https://vimeo.com/153078403
2
Emojis is a language based on symbols. It has gradually become a part of everyday communications around the world. Smileys and other ideograms, which usually describe emotions, compress much information into a small space.
Country Brand of Finland
Anholt-Gfk Roper Nation Brands Index 2013: Finland 17/50
4
Exports 15.
Investment /immigration 15.
Tourism 27.
Governance 9.
Culture 27.
People 17.
Soft Power of Finland
Portland Communications Soft Power Index 2015; Finland 15/30
5
Engagement 16.
Digital 19.
Enterprise 5.
Government 8.
Culture 30.
Education 19.
"In soft power terms Finland punches weigh above its'
geopolitical weight.”
Vs
”We are underperformers in country brand and in
attracting investments if you look at all the other
rankings where Finland is at the top.”
6
Challenge Nr 1
Opinions and images of countries change very little after the first
image is born during teenage years...
-> Still we, as most countries, were only communicating with decision
makers and adults.
15
One yearly campaign: Christmas!
• ThisisFINLAND site (finland.fi) and SoMe
• Starting point: Christmas calendar concept renewal.
• Searched for something that works better on mobile
devices and in social media, and takes into account a
younger public.
• The idea about emojis was logical and true to the Finnish
brand: the SMS had been invented in Finland and the
normal way of communicating is short and concise.
-> xmas.finland.fi 17
Choice of themes
• Show typical Finnish emotions
• Be used in a variety of ways
• Feel honest and not polished
-> strengths: gender equality, peace building,
closeness to nature, corruption low, toughness...
-> weaknesses: alcohol use, heavy cursing, obsene
looking pastries... 18
Technical choices
Wanted
• to launch the emojis at a precise date
• to look the same on all devices
• to be found as an entity of ”Finland emojis”
-> The only way to go was to make emoji stickers and our own app
19
PR choices
• Launched the idea ”World’s first country emojis” one month
before, Nov 4th
• Launched the calendar Dec 1st
• Calendar in 13 languages (Priority countries: UK, US, Russia,
France, Germany, Poland, Turkey, China, India, South-Korea,
Mexico, Egypt, Japan)
• Team Finland –concept in the Government
• No external PR agency, only MFA resources and embassies
20
Some figures
• Main channel Twitter first launch date reach: 3 million
• First launch date mentioning both #Finland & #emojis: 1500
• First month media coverage: over 2000 articles and inserts in
ALL major global media
• Explosion in contacts, media-enquiries, questions, co-
operation offers
• Several communications awards
-> disappointment: the app functionalities
22
xmas.finland.fi statistics
• 160 000 visitors, of which 41 000 downloaded the
whole set of emojis from the page
• Most downloaded image: The Headbanger
• 50 % on English pages (19 % from US IP-addresses)
• 19 % on Japanese pages
• 9 % on German pages
• 7 % on Russian pages
• 60 % visited the page from mobile devices
23
Curiosities
• As part of the new popular trivia game questions
• As an academic research object
• As part of new high school books
• As merchandising
Best of all: Mock-up sites and different national ”what
would our emojis look like?”
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In the end...
• ...a small drop in the sea, hopefully leaving a tiny
trace of a country that is easy-going and can laugh at
itself & technologically savvy
Reasons for success:
1. It was a GOVERNMENT, not a company, not a
promotion agency
2. The choice of themes was bold enough
3. Timing 25
27 Petra Theman, Director of Public Diplomacy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland [email protected]