoke gift packs around the world – from small mementos to watch party packs for Welsh societies and embassies, and even VIP packs for celebs.

Amongst the cultural ambassadors drawing global media attention in Doha was Laura McAllister, who was asked to remove her special rainbow hat on entering the stadium. The team subsequently worked to ignite a much-needed conversation about diversity and equality.

“This was pure partnership, and the catalyst for that was the Welsh Government campaign. We brought Cymru to the world stage… our values; our language; our music; our bucket hats…you name it. We won the World Cup off the pitch.” said Noel Mooney, CEO, Football Association of Wales.  “Who would have known that a small nation of three million people would have had that kind of impact in our first World Cup in 64 years.”

Wales’s global share of voice grew from 1% to 7% (Halo Impact Report) with a 40% increase in global mentions.  90,141,626 impressions were delivered, +175% on forecast.  45,882,358 video views were generated (+204%) and 677,999 traffic to Wales.com (+1,080%)

There were 66 interviews on global outlets including Reuters, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, France24 creating 17.9bn opportunities to see media coverage. Following pressure from Wales and others, and the worldwide media coverage achieved, FIFA made a global policy change to allow rainbow-themed apparel in stadia. This also contributed towards Laura McAllister becoming the first ever representative from Wales to be elected to the board of UEFA. The innovative partnership-led approach has created a legacy - a powerful model for Government to promote Wales internationally.

Explore over 350 finalists’ and winners’ case studies from the last five years of the City Nation Place Awards on the Place Brand Portfolio – each one has earned industry-wide recognition and contains nuggets of inspiration for building your place brand, engaging your citizens, attracting tourism, talent, or investment. If you’re looking for ideas or to track the approaches of other places around the world, the Portfolio provides the perfect tool.

Learn more here!