Pas­ka kau­pun­ni

The popu­la­tion of Oulu reac­hed the land­mark of 200,000 people in 2016. To celebra­te it, the City of Oulu deci­ded to upda­te Finns’ know­led­ge and ima­ge about Oulu with an inno­va­ti­ve ima­ge cam­paign. The cam­paign spo­ke both to the people and the media in a way that aroused emo­tions and action.

Brief

Oulu is the fas­test growing city of Scan­di­na­via and the fifth lar­gest city of Fin­land, and its popu­la­tion reac­hed 200,000 people in 2016. The growth had been so rapid, that Finns’ know­led­ge about today’s Oulu was hope­less­ly out­da­ted. In the sur­vey, not even a single one out of the hundred Finns inter­viewed knew that Oulu had a popu­la­tion of over 100,000 people.

Also the repu­ta­tion of Oulu nee­ded a boost. The ove­rall ima­ge of Oulu was labe­led by a fal­se idea about “a small post-Nokia cri­sis city”. The exit of Nokia and Mic­ro­soft did cause a cri­sis to the city, but it is in the past. The­re is alrea­dy a need for a high-level pro­ficiency. Also new busi­nes­ses and posi­tions are emer­ging in great volu­me.

The City of Oulu reques­ted to upda­te the city ima­ge with a few prompt mes­sa­ges

Crea­ti­ve solu­tion

Since Oulu is, as the stra­te­gy says, smart, bra­ve and fair, we deci­ded to tell about Oulu’s strengths in a crea­ti­ve and cou­ra­geous way that tru­ly ins­pi­red the Finns – especial­ly the people in Hel­sin­ki met­ro­po­li­tan area.

In the cam­paign, Oulu cap­tu­red a cent­ral piece of Hel­sin­ki – 33 displays at the met­ro sta­tion of the Cent­ral Railway Sta­tion.

In the cam­paign mes­sa­ge Oulu wis­hed peace and qui­et for Hel­sin­ki and dona­ted an ad-free met­ro sta­tion for a week. The domi­nance was 100 %.

We also wan­ted to acti­va­te Finns to com­mu­nica­te about Oulu. They could choo­se their favou­ri­tes from the 60 Oulu-rela­ted pho­to­graphs at the cam­paign site and tho­se were relea­sed at the station’s huge ad board. The Fin­nish Oulu-based sin­ger Suvi Teräs­nis­ka launc­hed the cam­paign on Face­book by being the spo­kes­per­son in the cam­paign video.

Stra­te­gy

A smart core mes­sa­ge, a strict seg­men­ta­tion for the met­ro­po­li­tan area and an efficient sche­du­le were emp­ha­sized in the cam­paign stra­te­gy.

The prio­ri­ty was a mes­sa­ge about com­for­table and acces­sible Oulu. The well-known fact that Oulu has a great know-how in ICT, was knowingly left out of mar­ke­ting and PR. We focused on the att­rac­ti­ve, urban Oulu, that is also clo­se to the natu­re.

The campaign’s core and mes­sa­ges:

• Replacing ad boards with Oulu-rela­ted pho­to­graphs at the met­ro sta­tion of the Cent­ral Railway Sta­tion – brin­ging Oulu clo­ser to Hel­sin­ki
• Did you know that super com­for­table Oulu has grown to be one of the lar­gest cities of Fin­land – the fifth lar­gest to be exact
• Choo­se pho­tos now, they will be at the sta­tion during week 3
• Best regards, your friend Oulu

The pri­ma­ry tar­get group was the people living and wor­king in Hel­sin­ki met­ro­po­li­tan area. Other tar­get groups were: the policy­ma­kers influencing Oulu’s deve­lop­ment living in met­ro­po­li­tan area, media, Finns in gene­ral and the people of Oulu.

The cam­paign was launc­hed just befo­re Christ­mas Eve. The cam­paign was desig­ned to be most acti­ve during the holi­days – the time when the use of social media and digi­tal media inc­rea­ses sig­ni­ficant­ly as print magazi­nes are not publis­hed.

The cen­ter of the cam­paign was the web­si­te helsinki.oulu.com which ser­ved all of the tar­get groups.

Results

cam­paign time (22. Dec. 2016–21. Jan. 2017)

Col­la­bo­ra­tion, video pro­duc­tion
Klaf­fi