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

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

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

The Race is on: Facebook versus Google+

Earlier this year we learned about the slight slump in popularity of the megaorganism known as Facebook. 
The number of Americans using the"blue timekiller" (as I lovingly call it) had dropped within the period of May from 155 million to 149 million. And this, they (as in the faceless, all-encompassing specialists)say, is a reason to worry. Is the pop rocket of a phenomenon showing signs of fatigue? Entering mature phase? (In all fairness it is gaining more adult users over 45 rapidly). Every trend has their beginning and an end. And now, with us all hooked into using social media services, it appears to be almost translucently cool to be able to resign from joining the game. At least, that´s what I blogged about at the end of last year, with hints of antisocial network and the luxury of saying no. Because let´s face it, being "off-grid" nowadays is getting rare indeed.

Then again, for a discernible part of us, Facebook, is just... plain fun. It is like the good old handy telephone book, with only a few tiny little upgrades. I like not always being forced to leave the house to talk with friends -especially when it is freezing cold outside and you feel overdrained. If only it did not play with our privacy so much. All the little bugs and crunches that made us cough, worry and shake our heads over the last year -could this be done differently? And hey, as we are talking about it, why is there no good competition? Sure, there was (and is) diaspora , where at least you can own the rights for your own pictures. But that did not really catch fire. Nowadays, it seems diaspora is mainly being visited by its developers. Correct me if I am wrong. So what is a girl (or a boy, or an animal) to do?


Enter Google+.  The latest development of the magnate company to get us all hooked inside the big megacorporation. After being released a few days ago for a selected group of people (ok, the ones who managed to buy, bag or steal an invite) it has generated buzz all over the web. Is this the Facebook-killer? Can the social network be redone, and better?
So far, my experience is quite narrow and clinical. With the lack of an as established and large friendsupply inside the "+", playing around just isin´t as fun, at least for now. One feels like the odd kid left on the sandbox with a plastic toy and anticipation hanging in the air. However, the positives of the new social media are visible, and Google has definitely noted the problems within Facebook, which we all are more than familiar with.

The pages are clean, sleek and free of clutter. Have you noticed how the sideline of ads in Facebook has grown deviously over time? How everything you search or write about is instantly met with similar themed ads? So far, there is no such thing in Google+, but then again, they might start playing the moneygame any day soon. Google+ consists of "hangouts", "circles" and "sparks". "Sparks" is where news become social and users can set the news to match their preferences. "Hangouts" is like the name: place to hang out with your friends from various circles -through video chat. And guess why Facebook announced they are bringing Skype-powered video chat this week? The competition can be fruitful for the large public.

"Circles" is the main pro side of Google+. Tired of setting up limitations for various friends over at Facebook? Yes, the whole thing can be done differently and smoothly. In Google+ the user can easily place people in separates "circles", and set limitations to these circles of friends. Now you can literally put those parental units in their own circle, and not worry about them seeing you every post from last Friday. Let´s not forget business contacts, either.  Oversharing just is not what most of have a need to do.

Another pro (or con, depending how you look at it) is that the whole thing is integrated with other Google services. Just log into your account (gmail, Youtube etc) and you are free to play with Google+, as well. This should be good news for Android- phone users as well, as the "app" for Google+ is already available, as write this. And I got it yesterday, thank you very much. Intrigued, but wondering how to switch all you hundreds of close friends from Facebook to Google+ smoothly? No worries, there is a solution! Courtesy of a friendly developer named Mohamed Mansour, one can easily switch the bundle of pals from the blue system into the G-system. It is called "Facebook Friend Exporter", it is free and available here . Be prepared to move everyone into their respective circles, though.

So how does one get inside the happening hotspot of the moment? My, by invitation only! As I am writing this, the invitation system does not work smoothly as of yet (that´s why the system is not officially open yet!). But every now and then a few invites slip by. So... does anyone want an invite? If so, write a nice comment, send your gmail-address (snoweffect333@gmail.com) and I will do my best.

The Race is on: Facebook versus Google+

James Bond, Product placement and the not-so innocent Quickie

The old days of moviemaking, when a simple Coke-can might give us a quick innocent flash on the sidelines of the overall story (semi-accidentally) are long gone. These days it is all about the business and cross-promotion.

In "The Social Network" all the computers were conveniently old-school Sony-apparatuses, to boost the sales of the parent company producing the Facebook-epic.  The two "Sex and the City" movies were blatant advertising towards females from beginning to end, much like the tv-series they were based on. "Cast away" was nothing but a long commercial (for which we moviegoers paid!) defending the glory of Fed-ex. "Up in the Air", while still having some artistic value, was basically showing us how cool "American Airlines" is- look, even George Clooney likes to travel with it! In the eyes of the mass public, there is no difference between an actor and his/her character. We buy for a multitude of reasons, and a lot of the choices are anything but rational. Or so they say. They, you might ask?

