DUOLINGO
TRANSLATED INTO TARTAN
BRIEF
When Ukraine was set to travel to Scotland for their first football match since Russia’s invasion, we just knew Duolingo had to get involved.
However, this wasn’t just any game. Not only was it the first game Ukraine had played in 2022, it was also a vital qualifier for both sides. A home win for Scotland would have edged them considerably closer to World Cup contention, lose it and they were out altogether. The Scots were hardly going to let poor poor Ukraine have a free ride, illegal war or no illegal war.
IDEA
When it comes to international football, there’s one moment before the game where both sets of fans experience the other team’s language in full voice: the national anthems. And that gave us an idea…
What if we could get the Scots to join in and, in an act of love, humanity and sporting solidarity, sing the Ukrainian national anthem before the game?
RESULTS
In the run up to the game, we deployed dozens of former Scottish internationals and celebs to urge the fans to participate. You couldn’t turn on a TV or radio in Scotland without someone talking about the idea. We then worked with Duolingo’s academics to produce a phonetic translation of the Ukrainian anthem. And we published it as full page adverts in every Scottish national newspaper, as well as handing out anthem sheets at the stadium. Amazingly, loads of the Scottish fans declined the handouts - they’d already learned the words. No Scotland, no party.
Every national covered it, repeatedly. It was spoken about at length during the match. It dominated Scottish radio phone-ins and TV interviews in the run up to the game. And, bizarrely, tens of thousands of Scots now know the words to “Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia”, the anthem of a proud nation, more in need of foreign friends than ever before.
