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Starting point
Eutrophication is the most serious environmental problem in the Baltic Sea. Its signs are right before our eyes and demand attention, yet amid large humanitarian crises, the drastic state of the sea is easy to forget. Especially, when eutrophication is not fully understood and the Baltic Sea feels distant.
A Finnish NGO John Nurminen Foundation has been working to save the Baltic Sea since 1992. However, the foundation and its mission were still unknown to the majority of Finnish people. The foundation needed a way to talk about eutrophication that would create an emotional connection to the sea while simultaneously drawing attention to their work.
How to create an emotional connection to the Baltic Sea in a surprising way?
Strategy & idea
One sign of eutrophication is the blue-green algae blooms that color the Finnish coastline during summer. The sight eerily resembles the northern lights, which sparked the idea of marketing the algae blooms as a new poisonous attraction.
By linking their campaign to an international phenomenon that Finns proudly present to tourists, the foundation found an impactful way to talk about eutrophication and its mission. This comparison made the message of a complicated issue very clear: there are many sights Finland can be proud of, but this is not one of them.
How to bring Northern Plights to life in a social media savvy way?
Creative approach
The campaign borrowed from recognizable tourist advertising. What initially looked like traditional travel marketing, turned out to be an eye-opening message to save the Baltic Sea. On social media, a similar approach was used but for it to work as effectively as possible, the content needed a style suited for the exact medium. To raise the alarm on this matter and stand out from other fundraisers, the foundation took an unconventional approach: to build awareness for the foundation and its work, we created a character to act as its arch-nemesis, a fictional “Northern Plights” tour guide named Riikka. Through telling the story of someone acting against saving the sea, the foundation was able to tell their own in an interesting way.
Execution
The content followed Riikka’s journey across social media platforms as she developed a new business around these so-called northern lights of the Baltic Sea. The execution relied on the absurdness of Riikka’s endeavors to gain attention and awareness to the issue as the story developed from introduction of the character in the beginning of summer to December when Riikka finally crossed paths with the foundation.
By bridging a scripted Jodel reference in the film with a real-world Jodel activation,the campaign delivered results well above the platform’s previous benchmarks.
Results
Riikka drove unprecedented attention to the John Nurminen Foundation on social media. Audiences reacted, commented, shared, and followed; and most importantly, engaged with the message that the Baltic Sea needs our help now. Overall sentiment towards the foundation was strongly positive, and its social media presence was widely praised.
+378%
Reach on social media
+64%
Increased engagement on foundations social media accounts from last December
+113%
Number of followers on all platforms during the peak of Riikka content
804
Upvotes on Jodel within 24h (exceptionally high)
290%