Lovely Lady and The Mesmerizing Piano

Occasionally I hear my friends complain that I like to listen to the females who ride the piano bench too much.
(As in the singer-songwriter women, who excel in expressing their souls by the grand piano.)
Oh well. I just tend to like good music, be it the piano-ladies or something else. And I am well-aware of being   blatantly subjective, no apologies there.
I was eager to hear the sounds from her new up-coming album, which seems promising.
The music is definitely going darker, faster, rhythmic, industrial and techno-bubblier. Which is exactly the kind of audio-smoothie this girl likes to hear on her iPod. As usual, her Slavic roots can be heard in the undertones, as well.

Her new album, "What We Saw From the Cheap Seats" comes out at the end of May.

Lovely Lady and The Mesmerizing Piano

Digital Travel Fever

Although company blogs are the most read of blogs in general, people rarely trust their message. Corporate talk has its agenda, and by 2012, most web users are savvy enough to know they are being influenced upon.
Mutually fertile dialogue is rarely conceived via one-sided endeavors at disguising press releases as something else.

When contemplating the effective use of social media in company PR, the hardest thing to accept is the loosening of control. All the discussion cannot, and should not, be attempted to monitor with an iron fist. Negative reputation is hard to shed and get rid of within the online communities.

One snappy example of a small company making it work to their benefit is the Finnish online travel agency, rantapallo.fi . Besides hosting a discussion forum for their active audience, they have also provided a venue for blogs. Everyone can establish their own blog inside the site, and share their thoughts and experiences related to traveling. This is a clever way to crowdsource and engage their visitors, and at the same, provide more value for all. As it happens, in these glory days of WOM ("word-of-mouth marketing"), people are more prone to listen to the recommendations and advice from their fellow audience members. In this regard, "Rantapallo" has figured out the playing field.

At a recent travel fair, I had a chance to chat a little with the lovely editor-in-chief, Riikka Krenn. According to her, the young company (2007-) has been doing remarkably well. At the moment, they receive 100 000 visitors per week, and growing.

According to her, the hip countries to visit right now are Jordania and Croatia. (At this time of the year, sun and warmth in any place would sound just about right.)
Which one do you think I should take on my list of places to visit next?

Digital Travel Fever

Sweet Sting of Rejection

In the midst of a seemingly endless supply of  rejection letters, it is easy to forget it happens to the best of us.
Spotting real talent seems to be a rare gift  indeed, and the truly original material is frowned upon. After all, different scares us, takes us to the uncomfortable zone- new is strange and unknown. Risky. And in business, risks are to be controlled. Familiar is often the safe bet. Let´s take a look at some of the famous rejection letters received by our very best. Luckily for us, they did not stop writing or listen to the (bad) advice.

Ursula K. Le Guin went on to publish a wide variety of books, essays, short stories and poetry, especially in the genre of science fiction and fantasy. She has collected five Hugo-awards and six Nebula-awards, and a plethora of other recognitions.

The rebellious American Gonzo-journalist Hunter S. Thompson ( 1937-2005) did not take criticism well. This is the letter he sent to his own biographer, William McKeen in 1991. "The Outlaw Journalist" on Thompson ended up being published anyways, in 2008, and gained notable praise.

Tim Burton was young and eager to get published. But his good attempt of a children´s book did not quite pass the par. Disney considered his creation too derivative. Later he went on to direct such masterpieces as
"Beetlejuice", "Nightmare before Christmas" and "Sleepy Hollow". Maybe Disney just was not ready for his colorfully macabre style back in 1976.

Although we do not have the words to look at, one quite well-known writer to receive harsh rejection letters was a British lady by the name of J. K. Rowling. She was even advised to get a day job, since "children´s books do not sell well". Her books series, depicting the adventures of Harry Potter, is now the best-selling in history.

Sweet Sting of Rejection

Fear sells

Fear mongering, playing on our primal instinct to survive and dodge danger is a tactic long chosen by the clever advertisers. Biologically speaking, fear produces epinephrine in our brain, the "feel-good" -hormone that rewards us for experiencing frightening situations. (Horror movies, anyone?) That is why we get pleasure out of being scared, and the sensation is both contagious and addictive. Fear also overtakes reason in our thinking, and there is nothing more powerful of  a persuader than a crippling sense of danger. And this is how we make a lot of our purchases. Really. Let´s see some toothbrush images.



Feeling those gums going tender? A slice of horror in a commercial. But this is nothing new. Let´s have a look at the olden goldies.




That dust sure is a monster. Because we just cannot be clean enough, every gal needs a dose of radioactivity!


Fear of failure, or how they say "feared self", is the engine driving most of the marketing of cosmetics.
Anti-wrinkle creams, soaps, teeth whitening strips, line-control eye balms... Do we really need them, or do they even work? Or are we actually resorting to the "aid" offered to us because we _fear_ what might happen otherwise? L´Oreal states that "I am worth it", but am I worth more that gasping every single tube and case they are pushing as a boost for self-esteem? Like it or not, the message is that we are simply not acceptable without the chemicals on our skin. Be it radioactivity, DDT or parabens.




Unilever´s "Dove" -products gained a lot of good PR with their message of "real" beauty and decision to use "real" women on their advertising. This was, however, another case of smoke and mirrors. Pascal Dangin , the magician of a photoshopper, came forward to admit that "a lot" of photoshopping was needed and performed on the raw images of "real beauties".

