YLE A record-breaking social media campaign for Finnish Sauna Day

Yle, Finland’s national broadcaster, was keen to showcase the very best of Finnish sauna culture for a nationwide Sauna Päiva or Sauna Day. To be a success, they needed as many people as possible to enjoy the sauna during the same weekend.

Challenge

YLE has dozens of different media channels, but its reach is limited when it comes to non-Finnish speakers. The campaign producers’ dilemma was how to target this huge potential audience with engaging content, which showcased the wonders of sauna in a fun and educational way.

Solution

The answer came courtesy of our Creative Director, Joel Willans. His best-selling Very Finnish Problems books are based on social channels with nearly half a million fans. This enables us to create content campaign with huge organic reach. To tackle YLE’s challenge we collaborated with the campaign team on a series of videos and social media content revolving around sauna sayings and culture.

Outcome

The campaign smashed all its targets. On the four Very Finnish Problems social channels, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, the content reached 1.72 million people. The videos gained over 550 thousand views and the social content was shared over 10 000 times, reaching audiences in Finland and abroad. What’s more, the VFP campaign reached hundreds of thousands more people on YLE’s own social channels and the main video was even broadcast on national TV. In the end, we helped ensure YLE’s Sauna Day was a resounding—and record-breaking—success!

What they said

"We had a great Sauna Day and reached our all goals - as you did with all that fun and entertaining content. So thank you!!"

Tiina Klemettilä Producer - Yle Culture and Entertainment