#WorldCupOfFlags 2018

@yellamundie
Hi.
This is the story of how people in Panama
were interviewed on the streets
by Panamanian tv crews
because all the way over in London
I spent two weeks playing with emoji on Twitter.

It’s also about how these fine people
with important jobs in Panama spent
some time talking to tv crews about
their country’s national flag.

@yellamundie
And how my Twitter polls and emoji somehow made it
onto Panamanian news.

@yellamundie
Let’s rewind a little:
Between 4-13 June 2018, I organised #WorldCupOfFlags
from the Twitter page of The Flag Institute.
Using the same groups drawn by FIFA for the
World Cup in Russia, people voted for
their favourite flags via Twitter polls.
Top two go through, bottom two go home.

@yellamundie
Wait. What’s this Flag Institute?
The Flag Institute provides advice on the correct use of
flags and heraldry to organisations like the UK
Government, the United Nations and
other important bodies.
They don’t fundraise or advertise.
I help out on their social channels.

@yellamundie
With the World Cup in Russia around the corner,
I spotted an opportunity to create some noise.
So #WorldCupOfFlags was born.
I thought it would be a few lols and an excuse to play
around with polls and emoji with perhaps a dozen
other flag-fans.

@yellamundie
It turns out it was more than a dozen people.
I also learned a few things.
So here goes…

@yellamundie
There are heaps of flags waved about during the World
Cup. You’ll see fans draped in their country’s flag, pubs
hang flag bunting, and sales for football shirts soar.
There is a strong link between The Flag Institute’s work
and the idea of organising #WorldCupOfFlags.
This link is important.

@yellamundie
If the link between what your organisation does and your
content is not strong, people will question why you’re
doing it – especially if it’s something that spans
over many days.
It may look a bit odd if Ikea, Halifax or
River Island spent 2 weeks tweeting polls about
#WorldCupOfFlags.

@yellamundie
So before you go ahead with planning a campaign,
or any piece of content, ask yourself:
How strong is the link between the idea
and the brand’s work?

@yellamundie
The #WorldCupOfFlags ended on 13 June.
The day after, the actual football World Cup
kicked off in Russia.
By aligning it so closely, #WorldCupOfFlags rode on the
enthusiasm and anticipation that was already building
before the actual World Cup started.

@yellamundie
I had the idea in winter,
but I felt was too early to run with it.
The media was not covering the World Cup as much, and
doing it a lot earlier would have missed out on that wider
energy generated around the World Cup.

@yellamundie
If you have an idea but it feels like the wrong time
to work with it, wait.
Sometimes that means waiting months,
like British Airways did with this…

Choose your platforms
wisely.
3

@yellamundie
If you’re going to post a lot of updates, you’re going to
look at Twitter as your primary platform.
It’s more conversational, it moves faster,
and people will be ok with seeing more updates from an
account than they would on Facebook.

@yellamundie
Twitter polls provided the perfect tool to use for this:
pitch one flag vs another flag, and whichever flag gets
more votes goes through.
Twitter polls have been around for a while so people know
what to expect, and the UX around them is excellent.

@yellamundie
Also, emoji.
Those cute flag emoji made a big difference.
People could see what they were voting for.
Maybe people were accidentally learning about other
countries’ flags as we voted…

Reach out to people
who care.
4

@yellamundie
People who care are likely to want spread the word about
the event, and influence those around them.
I knew that @RVKGrapevine in Iceland would be
interested because they ace Twitter every time
Iceland play.

@yellamundie
I suspected that flag enthusiast (and my favourite podcast
host) Roman Mars would also enjoy the polls.
I reached out via DM, as he follows
The Flag Institute’s account.
His tweet that his favourite flag from Group B was
Morocco’s meant loads of his followers saw our content.

Listen to what people are
saying, and be ready to adapt.
5

@yellamundie
I was keeping the polls open for 2 hours, because there
were many to go through, and I had a life to live
outside of updating polls.
However I realised that when popularity grew, this was
not convenient for people in Central America or Asia.

@yellamundie
If your audience is interested and engaged, see what you
can do to accommodate them.
Having people wanting to take part in your work
is a good problem to have.

@yellamundie
I moved the final match forward by one day
(try do that with an actual World Cup match!),
and extended the semi-finals to 3hrs, and
the matches for 3rd/4th place and
the grand final to 5hrs.