Fear sells

This is the New Year, baby

First and foremost, thank you all my readers, be it accidental tourists, visiting cowboys or returning friends.
I started this blog as a hobby, pastime and an outlet for some of my thoughts. So far, I  have resisted the temptation to give in to the machine of blogging, and just stick to one niche of topics. I´m a friend of many things in this beautiful, colorful world of ours, and stopping to look is...well, an art near extinction.
However, I have begun guest-blogging. My introduction on "Rare Exports" is here.  If you ask nicely, I may just blog for you, too. Comments welcome.

This is the New Year, baby

The Road Rage of "Drive"

Los Angeles, the city of dreams, angels and hopes. The place of glitter, sunshine, smiling people, palm trees, swimming pools, glamour and the American dream. This is how we have come to associate the city in our minds. But for the main character of "Drive", Los Angeles is more of place filled with endless highways, pit stops, dark and dirty alleys, neon signs, unfulfilled dreams, strip malls, survival, greed, cold stone buildings, rampant crime and worn-out apartments. Like the character of Meursault in Albert Camus´ masterpiece,  "Stranger" (sometimes referred to as "The Outsider"), he appears stoic, indifferent and dissociated from social norms. That is, until he meets his lovely neighbor Irene, whose troublesome circumstances spiral into his life with faithful results.

The very slick and stylistic film by Nicolas Winding Refn has visual flair and a gruesome neo-noir feel to it.
The style borrows from the works of Michael Mann, Quentin Tarantino and Clint Eastwood. Much is not said, the dialogue is stripped down and the visual is emphasized. The music is haunting, and stays with you long after the film is over. The electric soundscape has a hybrid ´70s and ´80s feel to it, and works beautifully with the visual landscape.


The lone main character (played by the magnificent Ryan Gosling) is never properly named. He is referred to as "the kid", "the driver" or "him". He is merely a drop of destiny in the ocean of L.A., while at the same time coveting more. What he does is drive, and very well so. At day he stunt-drives for films while getting paid peanuts. At nights, he works as a getawaycar specialist, assisting in heists. Expressionless and calm, he escapes the police in the darkness of LA like a true master of cars. But he is only there for five minutes. After that, he disappears into the vast crowd of anonymity, much like the generic Chevy Impala´s he uses on his gigs.

The driver is on his way to possibly acquiring a way out of mundane existence with race driving, when a chance encounter with the pretty, but married, neighbour changes everything. Irene (played by Carey Mulligan) is struggling with a small boy, while his husband is an unlucky robber being released from jail. A blackmail threat against the son leaves the husband with no choice but to agree to a final robbery. Out of sympathy for the child, the driver agrees to help, thus breaking his solitude.

Needless to say, the heist goes dreadfully wrong, the mob is involved, and our poor driver has no choice but
to search and kill the involved criminals. Chaos ensues, and the inevitability of the outcome is almost heartbreaking for the viewer. The extremely graphic violence gives us a glimpse to the shadowy circles of hardened criminals, where aggression is a banal tool for control. The ease with which our main character resorts to using violence suggests that there is more to his background that mere getaway-drives. He is indeed a survivor, who feels empathy for the small boy in the face of danger.  In the end, he may have sacrificed himself for a family that never was his. The nihilism of the worldview offered to us is claustrophobic.

The Road Rage of "Drive"

Shades of Bliss

"It was a dark and stormy night..." Poor Snoopy, he never did get to finish his great masterpiece.

Attempts at writing the great classic aside, these nights of November certainly are dim and gloomy. While dreaming of the utopian teleporter-trip straight to Arcadia of nectars, endless sunshine and coconuts, a girl must make do with fave books, company of lovely friends and some enchanting music.
This latest jewel of a find is from Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions. Does the voice seem familiar? It should, as she is the lead singer of "Mazzy Star", a cult band that is finally returning from a long hiatus, and releasing new material next year. But while waiting for that, we have charming Ms. Sandoval.

Shades of Bliss

Sylvia Plath and the "November Graveyard"

Sylvia Plath, the tragic artist in turmoil, whose legacy was to acclaim the questionable throne of the original poster girl for suicide. Ms. Plath, whose literary work forever in name has been attached to the man, who betrayed her with a friend´s wife and then milked her cult status to the bones. Ironically, both Sylvia and the mistress killed themselves in the same, identical style: by sticking their head to the gas oven. Some men can just drive a woman insane- although in Sylvia´s case, the groundwork had been laid years earlier.

Like herds of teenagers around the world at this present moment, I have read my "Bell Jar"(1963) in due time. Some books last through the times, despite the poor recognition and weak reviews of their contemporaries. And so has this piece earned its immortality with every new patch of teenagers, literature students and just plain curious book lovers. Semi-autobiographical tale on isolation and depression, "The Bell Jar" is also sharp depiction of a young woman coming to grips with her sexuality in the America of the 1950s, in the shadow of the anti-Communist witch hunt and the societal cry on replacing women back to their places as housewives. (The ideology of "Rosie the Riveter" was buried, and jobs were needed for the men, returning from war. ) Plath herself described her only remaining novel as a  simple "potboiler", and published it under a pseudonym. Despite the controversy regarding "the Bell Jar", her poetry however, especially the later works, is almost univocally acclaimed.

