| Title | MEN OF ROCK |
| Brand | VR |
| Product/Service | RAILWAY TRAVEL |
| Category |
B08. Events & Stunts |
|
Entrant
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TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
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Idea Creation
|
TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
|
PR
|
TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
|
Production
|
TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
Credits
| Taneli Mattelmäki |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Business Partner |
| Jyrki Poutanen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Executive Creative Director |
| Jeroen van Hove |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Chief Data Officer |
| Juhana Hokkanen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Head of Creative Technology |
| Pia Grekula |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Art Director |
| Ville Ohtonen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Copywriter |
| Simone Bocedi |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Creative Content Strategist |
| Janni Widerholm |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Creative Content Strategist |
| Nea Astala |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Data Analyst |
| Sanni Salminen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Graphic Designer |
| Tuukka Laitinen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Editor |
| Tobias Andersson |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Editor |
| Mark Stroman |
McGhee Entertainment |
SVP Sales & Marketing |
| Pia Lindroos |
LiveNation |
Marketing Manager |
| Mikko Junttila |
ToinenPHD |
Account Manager |
| Mikko Vieri |
VR |
Social Media Specialist |
| Anne Kankaanpää |
VR |
Campaign Planner |
| Sara Kontio |
VR |
Marketing Planner |
| Henna Norberg |
VR |
Communications Manager |
The Campaign
When VR heard, that the epic heavy band KISS was arriving in town, it connected the dots: the band AND the statues are both “men of rock”.
VR realized, that merging Finns’ metal enthusiasm with VR’s own brand symbol in a highly surprising and concrete manner would result in wide spread positive attention.
Execution
First VR invited Finnish KISS fans to enter a competition. The main prize was the permit to paint the four 3D printed masks.
After going through thousands of applications from eager KISS fans, we selected four of them to do the painting.
A week before the KISS concert we attached the masks on the statues, so that everyone had ample time to check and selfie them. The masks became a temporary landmark sight, everyone in Helsinki wanted to see them.
On the concert day we invited the band to visit the statues, and they were more than willing to arrive. They were so impressed with the gigantic masks, that they asked VR to donate them to tour the various KISS Expo’ of the world.
Through each and every step of the process we carefully fed PR to press nationally and internationally.
Men of Rock become the most covered Finnish campaign in Finnish media, ever. 265 articles were released, including all 10 of the 10 biggest newspapers, the two biggest tv news channels and all national radio channels. Needless to say, Facebook, Twitter and especially Instagram went crazy.
The campaign, that only cost 36 000 €, reached 196 000 000 impressions and earned media value was 6 733 356 € – over 187 times the campaign costs.
And most importantly: all the media coverage and social media discussion was positive for the VR brand – the total opposite of the negative tone of the recent years.
The Situation
With Men of Rock VR created a PR topic, that spread across all Finnish major newspapers, radio channels and tv news stations.
The campaign had zero media costs, instead it focused on carefully crafting the press releases and other PR material accordingly for each journalist group: heavy metal media, travel bloggers, general media, viral media etc.
And for Finnish media (which reached the campaign’s real target group, Finns) the main message was all along “VR has been noticed in international media”.
Men of Rock proved, that well executed PR can make a significant and cost-efficient impact.
The Strategy
As VR is the National Railway company, its target audience is more or less the entire population of Finland. The best (and cheapest!) way to reach them all, was to create something, that would have the national press and Finns in social media talk about it.
We first fed our PR material to international press. Moreover, we negotiated with KISS, that they would release the material first, in their social channels. This way we got international media to cover “Finland creating the ultimate KISS tribute”.
As soon as the international news spread, Finnish media got excited. “VR has made the news abroad” was all over national media for three weeks in a row.
Our only “media ad placement” were the four KISS masks placed on the faces of the Men of Rock statues, Helsinki’s most central sight, located at the main railway station.