Title	WHEN LOVE MATTERS
Brand	TAHDON2013
Product/Service	EQUAL MARRIAGE LAW
Category	A03. Public Affairs & Lobbying
PR Agency	MILTTON Helsinki, FINLAND
Entrant Company	MILTTON Helsinki, FINLAND

Name	Company	Position
Lauramaria Havu	Miltton	Account Director
Senni Moilanen	Tahdon2013	Chairperson
Mikko Hakkarainen	Miltton Creative	Creative Strategist
Milla Halme	Tahdon2013	Political Coordinator
Heli Suominen	Miltton	Senior Advisor
Satu Pusa	Miltton	Communications Consultant
Mari Kamaja	Miltton Networks	Communications Consultant
Sannamari Vuorela	Miltton	Graphic Designer
Sampo Axelsson	Miltton Creative	Digital Creative Director
Tino Aalto	Miltton	Communications Consultant

The Campaign

Finnish parliament was voting to make same-sex marriage legal in Finland. Previous attempts to pass the law had failed, and again, its fate looked unsure. Right before the vote in fall 2014 many MPs were still unsure of their stance. Citizens’ Initiative Tahdon2013 (IDo2013) needed a new way of reaching undecided MPs, many of whom were from the conservative and business oriented Centre and National Coalition parties. Together with Tahdon2013, we realized that support from the business world could make a difference. But Finnish businesses don’t take part in political debate. We needed to change this culture and find a way to encourage businesses to step forward. A workshop introduced the issue to businesses and demonstrated potential commercial and employer branding benefits. A group of companies was enlisted to show their support on a website created for the campaign, encouraging others to join. Standing up for gay rights was made easy with an online platform and shareable social media content. With well-placed media pitches throughout the campaign, easy participation mechanism and leverage from social media, businesses began to challenge each other and the campaign became a phenomenon. Media coverage was huge, with over 250 hits during two weeks. 950+ businesses signed up in two weeks. #metahdomme (#wedo) was the most popular topic in social media, reaching over 3.8 million users. The campaign was cited by the Prime Minister in his endorsement for the law. MPs heard the message and the law was passed, proving that love really matters.

The Brief

Our goal was to get businesses and organizations involved in endorsing the law for same-sex marriage, because their support could help convincing the undecided MPs. Getting businesses to speak out would not be easy, since the Finnish business-world usually stays away from political debate and remains as neutral as possible. To succeed we needed to change this long standing culture of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’. Individual expressions of support seemed unlikely and we understood a need to create a safe and easy platform for businesses to take part jointly to voice their support for equal marriage.

Execution

Activities started two months before the Parliamentary vote. A month into the vote, we set up an online platform where organizations’ logos and support messages were uploaded. Before going live with the website, we were able to enlist 40 companies and organizations and then contacted Finnish media about publicizing the campaign. The campaign website was launched two weeks before the Vote as the campaign’s home base. We wanted to create unprecedented content in Finland, so we asked organizations to share their messages backing equal marriage both on our website and their own channels. Participation was made as easy as possible; emailing a logo was enough. To enable participants to challenge their peers we created simple #mehaastamme (#wechallenge) images and instructions for spreading the campaign in social media. The platform went viral just a few hours after its launch and the media followed the progress for two weeks until the Vote.

Finnish parliament passed the equal marriage law with votes 105-92. On the day the campaign site was launched, over 200 organizations signed up and messages supporting the law flooded social media. Never had Finnish companies taken a stand like this. The campaign hashtag #metahdomme gained an overall reach of 3.8 million and resparked the nearly forgotten #tahdon2013 on Twitter and Instagram. Companies’ involvement and the campaign was covered in all the most important Finnish media several times, getting over 250 hits in news, articles and opinion pieces nation-wide. Even the Prime Minister appealed to MPs in an open letter, citing the support from companies. The campaign’s social impact was unprecedented in Finland. Organizations and individuals began inviting others to participate and in two weeks the number of supporters went from 40 to over 950 organizations (700 more than anticipated). Tahdon2013 Facebook followers went from 68 000 to nearly 100 000.

The Strategy

Our main goal was to help Tahdon2013 Citizens’ Initiative to convince Finnish Parliament to vote ‘yes’ on equal marriage law. For our campaign, we identified two target groups: businesses operating in Finland, and ultimately, the undecided members of parliament whom mostly represented the conservative and business-oriented centre and right-wing parties. Our analysis was that businesses could freshen up the existing stagnant debate as well as bring in messages relevant to undecided MPs. To reach and recruit businesses we organized a workshop titled “Equality, equal marriage law and organizations.” The workshop introduced the upcoming #metahdomme campaign (#wedo), presented international cases and discussed the commercial and employer branding opportunities arising from supporting equality. Having businesses and organizations publicly step up for gay rights and invite others to do so would create a very strong and surprising impact in Finland in both traditional and social media and appeal to the politicians.