Not only was the woman literally gifted, she also could drew. Some of her work has been now made public and is displayed at the Mayor Gallery in London, UK.

And here is a one more snippet of the woman herself reading one of her poems, fittingly for the month we are living, "November Graveyard".

Sylvia Plath and the "November Graveyard"

Facebook Timeline and the Perils of Oversharing

The new features of Facebook were announced a week and half ago with showy, real-life feed shown-where else, on their own "f8"-page. Anticipation is high in the air. What kind of new tricks and gimmicks have Zuckie and his pals   invented this time to  waste/consume/spend our time with? To begin with, as I commented during his speech, the logo looks somewhat similar:

Ring a bell? Has it been so long from the end of "Lost"? The first image is the official logo from the Facebook new change launch. The latter, well, is the logo of the "Dharma Initiative". I guess the bluebook-boys (and girls) are fans of the show. In any case, my comment was swiftly moved. Or disappeared to the abyss of the web. Charming coincidence.

Back to the topic of hand. What are the new changes waiting us all inside the great FB? Besides linking us together, Facebook now wants to be able to influence what we watch, hear, read and buy. Netflix, Hulu, Washington Post, Ticketmaster and Spotify among others are moving inside Facebook. "Like"- button will have other verbs, although the negative ones most definitely won´t be entering the menu. And this is just the beginning. It could be argued that it almost feels like the entire web experience is being swallowed inside the FB. And globally speaking, when FB indeed is currently the second most  opened site of the web in general, am I wrong to imply that?

"Facebook Timeline" is the major term on everyone´s lips as of speaking. (The chosen  term actually has postponed the renewal of the site, as a small web company from Chicago decided to sue the big blue book for using their  own name. Well, we all know this will be settled in no time. Money talks and... Let´s leave it at that, shall we?) What does "Timeline" imply for us common folks? Short and sweet, it is a practical face lift for the old profile. The main picture is bigger and bolder, and your personality with all its myriad epitomes is better conceptualized and communicated for your chosen audience. The idea is to enable dynamic view on your life, past and future. Electric diary of one sort-only to be shared with your preferred audience. Naturally, the idea is to get us more immersed into the world of Facebook and share more information of ourselves.

Looks like something you desire as an upgrade? Want to feel like one of the hip early adopters? For the majority, this is not open yet. But wait! By signing up as a "developer", you can try to change your profile into the new sleek look. Instructions for example here. Or here.  At present, around 100 000 people are signing up as "developers" per day.

Increasingly, our online- and offline- life is being watched and defined through the renewed Facebook. Can you choose to leave your embarrassing movie options outside its watchful eye? Maybe, but it most certainly will be difficult. All this information of your consumption habits will be made open for your friends to see, and hopefully have an effect on their shopping habits. Not to mention of the bigger, corporate significance. Next to this picture, the information gathered from your chain store vip cards pales in comparison. It may be time to suggest that Facebook will never start charging you for using their site- why should they? If anything, it should be the other way around in exchange for giving personal information. As it is the case, "we the people" are not Facebook´s customers -the advertisers are. And boy, are they eager to get their hands on that ever-growing personal data.

The question of privacy is tricky in an era, when an increasing amount of people just do not care whether their  identity is  open for discussion. We share and exist through our public personas, and it may be time that the whole concept of "fame" or "public" is redefined. Last week´s news on the upcoming (18.10) Facebook "tv-show" called "Aim High", which uses actual personal data and images of all the profiles, went largely unnoticed. So did the little tidbit on how FB tracks its users even when they are not logged in to the service. (The instructions on how to stop the tracking, are here. ) It is almost as we have quietly accepted this little exchange of info in order to gain access. And the bottom line is, nobody has to be logged in. Or share everything. But then again, it is a handy little tool to keep your contacts in check. After all, upon hearing of the looming changes most of the people seem to be worried of only one thing: how to stop people of seeing those embarrassing tracks on your "Spotify" playlists.

Facebook Timeline and the Perils of Oversharing

Tavi in Wonderland

Tavi sounds like any ordinary 15-year-old. She likes fashion, movies, guys "who look like they are dying", Twin Peaks, indie music and taking pictures. Except she is hardly your average Midwestern teen. No common girls get to write for Harper´s Bazaar, sit in front rows for fashion shows in Paris and New York, mingle with the hipsters and co-design fashion for Rodarte. Oh, and she has that mega-popular blog, Style Rookie, which in all its precociousness has earned her the title "fashion wunderkind". She began writing her clever insights on trends and clothes at the tender age of 11. Feeling slightly underachieving, are we readers?

In person she is shy, pint-sized, fragile and dressed in quirky outfits, which undoubtedly have been sent to her by some brand-name fashion house. Her parents rarely leave her side, which, considering the sometimes eccentric world of fashion, is probably a good thing. Her dad is managing her endeavors, which can be admittedly called a career by now. But she is growing. Her once trademark-glasses are replaced with contacts and the granny-meets-fairy godmother look is morphing into something more mature. She herself has expressed disinterest in continuing her road to fashion- although many anticipated her to take over Anna  Wintour´s empire one day at the antediluvian "Vogue". Fashion does not impress her anymore, per se. Instead, she has found the 1990s, alternative music, Twin Peaks, "Sassy"-magazine and a growing sense of feminism. When she announced in May 2010 to be devising a magazine with the legendary Jane Pratt (of now-defunct Jane and Sassy magazines), blogosphere got excited. Why would she work for Vogue, when she can do it herself -and probably in her own zesty, unique style.

