AIK: Jinx Gothenburg

Black cats, ladders and broken mirrors appeared all over the Swedish city of Gothenburg last August in an effort by its rival soccer team, AIK, to see if it could 'jinx' the team ahead of an important match.

As a 'psychological experiment', agency Jung von Matt, Stockholm, asked AIK fans all over Sweden to donate bad luck symbols or suggest them via SMS in order to promote the match. A team of volunteers travelled to Gothenburg and set up the bad luck-installations around the city, filming and streaming the activity live to the website. Fans who donated symbols saw their own names tagged on them. Finally, Gothenburg players were shown footage of the project.

The result? Gothenburg's luck was not affected. But AIK gained buzz and positive media coverage, with no media budget.