Thinking Bigger Together

Medal Won

• 🥇 GOLD – Business Products and Services

Campaign Overview

Innovation Norway, the government’s key tool for fostering growth in Norwegian businesses, faced a challenge: many companies viewed them as supporting only startups rather than as a partner for established businesses looking to expand internationally. Thinking Bigger Together aimed to shift perceptions, inspiring businesses to dream beyond Norway’s borders and showing Innovation Norway as a partner in achieving ambitious goals.

This bold, motivational campaign broke through the confines of traditional marketing, symbolizing how Innovation Norway helps businesses break barriers and expand horizons.

Creative Concept

The campaign’s central idea, “Thinking Bigger Together,” used the medium as the message: big ideas cannot be contained.

• Expansive Ads: Creative executions broke the physical confines of marketing formats, like magazine spreads that spilled over multiple pages and airport ads reshaped to challenge convention.
• Tailored Channels: Campaign assets were placed in financial magazines, Oslo’s business district, airport terminals, and digital platforms like LinkedIn, targeting CEOs and business leaders.
• Narrative Content: A native story followed Norwegian companies in Innovation Norway’s export program, combining in-depth storytelling with real-life success.

Execution Strategy

The campaign focused on high-visibility and relevance:

• Media Diversity: Included print, digital, video, and live event coordination, timed with the annual Innovation Speech for maximum impact.
• Target Audience: Engaged decision-makers in SMEs and large companies, inspiring them to leverage Innovation Norway’s resources for global growth.
• Social Templates: Made it easier for Innovation Norway to share export advisors’ insights and success stories, creating an ongoing dialogue with businesses.

Impact and Results

The campaign drove measurable success, demonstrating the power of bold, purpose-driven messaging:

• 750K+ views on the native article, with reading time 72% above average.
• 71% surge in funding applications.
• Website visits doubled in duration, reflecting deeper engagement.
• A 10-point increase in companies seeing Innovation Norway as the leading center for business development.

Why It Worked

The campaign addressed a critical need in uncertain times: encouraging companies to think big when the tendency is to play it safe. By creatively breaking marketing conventions, Thinking Bigger Together symbolized the very philosophy it promoted, inspiring Norwegian businesses to expand their ambitions and their borders.