The webzine was launched last week. So how is it? Overall it looks very clean and airy, sort of reflecting poetic and delicate mindset of its target reader. Rookiemag is geared towards the new American teengirl, although undoubtedly it will gain followers around the globe. Tavi, whether she likes it or not, is well-known by now, and her actions are observed.

Nostalgia over the 1990s youth culture and indie ethos can be sensed all throughout the blogsite, which hardly comes as surprise from the young editor, who has spoken widely of her admiration for the period. Before youth magazines became the commercial vessels they are today, there was "Sassy", which critiqued politicians and celebrities, tackled real teen issues without the photoshop and marketing gimmicks, and featured Kurt Cobain and John Waters on its pages. Can you imagine present-day "Seventeen" -magazine having an editorial on Nirvana or Bikini Kill? Tavi´s longing is understandable when set against today´s youth climate: instead of Riot Grrrl -movement there is endless consumerism and "Gossip Girl".  Whereas being a teenager was once ok, now it seems one must look, and act, like a fashionable adult at a very young age.

For reasons unknown, Jane Pratt is no longer involved with the Rookiemag. Undoubtedly Tavi and her aides had to work hard to remain independent from what is wrong with so many magazines and webzines of today: constant aim for more clicks and advertising/sponsorship deals. Of course there are ads involved with the new venture, as well, they are aiming for profits after all- but the idea seems to be to steer away from lukewarm content dictated solely by the wishes of the commercial forces. That is not the idea of this effort, after all.
The blog is updated three times daily, after school, dinnertime and before bed. This is a clever move, since it thus conveniently ties itself to the everyday rhythm of the American teen girl. From the first issue, I recommend "Characters to Channel for confidence", which can be a good reminder for us all ladies, not just teens. Oh, and her surname? Does it matter? It is Gevinson. Here is her parody on a bubblegum pop song. Love the black lipstick. Mine in her age was blue.

Tavi in Wonderland

The Audacity To Think differently

At this year´s Elonmerkki-conference (25.8.2011), the "Branding of Finland" -project  was visibly represented through the Finnfacts- display stand. It has been almost a year since the national "brand-team" published their report with the help of Jorma Ollila, yet the work still continues. Last year the team concluded  that Finland´s strengths and modes to distinguish itself  is through "great functionality of the society, nature and education". The executive director of Musex (Music Export Finland) Ms. Paulina Ahokas was a member of the Jorma Ollila -led brand team. Her organisation, Musex, focuses on representing Finnish music industry abroad and tries to improve the export revenue income. Ms. Ahokas also served as the moderator for "Elonmerkki", and gave her view on the significance of design in exporting the Finnish brand abroad. International economy is in turmoil, and the way to survive is through constant adaptation and renewal. In this regard, Finland as a country has a lot to catch up to, according to Ahokas. Companies must recognize the significance of design in renewal, differentiation and profitability. In sum, "design" is not plain decorative speak for the organization, but a strategic approach on action.

Finnish know-how, and ways to export it abroad  was an underlying theme in many of the day´s speeches.
Panel discussion "Design in boosting competitivity" (Design vauhdittamaan kilpailukykyä) highlighted the concerns, hopes and visions for the Finnish brand internationally. Panel members were Atte Jääskeläinen (YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Company), Mirkku Kullberg (Artek, Finnish  furniture company), and Veera Heinonen representing Finnish Foreign Ministry. The moderator for the panel was Pekka Timonen, the leader for the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012-project.

The shared view among the panel members was apologetic. According to Veera Heinonen, the encapsulated message of last year´s Finnish brand team (functionality, education and nature) is good, but it has not been successfully communicated globally. The problem lies with under-communication, if anything. The notions of "sauna, Sibelius and Finnish Grit" are old-fashioned and need to be upgraded. As a skillful recent example Heinonen mentions last winter´s "Finnish snow-how" -phenomenon, and how it gained international attention and recognition. While the rest of the Europe struggled with too much snow on their airports, Finnish airports remained open, no matter what. This skill with snow removal was widely admired and reported even at CNN. But how could this one-shot attention be integrated as part of the country brand? How could it generate longtime buzz and boost export?

According to Kullberg from Artek, their company is often  mentioned internationally when referring to Finnish design. The problem is, that the company is actually smaller than their fame and name-recognition. Their small size comes as a surprise to many foreign stakeholders and has turned into a golden cage for the company itself. How does a company utilize their brandname productively while avoiding pitfalls? At times, it felt like Artek´s challenge was in risk-taking. This is what Kullberg admitted herself.

In effect, the panel concluded that a much of the challenge with communicating Finnish brand lies with cultural modesty and reservedness. We simply do not have the natural tendency to speak loud enough repeatedly and take risks when it comes to marketing and communication. The phenomena of "Rovio" is admired yet feared at the same time. Is that the kind of attitude we should adapt in marketing? Surely Vesterbacka is pushing the limits of good behaviour- after all, it is not "The Finnish way" to act. But discreetness does not gain you followers in today´s cacophony of messages sent. In the end, everybody cannot be pleased, when it comes to designing the message. From where can we garner the audacity to talk louder and push for influence?