These days, when actual commercials are easy to miss with TIVO, illegal torrents and just plain growing resistance to direct messages, the (M)ad Men have gotten ever more creative. Believe it or not, there are actual people making a living planning all those wicked marketing moves to be shown on film. Sometimes it is grotesque and obvious, often so subtle and fast that you might blink and miss it. But images are never unintentional. The idea is to plant a seed, make the viewer desire the product and not even realize what hit her/him. At the moment this beast of a business is valued at $ 3 billion.

One of the professionals in the mind game business of today is Norm Marshall, whose official title is "entertainment marketing consultant". Former car salesman has made a living arranging fertile unions between brands and Hollywood, and sees no harm in what he does. But even Marshall admits that there has to be a balance between the creative forces and the marketing forces: "otherwise it is just one big commercial". He himself only watches period movies anymore, due to boredom with contemporary flicks and their constant ads.

And how does this get us to the "Man with a licence to kill"? The production of the next earth-shaking spy thriller was almost halted due to difficulties in arranging financing. But alas, a few calls to quite a few companies, and the budget is back in order. So much so, that practically a third of the overall budget of the next James Bond- classic is coming from product placement. In total that makes a nice $45 million dollars, and with that kind of money, we are sure to see brands names from beginning to end. If you want to pass them, you might as well pass the entire action adventure.

Morgan Spurlock, the ever-curious American filmmaker on the loose, has naturally chosen this sexy topic for his new documentary, "POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie ever sold". In his customary satirical way, he exposes the modus operandi behind the entire business, and manages to sell some visible space in his own film, as well. All in all, he has about 20 brands sponsoring his cultural critique, making one question what his overall goal is in the first place. According to Spurlock, even the first short clips of film were filled with advertisements: Thomas Edison shot the famous train scenes with ads plastered on the sides of the train. Spurlock´s intent is good, yet his idea seems to lack teeth on the actual agenda. These days, the few glimpses of a Coke-can or a  brand name cigarette  are increasingly being upgraded with actual script inserts, making movies (or tv-shows) seem like occasional, well,  plain commercials.(Fast-rewind to previous example on "Cast Away"). Problem does not lie with marketing itself: nowadays it is hard to walk through a street without being offered something. The issue lies within ourselves as a society, and our increasing acceptance to become targets for messages masquerading as innocent cultural texts. Or, does it all really matter? Are we consumers above all else?




Even the genius auteur himself, Mr. David Lynch, is not immune to the allures of commercialism. Besides making brilliant and mind-boggling art films every now and then, he has also ventured into the world of commercials. Perfume, pregnancy tests, cars, game consoles, antacids... Lynch is first to admit he does these for money and access to latest technology. But product placement for him putrefies.

James Bond, Product placement and the not-so innocent Quickie

The Good Old Days of Advertising: Or, is it always illegal to kill a woman?

Shockingly, these disturbing images were once considered acceptable mainstream advertising. Oh, the nostalgia.

 I can´t wait to see what happens 50 years from now; will I look at those pesky Axe/Lynx men´s deodorant ads with a fresh eye? At first one might be appalled at looking at these old pictures, but then again... I´m amused. The reality, in which we live today in the Western countries, is quite far from the "Happy Days" -era pictured below. Woman´s space within the society has greatly expanded from the pigeonhole of wife-mother-whore -dimension, and as a female myself, I am truly glad over that development. Then again, let´s not forget that it is 2011, and yet in Saudi-Arabia women still have to fight over the right to vote. Or to be even recognized for being born  in the first place.

The Good Old Days of Advertising: Or, is it always illegal to kill a woman?

Look! She really does not care!

It is amazing the stuff they can sell with women´s bodies. Even now. Here´s an ad from "The Saturday Evening Post" from the golden fifties. This was the age of rising consumerism, belief on a never ending supply of energy, resources and constant economic growth. Women were curvier, blonder and well, "domesticated". At least according to the image this commercial portrays. She seems to be having an orgasm from the simple pleasure of having her breasts being watered by a random strange man. (Seriously, how can that happen? Do you know how cold that hosed down water usually is?) Hmm, I have a feeling this whole picture could be just a metaphor for something quite else going on between a man and a woman. I might be wrong. But the illustrator must have/had some imagination going on in that head of his.


Her hair, makeup and the entire outfit look high maintenance. Yet she does not mind it all being ruined by a splash of water. Because she doesn´t care! Everyone wants to win the Miss wet t-shirt contest, orchestrated by a man in a lab coat -all in the name of science. The things we just have to do, or what, ladies?

And this ad was brought to you by the Continental Oil Company, defunct company since 2002.

Look! She really does not care!