| Title | RENT A FINN |
| Brand | BUSINESS FINLAND / VISIT FINLAND |
| Product/Service | DESTINATION FINLAND |
| Category |
A04. Travel, Leisure, Retail, Restaurants & Fast Food Chains |
|
Entrant
|
SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
Idea Creation
|
SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
Idea Creation 2
|
BUSINESS FINLAND Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
Media Placement
|
DAGMAR Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
PR
|
SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
PR 2
|
BUSINESS FINLAND Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
Production
|
SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
Production 2
|
COCOA Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
Production 3
|
CREUNA FINLAND Helsinki, FINLAND
|
|
Additional Company
|
HINTSA PERFORMANCE Helsinki, FINLAND
|
Credits
| Mira Vierto |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Head of Client Group |
| Suvi Lähde |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Creative Director |
| Jarno Luotonen |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Creative Director |
| Per Pedersen |
Grey |
Grey Global Creative Chairman |
| Eduardo Maduri |
GREY |
Grey Europe Creative Chairman |
| Kimi Issakainen |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Art Director |
| Antti Tuominen |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Copywriter |
| Laura Saarinen |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Project Director |
| Essi Orama |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Communications Consultant |
| Erika Vierto |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Project Manager |
| Nicolas Prieto |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Agency Producer |
| Ville Koivisto |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Project Director |
| Vesa Tiukkanen |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Editor |
| Jerry Strengell |
Jerry Strengell |
Editor |
| Santeri Kekkonen |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Art Director |
| Alexsandra Piela |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Assistant Art Director |
| Sami Kelahaara |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Creative Director |
| Otto Kilpiö |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Copywriter |
| Miikka Vento |
SEK | PART OF GREY |
Junior Copywriter |
| Heli Jimenez |
Visit Finland / Business Finland |
Senior Director, International Marketing |
| Mervi Holmén |
Visit Finland/Business Finland |
Marketing Communications Manager |
| Hetta Huittinen |
Visit Finland / Business Finland |
Head of International Media and PR |
| Eevakaisa Mölsä |
Visit Finland / Business Finland |
PR and Media Manager |
| Joonas Halla |
Visit Finland / Business Finland |
PR and Media Manager |
| Sari Hey |
Visit Finland / Business Finland |
PR and Media Manager |
| Heli Hemgård |
Visit Finland / Business Finland |
Communications Manager |
| Ville Huumo |
Creuna Finland |
CTO |
| Igor Buyanov |
Creuna Finland |
Senior Web Developer |
| Markus Karikivi |
Creuna Finland |
Project Director |
| Annika Muhonen |
Dagmar |
Senior Digital Planner |
| Markus Vuorinen |
Dagmar |
Digital Strategist |
| Noora Pyörre |
Dagmar |
Digital Planner |
| Liisa Marjoniemi |
Dagmar |
Client Manager |
| Tom Hakala |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Director |
| Henri Ollinkari |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Executive Producer |
| Anita Hyppönen |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Production Manager |
| Antti Ahokoivu |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Cinematographer |
| Jukka Honkanen |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Editor |
| Joni Kuusisto |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Color Grade |
| Markku Mäkelä |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Sound design and sound mix |
| Jukka Honkanen |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Sound design and sound mix |
| Markus Packalen |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Set designer |
| Marek Sabogal |
Cocoa Mediaproductions |
Photographer |
| Ed Webster |
GREY |
Creative |
| Cherish de Tagle |
TOWN |
Producer |
Why is this work relevant for Direct?
According to the UN, Finland is the happiest country in the world – thanks to people’s special nature connection that is said to have a positive impact on us. At the same time, the world is getting busier and people are searching for their calm. Well, Finns know the lifestyle. But how to teach the world the way?
The idea that converts people to media: Rent a Finn.
To become as happy as a Finn, you can rent one and learn. Our idea is turning over 6 million Finns to work media executions for travelers to grasp our brand experience.
Background
Visit Finland is a governmental organization that works continuously to develop Finland’s travel image. Travel marketing is a highly competitive business; small country like Finland can’t afford to compete with the media budgets of big destinations to attract attention. However, the industry communication is full of clichés in both the visual style and content. Breaking these conventions offers us a huge opportunity. Finland is an unconventional travel destination – not something for everyone but something special. Accordingly, our communication has always been designed to convey these distinguishing factors true to Finland to make us stand out. In 2018, the overnight stays were on the rise, but the ongoing battle for attention in the Nordic countries was fierce. Our task was to create awareness and interest towards Finland and make it a talking point in a way that is truly meaningful to people who are seeking unique options.
Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)
According to the UN, Finland is the happiest country in the world – thanks to the special connection between people and nature. Studies have shown that nature can have a positive impact on our minds and alleviate stress.
At the same time, the world is getting busier. Many travelers search for silence and serene nature. Well, Finland has those things in abundance. But how to teach the world this happy, close-to-nature lifestyle?
The idea: Rent a Finn.
Now it’s time everyone had a chance to learn from the best. To become as happy as a Finn, you can rent one and learn how. Rent a Finn is not only unique and ownable to Finland due to its rational background from the UN Happiness Report, but also meaningful because of its higher purpose of bringing more happiness to the world. Instead of simply selling tourism, it’s branding a whole nation.
Describe the strategy (20% of vote)
The target group for Finland is people whose values match travelling to Finland. This group is known as “Modern Humanists”. How to reach them with a very limited budget and appeal to them, as they are extremely critical towards advertising?
To reach our global audience, we needed to mobilize the whole nation:
1. To do this, we launched a nationwide initiative that recruited Finns up for rent. This was supported with bought online advertising.
2. The content of Finns that were up for rent was fed to global media with PR and selected internationally known Finnish spokespersons. The visibility was supported with online advertising mostly directed to social media, where stressed workers were reachable during their breaks.
3. When the story got picked up by the global media, we focused on creating content for PR use, monitoring earned media developments and reacting along the way.
Describe the execution (20% of vote)
Rent a Finn kicked off in January 2019, when the website rentafinn.com built around recruiting Finns was launched. We selected a few Finns to work with, as the faces of our communication, introducing the Finnish way of life, the connection to nature and the idea of renting a Finn.
The execution didn’t only depend on the website. The goal was to create a phenomenon where anybody could put themselves up for rent in their own channels by using a #rentafinn. – Or just offer to spend some time with a traveler when encountering one. People around the world got introduced to the idea through high PR visibility reaching 149 countries. The reach was supported with bought advertising in social media covering 10 countries. The idea of renting a Finn is now launched and continues as a new travel habit in the future between people.
List the results (30% of vote)
The campaign reached 149 countries with paid advertising in only 10 markets.
The campaign reach raised as high as 1,366 billion – 98,5% coming from earned media.
The PR value of the campaign reached € 34 175 321.
The number of media hits was 3184.
We managed to build our social community with 12 488 new followers in total.