Encouraging Sustainable Travel Through Swedish Soccer
High-performance engagement: CTR's significantly above industry benchmarks
From clicks to action: sign-up conversion outperforming SJ's own channels
Sustainability made personal: 4.6 million contextual impressions delivered
The Challenge
As Sweden’s leading rail operator, SJ has long championed sustainable travel. With thousands of teams travelling every week to training and matches, SJ saw an opportunity to encourage climate-friendly travel choices within grassroots football. But reaching clubs with relevant, timely communication proved difficult as traditional channels lacked audience targeting, and broad campaigns failed to make Idrottsresan, SJ’s discounted travel program for sports teams, feel personal or practical to the everyday realities of local clubs. SJ needed a way to connect with football families in a context where travel planning naturally occurs, while keeping the user experience seamless and trustworthy.
The Solution
In partnership with the Swedish Football Association and Sportswik, SJ activated Idrottsresan inside Min Fotboll, the digital home of Swedish grassroots football. Using programmatic personalisation, the ad message dynamically adapted to the user’s favourite club, significantly increasing relevance and making the offer feel tailored to each team. To maintain a friction-free experience, users who clicked the ad were directed to a registration page inside the app, reinforcing the message while enabling Min Fotboll’s smart data features to pre-fill club information and reduce administrative steps for team officials. After completing registration, users could seamlessly continue their journey on SJ’s website or return to Min Fotboll. The result was a contextually integrated, highly personalised activation that connected SJ’s sustainability mission with the daily movements of football clubs nationwide.
The Results
(16-week campaign period):
- The campaign achieved a 0.34% CTR across 4.6 million impressions, significantly outperforming industry averages for display ads, which typically range between 0.05% and 0.15%.
- Among those who engaged, 3% completed sign-ups for SJ’s Idrottsresan — an unmatched conversion rate compared to other channels previously used by SJ for the same purpose — effectively transforming the campaign from awareness to action.
- Instead of relying on traditional sponsorship visibility or generic digital banners, the activation delivered personalised, real-time messaging within a relevant digital environment delivering meaningful and measurable engagement.