@yellamundie
Your audience may even
give you content ideas.
So this throwaway comment…

@yellamundie
… became this additional piece of content,
with people not only voting,
but also suggesting other flags…

@yellamundie
And someone asking whether I had brackets
that showed all the qualified flags
(which I had not thought of creating)…

@yellamundie
… led to this…

@yellamundie
As Roman Mars says in his incredible TED Talk about
flag design which you should totally watch, 100% of
people care about flags.
So there were a lot of opinions about
what the best flag was.
When people make an effort to comment,
it is important to engage with them there and then.

@yellamundie
Don’t throw content out there and assume it’ll
take care of itself.
And don’t ask questions and not be there
to welcome replies.

@yellamundie
The key moments are likely to be what generate
most conversation online.
You need content to acknowledge or celebrate
these key moments.
Content that allows your audience to
amplify your message.

@yellamundie
You won’t have time to create GIFs
or complex images during a
fast-moving event.
Prepare what you need ahead of time.
Before the final, I had two GIFs ready:
one if Panama won, and
one if South Korea won.

@yellamundie
You want content that sits nicely whatever device your
audience is using.
Consider testing your content before
you post it.
I posted all the images and GIFs in a private dummy
account, checked what they looked like on desktop and
mobile, and tweaked until they all fit well.

Be prepared for journalist
requests.
8

@yellamundie
I did not expect journalists to be in touch about what
started off as me tweeting polls using flag emoji
for a few lols.
Two days in, a journalist from The Press Association
DMed to ask some questions.

@yellamundie
But it went wild after Panama won.
A Panamanian journalist wanted to ask questions,
Panamanian accounts were using my content on their
social channels and websites, and two local tv channels
aired clips in their news bulletins.
They interviewed local historians and experts.

@yellamundie
Both channels even interviewed people on the streets of
Panama to ask what they thought about their country’s
flag winning #WorldCupOfFlags.

@yellamundie
This was the first time Panama had reached
the men’s football World Cup…
… and their official national team
Twitter account was tweeting about
#WorldCupOfFlags…

@yellamundie
If you think you’re going to be very busy, consider
pinning a post to your Facebook/Twitter profile saying
journalists can use whatever you post (while giving your
organisation credit).
That way they don’t have to ask you each time.

Where appropriate,
use humour.
9

@yellamundie
If your campaign allows it
and you spot opportunities
to use humour, do it.

Your tone of voice can
make it or break it.
10

@yellamundie
This was meant to be a fun event.
We were voting for flag emoji
to win a fictional World Cup of Flags,
for crying out loud.
My tone of voice reflected this.

Love your
micro-influencers.
11

@yellamundie
Early on I spotted many micro-influencers especially in
Panama, Costa Rica and Iceland.
People who cared that their flag progressed.
They did not necessarily have
tens of thousands of followers.
But they had contacts, and they had passion.

@yellamundie
These were the people who tagged everyone they knew:
friends, ambassadors, even footballers taking part in the
actual World Cup, hoping to get them to vote.
Someone tagged Keylor Navas, Costa Rica’s goalkeeper,
when the Costa Rican flag was
struggling in the group stage…

@yellamundie
Value these people.
These people make a campaign work.
If it wasn’t for passionate people like these micro-
influencers, #WorldCupOfFlags would not have received
so much attention.

@yellamundie
Juan Ramón was one of these folks, encouraging
Panamanian people to vote and being an ambassador
for the competition.
And guess how he found out about the
#WorldCupOfFlags…

@yellamundie
Roman Mars’ tweet saying
Morocco was his favourite flag
from Group B brought a lot of his
followers over to follow the polls.

Nothing wrong with
vanity metrics
when it’s all over.
12

@yellamundie
Eventually Panama faced South Korea
in the grand flag final…
and Panama won.

@yellamundie
It was also nice to see that, inspired by
#WorldCupOfFlags, the Société Française de Vexillologie
organised its own French Cup of Flags in autumn.
And in summer 2019 someone DMed The Flag Institute
to ask us whether we are organising a World Cup of Flags
for the Rugby World Cup 2019.
Source

@yellamundie
It’s great that people remember
#WorldCupOfFlags a year on.
We won’t be doing it again so soon, but we’ll be there,
waving flags and playing with Twitter polls
and flag emoji…
In Qatar 2022.
Source

#WorldCupOfFlags 2018

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