2020 Brand Experience & Activation

PRISMA TRIPLA INCLUSIVE OUTDOOR

TitlePRISMA TRIPLA INCLUSIVE OUTDOOR
BrandPRISMA
Product/ServicePRISMA
Category G05. Cultural Insight
Entrant HOK-ELANTO Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Media Placement CARAT Helsinki, FINLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Sami Kelahaara TBWA Helsinki Art Director
Martta Kallio TBWA Helsinki Copywriter
Jyrki Poutanen TBWA Helsinki Chief Creative Officer
Joni Furstenborg TBWA Helsinki Creative Director
Taneli Mattelmäki TBWA Helsinki VP, Retail
Anni Tammenaho TBWA Helsinki Project Manager
Jerry Strengell TBWA Helsinki Editor
Ville Ruokonen TBWA Helsinki Junior Planner
Henrietta Tastula TBWA Helsinki Content Producer
Viggo Holländer TBWA Helsinki Digital Designer
Roni Regnér TBWA Helsinki Copywriter
Hanna Karlsson TBWA Helsinki Designer
Rosa Seppälä TBWA Helsinki Designer
Anette Michelsson TBWA Helsinki Account Manager
Tuomas Ahola HOK-Elanto Marketing Director
Teija Järvinen SOK Brand Manager
Minni Jaakola SOK Media Brand Manager
Tuula Rajamäki SOK Media Project Manager
Sonja Schalin SOK Media Other Credits
Johanna Koskela SOK Media Media Manager
Laura Turunen SOK Media Other Credits
Tuukka Laitinen SOK Media Other Credits
Veli-Pekka Ojamaa Carat Account Director
Kaisa Rissanen Carat Account Manager
Juha Halmesvaara Carat Account Director
Lauri Toivonen SOK media SVP Marketing
Eesu Lehtola Eesu Lehtola Animation
Mikko Pietilä TBWA\Helsinki Executive Creative Director

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Nelson Mandela said: If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. Our cities are becoming cultural ​​melting pots. In Finland and especially in Helsinki it means that many do not understand the local language at all. Therefore advertising, as it’s always done in Finnish, doesn’t mean anything to many. Prisma Tripla changed this and eventually made the townspeople embrace it as a store that truly understands them.

Background

Hypermarket chain Prisma was about to launch their first store in the central Helsinki area where the competition is ruthless and the target audience is very different from other areas in the country. The proportion of foreign-language speakers is growing fast in Finland and especially in the capital of Helsinki with one in six residents representing a foreign nationality. Our challenge was to get the attention of the audience of very diverse backgrounds to shop at the new Prisma and embrace it as their store. Our objective was to successfully launch the new store and bring in a steady flow of clients and sales. Bearing in mind that on the same day the store was going to open, there were two of Prisma’s biggest competitors opening in the same vicinity as well.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Helsinki is the most multicultural city in Finland. The proportion of foreign-language speakers is growing fast in the country but especially in the capital of Helsinki, with one in six residents representing a foreign nationality.Services are adapting to this demographic change with language choices, but advertising still speaks in only one dominant language. Prisma decided to challenge this and welcome people to the new store by speaking to the locals in their own languages.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The audience was clear: all Helsinki residents, especially those living near the new store. As we looked at the locals, we found that in the district of Pasila, where the new store was opening, nearly 30 % of residents don’t speak Finnish as their native language. Though minorities, the immigrant communities are very close and visible and have long been overlooked in advertising. Our strategy was to address these linguistic minorities and show them and natives that this is a store really meant for everybody who lives in Helsinki. We set ourselves a challenge to win not only the minds of the city dwellers but also their hearts with the values Prisma stands for: equality and openness.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We decided to reach out to our audience in the most visible way – by utilizing traditional billboards and posters. We collected language data from the store’s surrounding area with block per block accuracy. Based on this data, we translated a welcome invitation to 8 of the most spoken languages in the area: Somali, English, Swedish, Estonian, Russian, Finnish, Spanish and Chinese. The message was the same everywhere: welcome to the store of every citizen. The translated messages we’re targeted across 331 geotagged OOH media placements according to the language most spoken near each media placement. All the ads went up the night before the store’s opening day. As the competitors opening at the same time were luring customers with prices, we used our core values.

List the results (30% of vote)

The campaign resulted in the most successful opening week in the hypermarket’s history. But it also grew into something bigger. Reaching 22 million people, it became a statement for equality, diversity and inclusivity with 94 % of the audience embracing Prisma as a store truly made for them.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Finland, like the rest of Europe, had seen a surge in far right views and anti-immigrant sentiment in the past decade. Yet the proportion of foreign nationals was on a continuous rise and cities were becoming more and more multicultural. As the extremist right wing was loudly condemning immigrants, it seemed that it was the big brands’ turn to raise their voice and make all nationals feel safe and welcome. Although many claimed to be on the side of equality, few incorporated it as actions in their everyday business. And no brands in Finland had addressed the question of language as a means to build bridges.