Title	MATCH MADE IN HEL
Brand	FINNAIR & FINAVIA
Product/Service	HELSINKI AIRPORT
Category	A06. Events & Experiential (incl. stunts)
Entrant Company	SEK & GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
Advertising Agency	SEK & GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
Advertising Agency 2	MIRUM Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Agency	DAGMAR Helsinki, FINLAND
Production Company	PABLO FILMS, FINLAND

Name	Company	Position
Karla Martinez Majander	Sek/Grey	Project Director
Jari Ullakko	Sek/Grey	Creative Director
Suvi Lähde	Sek/Grey	Senior Creative
Joni Furstenborg	Sek/Grey	Art Director
Roope Nevander	Sek/Grey	Planner
Antti Nieminen	Finnair	Head Of Brand/Marketing Communications
Anssi Partanen	Finnair	Marketing Manager
Emmi Teräs	Finnair	Marketing Manager
Markus Haapamäki	Finavia	Communications Specialist
Anna Tuomi	Finavia	Marketing Manager
Mari Rouvi	Finnair	Communications Manager
Jukka Metsäaho	Pablo Films	Director/Editor
Henri Ollinkari/Jyri Paajamaa	Pablo Films	Producer
Kim Koponen	Pablo Films	Director Of Photography
Arto Saari		Photographer
Miila Peltonen	Dagmar	Client Director
Joe Woods	Dagmar	Planning Manager
Markus Vuorinen	Dagmar	Digital Planner

The Campaign

When raising awareness, small operators like Helsinki Airport and Finnair can't afford to compete with the big international competitors' media budgets. This meant a clear shift from traditional storytelling for the mass media to creating content with high PR value. Our idea was simple: Let’s tap into a grassroots movement with extensive access to pop culture – let’s connect with top skateboarders from around the world and give them a chance to do what has been done only in the Tony Hawk computer game. With our creative idea of skateboarding at an airport we created enormous interest from the beginning. The campaign had three stages: 1. Recruitment: A series of invitation films starring top skaters launched the competition – key lifestyle media were contacted and invited to the upcoming session. 2. Event: The event at Helsinki Airport was documented as a film – selected media got exclusive access to the restricted session and the world’s top skaters. 3. Distribution: A documentary film of the session with extra materials was released through existing PR contacts – thanks to the hardcore media’s coverage the mass media picked up our story. Instead of bought advertising we focused on creating relevant content and opportunities both for consumers and the media. The key was to keep monitoring earned media developments and reacting along the way.

The Brief

In today’s marketing environment we need to do things that bring a significant amount of interest and awareness to Finnair and Helsinki Airport. With this simple idea we created something truly unique simply by granting access to skaters so that they could skate the unskatable Helsinki Airport. By gaining hard-core credibility we managed to create mainstream desirability. This formed the basis for our PR strategy that relied on first getting the lifestyle media’s interest and harnessing its power for seeding the message to wider audiences. All the earned media development was constantly monitored and new content and scoops released according.

Execution

The campaign had 3 stages: 1. Recruitment – 3 weeks: A series of invitation films starring top skaters launched the competition on our campaign site. Key lifestyle media were personally contacted and invited to the upcoming session. A PR package was sent to a wider list of media contacts. 2. Event – 3 days: The event at Helsinki Airport was held and documented in a film. Selected media were invited exclusively to the restricted session with access to totally unique spots like runways and hangars. The skaters were sharing their stories and experiences then and there. A material bank with high-quality images was opened for the mass media. 3. Distribution – 4 weeks: A documentary film of the session with extra materials was released through existing PR contacts. An updated PR package with new content and scoops was sent to a wider list of media contacts. The earned media developments were monitored and content provided accordingly.

During the campaign the share of new visits to the Finnair website increased to 39% of all visits. In the end the campaign became the most successful in the companies’ history, with 75% of all impressions coming from earned media. It reached over 118 countries virally, with paid advertising in only 6 markets. The earned media, PR value of the campaign reached €2,875,896. We generated more than 111,772,500 impressions with embedded content in different media. In the end 75% of all impressions came from earned media. People’s own shares and engagement with our content reached an audience of 46 million people. We managed to build our social community by 10% with new followers. Our campaign built positive brand image with content likability twice as high as generally. Of all the online conversation only 0.5% was negative.

The Strategy

Our aspirational target group is critical for traditional advertising and actively uses digital channels. By gaining hard-core credibility we knew we’d manage to create mainstream desirability. Carefully planned phasing added to the virality: first we seeded the content through the influential skateboarders and their hard-core media. The pull effect was supported by publishing new, relevant content in our own social media channels and granting exclusive access to selected media during the skate session. Soon our campaign was picked up by several big media outlets and the campaign started to live in its own ecosystem.