We’re thrilled to share that we just won a gold in the Svenska Designpriset, a contest celebrating the very best design in communication. Our app for SVT and Melodifestivalen was praised by the judges in the ‘Device and Tablet’ category as “a smart, pretty and loveable solution to a problem that created a huge 33,438,227 engagements from the watching audience - and almost as many in the jury room”.

The app encouraged users to ‘rösta med hjärtat’ - vote with your heart - to help disconnected viewers feel a real-time connection with Melodifestivalen, the 6-week long contest to determine Sweden’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. Mello has as many as 4 million viewers - just under half the population of Sweden - and it is the nation’s most watched programme. But in recent years, views have dropped and sentiment has floundered; with many viewers expressing a concern that the show wasn’t even filmed live. This is why the heart vote was so important, connecting the audience at home and making them feel like an integral part of the programme once more.

The app functioned as a second screen, encouraging users to vote in the moment with all their heart. And we mean that literally as well as figuratively. Users voted for their favourite act by pressing the heart symbol whenever they felt inspired to throughout a performance. To differentiate from every other staged, reality-TV show out there, we introduced the ability to ‘heart’ multiple acts more than once, and see the feedback immediately on-screen. And an on-screen intensity metre showed how many people were 'hearting' an act, showing how votes were being cast across Sweden.

The change in viewer engagement was striking. Over 30% of viewers used the app and we collected 36,711,512 votes - so it is fair to say that the app and ‘voting with the heart’ became a national phenomenon!