Business Finland
Bringing Finnish Innovations to the Global Spotlight through Immersive Media Experiences
Year:
2021–2024
Scope:
Strategic PR Planning
Communications & Media Relations
Events
BACKGROUND
Business Finland is Finland's official government agency for trade and investment promotion, innovation funding, travel promotion and talent attraction. Mellakka Helsinki has been Business Finland’s PR partner for several years on international media trips.
HIGHLIGHTS
In 2021 and 2023, Mellakka was responsible for organizing international media trips with Business Finland around the Nordics’ biggest startup and technology event, Slush. The goal of both events was to showcase top Finnish innovations and the most interesting companies to international journalists through a 1–2-day Slush-themed program held prior to the official main event. Depending on Business Finland’s overarching themes, the focus areas included deep tech, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, emerging space technologies, health tech and sustainability.
Our task was to organize an engaging event program that combined informative company visits, interesting experts from various fields, and exciting experiences showcasing Finnish culture. In addition, we were responsible for the invitation process and the practical arrangements of the trip.
Through the media trips, we were able to generate numerous articles in relevant markets around the globe covering the themes and innovations presented during the trips, many of which included interviews with spokespersons. We also received excellent feedback from the client – they even mentioned using the 2021 trip as a reference for their other agency partners.
The most recent event we organized in 2024 was a separate international media trip focusing on clean transition innovations, aiming to showcase Finnish expertise and strengthen Finland’s appeal as an investment destination. The goal was to create a press trip that would showcase Finnish innovations accelerating the clean transition – especially in hydrogen, batteries, circular economy, and emission-free energy solutions. Additionally, the trip was to include aspects of Finland’s broader strengths, such as digital leadership, sustainability, strong connection to nature, and cultural elements like happiness, sauna and cuisine.
Our creative concept was built around identifying what resonates with international journalists and how to frame Finnish expertise in a way that speaks to them. We successfully turned a complex set of company visits and themes into a compelling program that attracted more journalists to join the trip than expected.
RESULTS
Business Finland and the participating companies received wide earned media coverage across all target markets. The tour resulted in 28 published articles with a potential reach of 126.4 million readers.
The coverage reflected the key themes we aimed to highlight, appearing in the desired media segments – business, news and industry publications. Finland was portrayed in a very positive light. Company representatives also saw clear value in the media trip’s impact on international visibility and business potential.