The uber-innovation activist (yes, that is his self-made title, "yli-innovaatio aktivisti") Anssi Tuulenmäki from Aalto university had many pointers to give in this. Hopefully the panel members were listening and throwing their shy ponderings away. Tuulenmäki is not shy to admit the influence of environment to communication style. The Finnish landscape has been traditionally rural, cold, distant, barren and small-scale. There is not simply even enough of Finns to speak of to gain profits based on mass. However, the nationally characteristic ability to survive on the basis of smallness, independence and reliability are strong assets to be recognized.
The seed for success lies in differentiation and clever innovation. What do we do differently than the others, and how can we capitalize that? Simple, yet the idea does not bear labor for offspring easily.

One of Tuulenmäki´s clever insights into "differentiating the message" is being ordinary. In this day and age, we have all come to associate startling messages with something special, lavish, unique, outstanding, better than the norm. But this not always the mode to take. As an example he cites Lauren Luke, your-average single mom from South Shield, England, who happened to stumble into making amateur makeup-videos into the internet sometime in 2007. Today, she is a Youtube-phenomenon with 111 million views, her own cosmetics line sold at Sephora, a book, newspaper column and a Nintendo game. Her secret lies in being ordinary and approachable, not the supermodel-style we have come to associate with cosmetics. Can an entire nation take example from this? Of course, according to Tuulenmäki. The best communication is different communication. Copying the mainstream is not strategic innovation. It is safe, yet poor and lazy thinking. Common convention is the killer of brilliant ideas, regardless of the field of operation.

Are Finnish companies doing things differently enough? Is the value of deviation and difference acknowledged? The speech of Anssi Tuulenmäki surely left the audience with a thought or two to reflect on, hopefully with fruitful results.

The Audacity To Think differently

The Betting industry and reputation management : Case Veikkaus

"Reputation or media cannot be controlled. " This is how the director of communication at Veikkaus sums up his experience in dealing with public relations and general perception of the company. Veikkaus, the Finnish national betting agency is owned by the Finnish government. The total profits are directed to sports, art, youth work and science. It controls a large majority of the gaming markets in Finland, which according to many foreign betting companies causes an unfair advantage to free market principles. Sports betting is completely operated by Veikkaus in Finland, and the market access is restricted for other companies. Four years ago foreign companies attempted to take Veikkaus to EU-court in order to end the monopoly. This meant that Veikkaus, and its director of communication Ilkka Juva needed to work hard to defend the company´s image and reputation in front of the international public and media.

"Actually they attacked against the Finnish legislation, not us. 

             But still it irritated me."


What is reputation? Where does a company reputation stem from? Development manager Riku Ruoholahti from the T-Media Oy /Reputation Institute Finland gave a short speech at this year´s "Elonmerkki" -media conference regarding this topic. According to Ruoholahti, reputation cannot be compressed to cover just the balance sheet or sales revenue of a particular company. In reality, it originates from everything a company does: all its interaction with various stakeholders composes the perception. It is a question of trust and a positive emotional bond at its best: good reputation ensures that customers are satisfied and recommend you, employees are loyal and the media views you favorably.

Certainly the particular field of business affects the reputation. When thinking of the tobacco industry in the 21st century, it is hard to imagine how reputation good be naturally decent, at least with regard to its traditional product compilation. The same way, it could be argued that betting and gambling are considered infamous in the Western world. Finnish "Veikkaus" however, has managed to prove otherwise.

Despite the deplorable incident with the other international betting companies, Veikkaus managed to bypass the accusations of monopoly and strengthen its position. According to Ruoholahti from the Reputation Institute, Veikkaus is now the fifth most reputable company in Finland (the number one spot goes to the confectionery company Fazer). Mr. Juva admits that  the goal of Veikkaus has been to systematically stand behind its image as a public benefactor. All the proceeds go "back" for the citizens. In other words, through the act of entertaining games one can take part in taking care of the society as a whole. Charity through betting. This message clearly has saved the reputation of Veikkaus in the midst of European Union and their warnings. In the light of his experiences, Juva upholds skillful mastery of communication as the utmost important asset for today´s company. In his view, communication specialists should be present in the company boardrooms, and not as just  plain sidesupport players. Although media cannot be controlled, one can participate into the ongoing discussion and form a mutually beneficial dialogue.

The Betting industry and reputation management : Case Veikkaus

Angry Birds, Peter Vesterbacka and the Uncomfortable Insolance

Vesterbacka´s speech at this year´s Elonmerkki -conference divided opinions. Some thought he was inspiring. Some said he is brave and exemplary. Others- could not take his arrogance. The underlying discussion beneath the day´s speeches had been Finnish design and ways to take it abroad  - marketing. Or, the lack of better Finnish marketing. As Artek´s leader admitted, they are well-known internationally, but  do not know how to capitalize their fame. Vesterbacka knows a thing or two about capitalizing and taking action when the iron is  hot. And he is not afraid to say it out loud, without embarrassment or demure attitude. And this direct pride is not accustomed to in the Finnish landscape. It is... showy.

