Title	THE UNKNOWN PLATFORM
Brand	ELOKUVAOSAKEYHTIÖ SUOMI 2017 OY
Product/Service	UNKNOWN SOLDIER
Category	A08. Excellence in Brand Integration & Sponsorships / Partnerships for Branded Content
Entrant	HASAN & PARTNERS Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation	HASAN & PARTNERS Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation 2	ELOKUVAOSAKEYHTIO SUOMI 2017 Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Placement	MEDIATOIMISTO VOITTO Helsinki, FINLAND
Production	ELOKUVAOSAKEYHTIO SUOMI 2017 Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 2	ARILYN Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 3	SF STUDIOS Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 4	POST CONTROL Helsinki, FINLAND

Name	Company	Position
Aku Louhimies	Elokuvaosakeyhtiö Suomi 2017 Oy	Film director, producer
Eka Ruola	hasan & partners Oy	Executive creative director
Miia Haavisto	Elokuvaosakeyhtiö Suomi 2017 Oy	Producer, Managing director
Mikko Tenhunen	Elokuvaosakeyhtiö Suomi 2017 Oy	Producer
Jutta Hopp	SF Studios	Marketing manager
Jarkko Talonpoika	hasan & partners Oy	Graphic designer
Anu Niemonen	hasan & partners Oy	Senior creative
Jutta Casén	hasan & partners Oy	Account manager
Juha-Pekka Kontulahti	hasan & partners Oy	Production AD
Marika Rönkkö	hasan & partners Oy	Producer
Turo van Liere	hasan & partners Oy	UI/UX designer
Vivian Nieminen	hasan & partners Oy	Community Manager
Noora Kirjavainen	hasan & partners Oy	Community Manager
Benjamin Mercer	Elokuvaosakeyhtiö Suomi 2017 Oy	Editor
Mika Orasmaa	Elokuvaosakeyhtiö Suomi 2017 Oy	Cameraman
Jukka Kujala	Post Control	Post producer
Otso Kähönen	Arilyn	Concept Designer
Mats Havia	Arilyn	AR and Motion Designer
Eeva Jäntti	Arilyn	Producer
Toni Marttila	Arilyn	Sales Director
Maija Sarpakunnas	Mediatoimisto Voitto	Client Manager
Piipa Pirhonen	Mediatoimisto Voitto	TV planner
Outi Karppanen	Mediatoimisto Voitto	Senior planner
Jenna Niskanen	Mediatoimisto Voitto	Client coordinator

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

This branded content platform, built for the sponsorship of The Unknown Soldier movie, was a unique way for brands to tell their stories from the platform to activate their audience and at the same time build more awareness for the movie that – thanks to the platform – became the biggest media phenomenon in Finland.

Background

Väinö Linna’s novel (1954) The Unknown Soldier is one of the most important stories related to the national identity of the country of Finland. It tells a story of how Finland defended its independence against the major attack of the Soviet Union during World War II. The novel had been filmed two times, and now – 30 years after the second film – a third version premiered in 2017 during Finland’s centenary independence celebrations. In order to stay within its production budget and to generate more visibility for the movie, the new Unknown Soldier launched an exceptional branded content platform for brands in Finland. The objective was to attract 700 000 spectators for the movie in a country of just 5,4 million people. In addition, one of the key objectives was to turn The Unknown Soldier movie into the biggest phenomenon of Finland’s centenary independence celebrations.

Describe the creative idea

The Unknown Soldier movie is the biggest movie ever made in the Finnish language. The production budget was 7,8 million euros. We knew that we would not be able to reach the production budget without support from brands and companies. Also, even though the movie aimed to attract a huge number of spectators (700 000), the marketing budget of the movie was at the same level as a typical Finnish movie aimed at garnering roughly 150 000 viewers. The idea was to build a platform that allowed brands to tell their stories in ways that were strongly linked to this epic film. In this way all the content from the brands in turn also promoted the movie and thus helped in building the phenomenon. The brands investment in media with their Unknown Stories and their large communities in social media significantly multiplied the movie’s reach.

Describe the strategy

First, we targeted major Finnish brands and companies and presented the idea of platform to them. We specifically targeted companies that have a very broad reach,in order to help make the Unknown Soldier movie a point of national pride for the entire country. During the production of the movie,we wrote scripts for brands that were shot as behind-the-scenes stories for brands to use in national TV campaigns as well as social media content. All these short films were directed by Aku Louhimies,the director of the actual movie. We also shot still images of the partners’ products used during the making of the movie for content in social and print. Nearly two years before the premiere of the movie, these campaigns started to run on national TV and appear online, escalating towards the premiere date. In this way the movie received more pre-launch promotion than any other Finnish movie before it.

Describe the execution

When the partners (brands) received their content (films for TV and social, still images for online and print), they formulated a variety of national campaigns with specific media plans. Also, many FMGC partners launched Unknown products and campaigns to support these. The Unknown platform integrated all these activities to bring strong visibility support for the movie, while at the same time the content boosted the sales or messaging of individual brands. The main channels were national TV, online advertising and social media platforms. If we calculate together the total media investment by the Unknown Soldier and brand partners, the platform was one of the biggest advertisers in the country of Finland.

Describe the outcome

The Unknown Soldier movie broke all box office records. In a country of 5,4 million people it sold over a million tickets and became the most watched Finnish film in over 50 years and the most watched film in the country for 20 years, beating Star Wars’ and Bond movies. On the digital platform, the campaign continued its efficiency. We reached over 2,5 million people through social impressions. The CPM price was 1,5€, on average. The content videos were watched 3461 hours, which equals watching the entire movie (3 hours) 1145 times. The budget for social media was only 14 000€, which again proves how significant the brand partnership of the Unknown Platform was.