CHASING THE SPOT

TitleCHASING THE SPOT
BrandFINNISH NATIONAL SKATEBOARDING TEAM
Product/ServiceFINNISH NATIONAL SKATEBOARDING TEAM
Category A07. Excellence in Brand Integration & Sponsorships / Partnerships for Branded Content
Entrant NORD DDB Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation NORD DDB Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation 2 PABLO FILMS, FINLAND
PR NORD DDB Helsinki, FINLAND
Production PABLO FILMS, FINLAND
Post Production PABLO FILMS, FINLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Kalle Wallin Nord DDB Helsinki Creative Director
Lauri Vassinen Nord DDB Helsinki Creative Director, Art Director
Samuli Heino Nord DDB Helsinki Account Director
Julia Lehmuskallio Nord DDB Helsinki Project Director
Jimi Hyvärinen Nord DDB Helsinki Art Director
Jukka Hannula Nord DDB Helsinki Graphic Designer
Tero Ahonen Nord DDB Helsinki Motion Creative
Henrietta Tastula Nord DDB Helsinki Creative Strategist
Jyri Paajamaa Pablo Films Executive Producer
Mikko Huupponen Pablo Films Director
Ninni Hakala Pablo Films Production Manager
Jaakko Tervonen Pablo Films Editor
Adriane Stalder Pablo Films Edit Assistant
Kim Koponen Pablo Films Editor, Director
Totte Rautiainen Pablo Films Audio Designer
Elias Markkula Pablo Films Cameraman
Patrik Lilja Pablo Films Cameraman
Silja Minkkinen Pablo Films Cameraman
Teemu Heljo Pablo Films Cameraman
Keke Leppälä Pablo Films Photographer
Jeorge Simas Pablo Films Cameraman

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Bringing skateboarding into the general public's attention by making it entertaining was in the core of Chasing the Spot. After establishing the Finnish national skateboarding team, a film crew followed it around the world in competing for a spot in the Olympics. This documentation was then turned into a TV documentary which aired in primetime television as well as on-demand platforms.

Background

In 2020 skateboarding was supposed to be in the Olympics for the first time, but despite of a strong boardsports culture, Finland faced a problem: it didn’t have a national team. A bunch of old skateboarders turned marketing professionals decided to help Finnish skateboarding talents to fight for a spot in the Olympics. Together with the Finnish Olympic Committee and Skateboarding Association we established the potential national team and faced another small problem: most of our athletes were not into competitive skateboarding and traditional companies were suspicious of sponsoring skateboarders. Thus, we not only established the team but created a platform in which we could bring the athletes and potential sponsors together to enable the athletes to travel around the world in competitions. We also wanted to create something that would raise positive attention towards skateboarding as a sport and make the Finnish general public aware of the podium potential.

Describe the creative idea

After establishing the national team, we created Chasing the Spot, a content marketing platform that brought skateboarding and the sponsors together. This way we got the national team to introduce skateboarding as a lifestyle to the big audience. We would film the skateboarders while they competed around the world for a spot in the Olympics and present the documentary in Finnish national television. By bringing a niche sport like skateboarding into the attention of the general public, we gain more attention for the national team and get more eyes for the sponsored content, this way making the team easier to gain sponsors and continue competing around the world.

Describe the strategy

Skateboarding is not a mainstream sport in Finland but we do have several renown skateboarders. Skateboarding is also one of Finland's biggest if not the biggest hopes for a podium spot in summer Olympics. E.g. in 2016 Finland only got one medal in the whole Olympics. For a chance to compete in the Olympics, the skateboarders need to have chance to compete in the official tour around the world. Thus, after we established the team, it needed sponsors. The sponsors want as much coverage as possible so we needed to get the general public's eyes on the sport. What better way to do this than via linear TV. We harnessed the powers of social media as well as linear TV and created a documentary series that opened up the secrets of skateboarding as a lifestyle.

Describe the execution

The Finnish skateboarding team was put together in January 2019. We had live events and the team made loads of (paid and organic) social media content during 2019 and the beginning of 2020. The Chasing the Spot documentary included a premiere in a movie theater in March 2020 and was aired on national TV from March to May 2020. The documentary was filmed all over the world during the competition season in 2019.

Describe the outcome

The team had wide coverage in Finnish national media and especially the skateboarding media abroad (biggest ones being Transworld Skateboarding and the Berrics) talked or wrote about the team. Several news articles were written about the team and interviews made. The TV documentary had its own primetime spot but appeared also in the Finnish version of Gogglebox, which has an average of 160 000 people watching each episode. The brightest Chasing the Spot star, Jaakko Ojanen has an Instagram following of 154 000 and the Chasing the Spot music video has been watched over 56 000 on Youtube. After mainstream media coverage more and more Finns are looking forward to the next Summer Olympics and potential podium spots for skateboarding. Our young skateboarding talents now have more mainstream coverage and can land sponsorships easier, making their professional careers prosper.