The Chief Marketing officer of Rovio ( the company responsible for producing "Angry Birds" game into our cultural consciousness) does not bow down in front of his company´s success. He drops facts and numbers like Agent Orange to a Vietnamese field. The audience gasps and smiles uncomfortably. Some cheer.
"Surely this kind of success cannot happen just like that? Surely this kind of success cannot last? Just look at What happened to Nokia- we shouldn´t brag."

The "Angry Birds" has been downloaded approximately 350 million times so far. At the present rate, it is being downloaded 1 million times a day. 200 million minutes are played every day. They have around 130 million active users around the world. According to Vesterbacka, the company is growing faster than YouTube, Google or Facebook (at present). Last year the company´s revenue was a meager 6,5 million euros. This year, they are expecting the number to reach 100 million (euros). Within the next couple of years, they are going public.  Vesterbacka himself was voted the seventh most influential person in the world
(TIME -magazine, April 2011). Interestingly, the international commentators found his reaction to the newly appointed status as "humble". So what is it that made the company so huge?

Before the company made it huge, they were in deep trouble. Money had been burnt by the owners Niklas and Mikael Hed, and something needed to be done. "Angry Birds" was Rovio´s 52. game. There were 51 attempts to make it before the success, and in the beginning, even the birds weren´t that catchy. Game designer Jaakko Iisalo´s pet project was a raw idea that needed a lot of meat for the bones. There were no pigs, there was no slingshot. Besides the brain power of gifted designers, there was also the marketing genius of Peter Vesterbacka, who knew the direction to go for and the measures needed to make the game big. Before the slingshot, the game was not understandable for the average user. Before the pigs, there was no enemy to go against. (Adding the pigs as enemy was also a clever move the in the midst of global swine flu-epidemic). In December 2009 the catapult-puzzle  game was released. By February 2010 it was the top-selling game in both UK and US Apple application stores.

When asked, even Vesterbacka himself does not know the exact reason for the worldwide popularity of the game. He lists the swine flu, the fun and colorful characters, the concurrent rise of the touch-screen smartphones, attention to detail, smart marketing and a cheery game-idea (there are no negative punishments for mistakes).

By now, Rovio´s main goal is to strengthen and widen the brand. There is the cookbook coming, the toys, the film, the shoes, the clothes... Vesterbacka is comparing the brand to the world famous "SpongeBob" -phenomenon, which still (after its creation in 1974) is selling merchandise in the ranges of 4 billion US dollars
annually. The great goal is to be the first entertainment brand with 1 billion fans.This is no small talk, no unassuming muttering, this is plain determination. Will the company make it there?

While focusing on "Angry Birds", it is easy to forget that there is much more happening overall in the Finnish game industry, and Rovio is just the first mega success on the road to many more. According to the recent  Finnish Game Industry  2010-2011 study, the revenues of the whole game industry have grown steadily, and topped 100 million euros last year. The revenues for this year are expected to rise to 165 million euros. In comparison to  game industries in other Scandinavian countries, Finland is now holding the number one spot. In the light of this, it is surprising to learn how little the Finnish government is investing in the education or finance regarding game industry. Preconceived ideas against the field of entertainment?

So what are the possible "next" success stories in the field of Finnish game industry? This year the foreign finance was totaling approximately 60 million euros, from which Rovio took the main cut ( 34 million). The second biggest company to hit the big league was called Supercell, which collected 12 million euros in venture capital from Accel Partners. Also a company called Grand Cru has received 1 million.  According to insiders, much is expected from the oldest Finnish game company Housemarque, when it releases its new version of an old game for Sony  and a puzzlegame for iPad. There is also names like Recoil with its "Rochard" -game and "Trine 2" from Frozenbyte. (On a sidenote, you should check out the soundtrack for Trine1, which features world-class classical players instead of machine-generated pseudo-music. Thank me later.)

Besides Rovio therefore, much is happening in the Finnish game industry at the moment. Although the money might be there, the process to reach glory and fame is still slow and laborious. This does not seem to dispirit the energetic designers. The buzz and drive has spread to other cities outside the capital Helsinki,
and the hopes are high. Who will be the next success in a red shirt? According to Rovio´s brand image, as we have come to associate him, it takes a good idea, some smart marketing and pure courage to try. After all, it was the golden 52. game which took the world by storm. Not the first, not the third. The number 52.

Angry Birds, Peter Vesterbacka and the Uncomfortable Insolance

Survival of the Print media and Differentiation

Markus Frey, the design director from "Kauppalehti" (Finland´s premier business newspaper) admits, that design is not the ultimate savior or wonderdrug for the print industry. More is needed.

According to various "estimated per week spent with media" -research results, the usage among "the old" media is diminishing. (These studies are abundant and widely available for all) Not surprisingly for anyone, the great public around the Western world is spending more and more time among the digital media: web, games, digital tv. What is the common newspaper or magazine to do? Adopt game-like features, transform and shift its presence partly to the internet?

In Frey´s mind, the carefree-attitude in making print media has to be abandoned. Now, a clear message and a unique personality has to be present from the get-go. Yes, a paper has to have a personality. A unique soul, that we want to adapt into our lives. The created identity needs to be different from other existing print media brands, and to catch our attention. This is nothing new in the world of marketing, however.

