Tell us about your role in the creation of this work
Mikko Pietilä: Executive Creative Director at TBWA\Helsinki, in charge of the whole campaign and co-leading the process between 2 agencies and 2 clients with Lili Ermezei. The campaign is called Match made in HEL.
Lili Ermezei: As a Chief Experience Officer responsible for creative and strategy competences I was leading the creative teams in collaboration with Mikko Pietilä from TBWA\Helsinki. We together facilitated the conceptual work with a larger group of creatives, then converged into a smaller team and lead the executional phase of the concept.
Timo Silvennoinen: I was part of the creative team, helping to turn the idea into a film, and building the campaign around it.
Simone Bocedi: I was part of the creative team, from concept to execution.
Give us an overview of the campaign, what is it about?
Mikko Pietilä: More than a traditional “campaign” it’s an entertainment piece designed to convey the brand essence of the two great clients, Finnair and Helsinki airport. The movie is about meaningful encounters between east and west and our clients that serve as a pinnacle for this connection. The film itself is produced, promoted and distributed as a movie should, through teasers, trailers, and premiere following a full release.
Timo Silvennoinen: Finnair, together with Helsinki airport, have been connecting east and west for over 35 years. To celebrate this connection, we created a short film, where these to two worlds unite in a unique way.
Tell us about the creative brief, what did it ask?
Mikko Pietilä: There was no traditional brief. Just a need to communicate and live the brands through something more than advertising and strengthen the fact that Helsinki is the fastest route between east and west. As a result, this film was born from a proactive collaboration of people from agency and client side.
Lili Ermezei: Our goal was to connect East and West in an innovative way, to introduce our clients’ value proposition: connecting Asia with Europe (and beyond) in a short and fast way by flying via Helsinki Airport.
Simone Bocedi: Our clients Helsinki Airport and Finnair had collaborated in the past with two campaigns where East met West via Helsinki, which is at the core of what they do. This was supposed to be the third and last chapter of the saga, and we wanted to do something different. More than a campaign, something that would last for ages. Hence, a film.
Which insight led to the creation of this piece of work?
Lili Ermezei: People are tired of traditional ads and brands talking about themselves. They want to be engaged with meaningful experiences and live through moments that brands deliver.
Simone Bocedi: There is something that speaks to all cultures and places, no matter the distance, or the language: art. And a movie was the ultimate art form, which could touch anyone, anywhere. The campaign is about connections between people and cultures. We often perceive other cultures as worlds apart, but they are closer than we think.
Can you share with us alternative ideas (if any) for this campaign? Why was this idea chosen?
Mikko Pietilä: There was a route or two that were born during the process, but this idea was chosen for the pure reason of it being something more than advertising.
Lili Ermezei: We had a strong shortlist of ideas, but the idea of making a film was the most challenging and scary, so we went with it.
Simone Bocedi: We did come up with a lot of crazy ideas, but possibly the craziest of them all was chosen: a short film that almost does not feature the brand at all. It was chosen because it was something different than your typical ad: we wanted to tell an emotional story about meaningful encounters. Embracing the experiences people have while traveling is at the core of both brands and of this campaign.
How did the client initially react to this idea?
Mikko Pietilä: They were intrigued and taken in from the get-go. It seemed like such a challenge they haven’t faced before. At the same time, we knew that it was far from being ready.
Lili Ermezei: In this case, we had two clients – Finnair and Helsinki Airport, and we experienced a great synergy between them: they have seen the potential of the idea, loved it, and trusted us from the beginning.
Simone Bocedi: Two years ago they turned the airport runway into an actual fashion runway. Last year Helsinki Airport made an airport reality show with a person living inside the airport for 30 days. They are modern brands and they wanted to do it almost right away; it was a way to experiment, using branded entertainment to tell a more emotional story for people all around the world.
Talk about the greatest challenge that you and your team faced during development.
Mikko Pietilä: The fact that we were making a movie, not an ad. That’s the first big thing to realize. The second one is learning from people who make movies. Coming up with the story and then finding the right people to bring it to life.
Lili Ermezei: The greatest challenge - and also the most exciting of all - was that we never did a real movie before. We needed to find the best people to make a film with, and understand and our own limitations. It was very clear from the beginning that we were not creating an ad but a film experience that has a longer lifespan.
Timo Silvennoinen: When there are two different agencies, two clients, a production company and two directors, creating a non-traditional campaign for several markets, there's a tiny chance that you lose the focus of what you're doing. The hardest thing was to keep the idea clear every step of the way. But we made it, together.
What did you enjoy most about seeing this campaign through? Did you learn anything new from the experience?
Timo Silvennoinen: Working with brave clients who didn't settle for average.
Simone Bocedi: None of us has ever worked on an actual movie before, so we had to learn how to make a movie, launch it and market it. Personally, it was a fantastic learning experience: I even took a movie-screenwriter course to support the writing of the story.
Where do you see this campaign going in the future?
Mikko Pietilä: To film festivals and hopefully into someone’s favorites.
Lili Ermezei: We want to hear many of “Did he? Or didn’t he?” discussions about the ending and hope that it eventually becomes someone’s favorite film.
Timo Silvennoinen: I hope it encourages more brands to step out from the traditional way of doing advertising.
Did the work receive negative/positive feedback? What was it?
Simone Bocedi: It already received a lot of praises and positive feedback, which humbles us a lot, as it is our first short film. Quoting, for example, Luxury Standard “Watch the film. It’s actually very good” or AdWeek, “It’s an intriguing tale of life at the fringe of fame”. On social media users are asking for a sequel already, they want to know what happens next!