How do we communicate a launch of something functional and technical – a self-service tool – that leads to less human interaction between Försäkringskassan and the citizens and still makes Försäkringskassan seem more human and empathic?

The key objectives were three, two short-term and one long-term:

1. Launch the new app that allows people to handle their cases with Försäkringskassan directly in their mobile phones.

2. Highlight the breadth of the app and the different cases it covers.

3. Long term, shift the attitude towards Försäkringskassan, from a bureaucratic agency to a human and empathic one who understands people.

The 2-page spread features a girl with a runny nose on one page and a boy on the other. They’re both facing the camera forming their lips into a kiss. Their lips are aligned, making them kiss each other when the spread is closed.

A small dot of elastic glue was placed between the 2 pages just above the snot coming from the girl’s runny nose. When the spread is opened, the glue formed into a string of “snot” stretching from the girl’s nose over to the boy’s nose symbolizing how easy an infection will spread at kindergarten.

The ad ran in January in Sweden’s biggest magazine for parents and got a massive impact due to the use of the glue-string forming between the pages.

The campaign got a flying start with 220.000 downloads in the first two weeks, and the app took a 10% share from the traditional web service overnight. Today that number has increased even more.

From the launch in November the self-service site has seen a steady growth in traffic, but the proportion of parents who use the self-service reporting tool increased significantly, from 84% in November to 93% in December, well surpassing the year-end goal of 88%.

During that same period, overall customer satisfaction increased by 3-percentage points, from 62% to 65%, also surpassing the overall objective for the year-end.