Frey criticizes the what he considers "overly bad taste" of Finns regarding consumption of media. Much more could be offered and consumed. But is the decreasing popularity of old media to be blamed on the general  bad taste of the greater public? "The product is good, the customers just don´t get it" -approach is weak.

When discussing the success of the "Monocle", Frey mentions emotions, personal relations to the paper and perceived quality. A consumer object becomes more than it is, a friend -and a prestigious one.

Frey also mentions, how the style and idiom of communication changes with times. Guttenberg´s bible would be incomprehensible for most of us today, as its text style is so old. Should print media borrow the style of digital media more? Or, should they evolve and fuse with the new technology entirely? With the arrival of iPads and growing fusion between television and internet, this is not such a small question to ask.

Survival of the Print media and Differentiation

The Genes of Passion include Simplicity

Christian Lindholm has an impressive resume. He has been called "the god-father of mobile phone users´", with his ideas on making Nokia mobiles (at least in the past) easier to use. Lindholm could be named as the "father" of Symbian s60-smartphone. (Before Symbian had the bad rep that it carries today). He has also been the vice-president of global mobile products for Yahoo! and has been labeled as one of the 180 movers according to VentureBeat. Clearly, this man is to be listened to, if anything.

At Elonmerkki, his main message was the need to reach passion as the ultimate user experience through service design. In this present occupation as the director of Fjordnet Limited, his goal is to transform digital through "elegant simplicity". In other words, he tackles problems of pure misguided design in digital services.
Lindholm´s main thesis is, that anything can, and should be made better. At present the problem in a lot of modern organizations is weak software. Companies do not invest in better programs simply because they, or their employees, do not care enough to change the situation. This ´status quo`, however, is changing. Increasingly people as employees or consumers are demanding better user experience. C**p, as he says, does  not sell. Services like Dropbox are a troublesome issue for monolith companies like Microsoft, simply because they work, and beautifully so. But if the issue is so simple, and easy to point out, why does a megacorporation not tackle it and offer better products? Lindholm does not answer this, and obviously it is a more deep-rooted issue related to bureaucracy, conservatism and resistance to change.

The highest form of design for Lindholm represents  the so-called "of course" -logic: an idea is so powerful and well-functioning that we cannot fathom how we lived before it. The newly designed and improved wrench is an example of this. A clever idea by a mechanic to twist the ends of a wrench proved genius. Elegant and simple. Ergonomics re-invented. The old design becomes wrong and the new is accepted as the prevalent norm. This reaction brings with it an emotional bond and eventual love affair with the product or service. (Albeit it is one-sided or imaginatively reciprocal at best)

According to Lindholm, love affair is what companies should be after. "The right-brain business" brings more value for the company- what he does not add, is the other term that could be used to describe this approach. The irrational business, the religion approach. When a brand becomes more than it is, a consumer product or service, when a bond is achieved that almost no rational argument can break. When we actually name our consumer goods (as in vacuum cleaners or cars) like children or pets and they become semi-living objects in our minds. They become the signifiers of a secular church that we attend to with a religious-like mindset when the real spirituality in our lives has diminished in importance. And this is the world that we are moving into.

The Genes of Passion include Simplicity

Design forms it all - even Communication?

What is design? According to Wikipedia, it can be defined as "specification of an object, manifested by an agent, intended to accomplish goals, in a particular environment, using a set of primitive components, satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraints; to create a design, in an environment (where the designer operates)". 


Short and sweet. But not really telling us much. Is it something that we know "when we see it"? Is bad design design at all without consistently successful end result? Is mass-production design? Is design only performed by certain individuals with professional ties- who gets to be "a designer"? Is a child´s sand castle design? Is design always art?

The dean of Aalto University´s School of Art and Design, Helena Hyvönen, has attempted to define some of the concepts related to this universe of design. In her speech ("Elonmerkki"), she dares us to look beyond traditional views and stereotypes. The time of strict categorization and authoritarian ownerhip is ending. Hyvönen talks of Designthinking, which is a new way at looking at the age-old concept.
Designthinking approaches the individual as an active creator, never a passive object. Individuals and usability move to the center of focus. In this regard, (good) design talks with the user, not to the user.

Hyvönen admits that the old ways of thinking inside organisations are difficult to break. When before design was considered something extra, separate from the actual product/service, it now needs to be incorporated into the entire process. Design has become essential in the final user experience, and part of the perceived value of the whole package. Simply put, we cannot ignore it. We need to cut the chains of the old school of thinking, and embrace the new, holistic and playful mode of "design-thinking".

As an example of the new joint process of creating design Hyvönen mentions today´s fashion blogs. People customize, tailor and express themselves through their own designs made with store-bought clothes, which they proudly display on their blogs.  The actual fashion designers follow the ideas, and make new design based on this fruitful communication. The circle continues. The ownership to design has become grey area. Everyone can be a designer and part of the process. In this way, design is communication. Communication is design. Design makes the world more understandable and controllable for the individual. Thus through design we create, and re-create our personality and place in the world.

Design forms it all - even Communication?

