Finland’s largest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has launched an outdoor campaign in support of press freedom to coincide with the US and Russia summit that was held in Helsinki yesterday.
The campaign, by TBWA\Helsinki, used nearly 300 outdoor placements on billboards, roadside posters and transport shelters on the route from the airport to the site of the summit in a takeover designed to rouse the attention of US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Outdoor companies Clear Channel and JCDecaux also partnered on the campaign, which was only conceived a few weeks before the summit.
The message was clear: “Mr President, Welcome to the land of free press”.
Some of the posters were past headlines about Trump and Putin’s attacks on the media, and several were written in Russian.
See more billboards below
“The media shouldn't be the lap dog of any president or regime,” Helsingin Sanomat senior editor-in-chief Kaius Niemi said.
“We want to show our support to those colleagues who have to fight in ever-toughening circumstances on a daily basis, both in the US and Russia. Our goal is to raise the topic of the freedom of the press around the world.”
During the summit, Trump launched an unprecedented attack on US intelligence agencies, which had unequivocally blamed Russia for meddling in the 2016 US election.
Putin denied Russia’s involvement and Trump’s support of the Russian leader over his own intelligence agencies has been described as an act of treason in the US, where he has been widely condemned across both sides of politics and in the media.
Ironically, it was left to journalists in a Helsinki press conference at the end of the summit to ask Putin the hard questions that a fawning president Trump refused to – which further illustrates the pertinency of Helsingin Sanomat’s campaign and key message.
CREDITS
Client: Helsingin Sanomat
Agency: TBWA\Helsinki
Campaign: The Land of Free Press
Helsingin Sanomat
Design Director: Alo Valtere
Marketing Director: Veera Siivonen
Photographer: Kristian Autio
TBWA\Helsinki
Chief Creative Officer: Jyrki Poutanen
Creative Director: Erno Reinikainen
Copywriters: Lauri Gran, Tuomas Perälä, Anni Lindgren
Creative Content Strategist: Aki Toivonen
Account Director: Noora Murremäki
Project Manager: Mira Sallanko
Production AD: Harry Huttunen
Graphic Designer: Maria Dunaeva
Data Analyst: Esa Roponen
Communications Specialists: Leni Vehkaluoto, Sofia Kaura-Aho, Iman Chellaf
Campaign Analyst: Jesse Korhonen
Producer: Jari Lähteinen
DOP: Petri Siikanen
Editor: Jerry Strengell
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