"Elonmerkki" -media conference

Today (25.8.2011) I will be blogging live with 15 other bloggers, related to "Elonmerkki"-media conference, in Helsinki, Finland. It is an honour to be chosen among other bloggers to witness this event.
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The day´s theme is related to design, innovation and their strategic significance for organizational value. The need for differentiation in today´s organization is massive. Various daily messages are bombarding us and fighting for the attention that is getting harder to catch.  Design, as we are have come to associate it, has usually been linked to surface, commercialism, embellishment and frivolous enhancement. The core value has been thought to lie somewhere else. The message of this year´s "Elonmerkki" -conference states otherwise. Design is more than a hip afterthought in an engineer´s daydream. It is a complete experience that tells a story of the product/service for the great public. Design is an inseparable, essential part of the product/service.


All the blogposts will be edited into a book. As a plus, the proceeds originating from this publication will be donated to Unicef. Comments are highly appreciated.

"Elonmerkki" -media conference

"The Help", marketing and Racial Relations

How many of you have read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett? Chances are, a lot of the reading ladies have, men -maybe not so many. Published originally in 2009, it became an instant hit, which undoubtedly was a sweet feeling for the writer Ms. Stockett, who managed to receive countless rejections before the greenlight for publishing. That tells you that those literary watchdogs at publishing houses do not know everything: "The Help" remained on the NY Times bestseller list over 100 weeks. 100 weeks, people. So all you writer-wannabes, do not get discouraged. Ever.

The story of the "The Help" is situated in the deep south, Mississippi of the 1960s. Point of view is switched between the black nannies working for the well-to- do white families and a recent white college graduate, who begins to question the often silly practices resulting from the race relations. The womens´ lives intertwine regardless of racial differences, friendships evolve and bittersweet destinies are told. This is not Kafka, by no means, but it is touching and... interesting. There are many good writers in the world, but to be interesting and catch people´s attention -that is a whole other ballgame. And Stockett clearly knows how to swing the bat.

So I do recommend the book. If anything, it makes a good companion on those cold fall evenings alone at home, just before the bedtime.( And again men, I do realize if this topic does not quite hit the home planet)
So what happens to a bestseller book in this world of ours? It gets made into a movie, of course.
So far, the film "The Help" has grossed 30 $ million dollars in the US, and it opened just last week. For a small, women-based movie, it is a lot. It is tougher to get women to the movies, you see. The expectations for the worldwide-profits are huge, of course.  We´ll just have to see how the rest of the world reacts.
The film has an impressive cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Alllison Janney. And it stars Emma Stone, whom I find genius in her own craft.

Like in all marketing, different versions are produced for different markets. Naturally. So there exists the international trailer and the US trailer. Watch below.
The US-trailer:




And the International trailer-version:




Notice the slight differences? Just to clarify, here are the book covers.

The US book:

And the UK-version:

Interesting, don´t you think? For one reason or another, I do find the International trainer to be more fitting for the book, warm and slightly more realistic. Whereas the US-trailer is pure smiles, laughter, soppy comedy and borderline lame slapstick pie.The real issue of the original book, racial tensions between the women, is more obscure and hidden within the US -film trailer. But then again, when looking at the book covers, there seems to be a general theme here with the marketing line. Race is still a sore issue in America, let us not forget that. King´s dream might still be, albeit slightly, out of reach. And for extra discussion concerning the book, which has divided opinions left and right, go here.

"The Help", marketing and Racial Relations

Architectural Delight- Or, the not-your-average Crib

Those of you who have followed my scribbles for awhile, know that I like to engage in a bit of architectural dreaming every once in a full moon. And I´m not thinking just any old architecture with an IKEA simulacrum, but something with a twist. Those people who live in an old lighthouse turned family dwelling? Marvelous. Castle-living? Expensive, but impressive. An apartment turned into Star Trek -ship by the very detail? Neurotic, but still admirable. People have their passions. Mine is, plain and simple, architectural daydreaming.

So here we go: first of, the hotel in drain pipes. Yes, it is called " Das Park Hotel" in Essen, Germany, and you can actually book a room between May and October. Before it gets too darned cold, that is. Here some images of the wonderful little pad. Romantic getaway?

Obviously, showers, toilet or the much needed minibar do not come with the tube, but apparently the public facilities of the park are available. Which gives an interesting add to the term "romantic getaway". Paging George Michael? The bed looks somewhat comfy, but I hate to think of waking up in the middle of the night, alarmed by the small tube-cube, and mistaking it all for a bunker in the Second World War. Smaller things can give you nightmares, you see? Anyways, I´m sure there is a market for this. If they arrange sold-out tourist trips to Chernobyl, there must be eager beavers for this experience, as well.

Next stop takes us to the skies. Airline companies are struggling. Even with taking our last pennies from every carry all, glass of water and legroom, they are still after blood. The green kind, of course. Korean Air has decided the take our primal need to get wasted on-air to the next level. In order to get us really wasted and spend every dime on needless fancy cologne, plastic airplane and other lavish trinkets they hustle for us poor passengers tied to the chair for various hours. At least, that is my theory.So, why not actually stick a bar there? Or three? All for the duration of the trip. The boozing class is aimed, unfortunately, just for the first class PAX. Which is where they get it completely wrong. Don´t they have free drinks anyways? Why do they need the bar for socialization purposes? Isin´t part of the first class allure to get more privacy and space in the small confines of an airplane? They should have aimed for the meager pockets of the common folks over at the coach class.
That´s all I´m saying.

Architectural Delight- Or, the not-your-average Crib