How we successfully drilled the Finnish North Karelia into the minds of Russian tourists

We conducted a study that included the following stages:

• 4 in-depth interviews of tourists who visited the Finnish Karelia;
• Analysis of 15 opinions on the Finnish North Karelia taken from travel forums;
• An online interview of 200 tourists who traveled abroad via Tiburon;
• In-depth interviews of members of five travel companies that send tourists to the region of Finnish North Karelia.

During the study, it was found that not everyone knew that there are three Karelias: the Republic of Karelia, which is part of Russia, and South Karelia and North Karelia, which are part of Finland.

1. For most Russians surveyed, North Karelia is associated with the Russian northern region of Karelia.
2. Many Russians surveyed are unaware of the existence of the Finnish region called North Karelia.

While we were looking for respondents who could share their vacation in the Finnish North Karelia, many responded, assuring us they were in Karelia and liked the region. However, throughout the conversation, it turned out that everyone was in the Russian Karelia.

That is why the purpose of this advertising campaign was to put the Finnish region of North Karelia on the travel map in the minds of Russian tourists, in order to influence the audience that is already aware of North Karelia in future advertising campaigns.

Based on the study's results, the RMAA creative team developed several concepts to promote the region, two of which were implemented in 2019.

Within the budget, it was decided to use the digital channel as a key promotional channel to achieve maximum reach among the target audience. The strategy aimed to achieve a broader reach through seeding in the news and mass media and through collaboration with bloggers. The advertising campaign went in two stages.

Part I – Karelias mix up

Purpose: To separate the Finnish Karelia from the Russian one in the eyes of Russian residents, playing on their poor knowledge of geography. The news format was chosen for its implementation.

The news was published on a landing page created intentionally as part of the North Karelia website.

Further on, there was news seeding in two main channels:

• North Karelia News pages created on social media (VK, FB, Instagram, and OK);
• Sending press releases ensured coverage in mass media outlets that appeared in Google News and Yandex.News.

We wanted to make Russian users feel discordant and encourage them to look for information about the Finnish North Karelia through our materials. We spread the North Karelia News on the Internet, presenting it in a way that initially made it unclear which Karelia it was about, and users only understood that an event had occurred in the Finnish region after reading the news.

Five pieces of news were prepared and published:

• Северокарельской бабушке потребовалась виза для поездки к родственникам в Москву - An elderly lady from North Karelia needed a visa to go to Moscow to her relatives.
• Житель Урала по ошибке попал в Финляндию вместо российской Карелии - An Ural resident went to Finland instead of Russian Karelia by mistake.
• Российский бизнесмен заплатил полтора миллиона рублей за превышение скорости в Северной Карелии - A Russian businessman paid 1.5 million rubles for speeding in North Karelia.
• 6 декабря в Северной Карелии отпразднуют День Независимости - North Karelia will celebrate the Independence Day on December 6.
• Школьники Северной Карелии выйдут на зимние каникулы 21 декабря - North Karelia schoolchildren will start their winter holidays on December 21.

The news sparked widespread discussion among Russian Internet users and was actively commented on on social media. Besides, we relied on the materials’ virality and got it (popular authors from Yandex.Zen published a post themed on our articles about the Finnish North Karelia that got more than 80 thousand views, and some mass media published our press releases).

Part II – A Map of Crazy Actions

Purpose: To drill the Finnish North Karelia into the minds of Russian tourists.

As the main idea was to put the region on a travel map, we made a brave decision from the very beginning—to create this map ourselves! This is how the Interactive Map of Crazy Actions in North Karelia appeared, showing potential tourists where one can really paint the town red in Finland. Real venues were put on the map through humor.

This idea is unique because no one has created such maps in a humorous format before us with the purpose of promoting a tourist region. Besides, we created a platform for discussion on the very map where Russian Internet users entertained themselves with witty comments. Users highly esteemed the self-irony of the Finnish region.

The second stage was implemented during New Year’s Eve and the New Year holidays in Russia for a reason: we gambled on the idea that many people, having seen an unusual map of the Finnish North Karelia, would want to see these places in person and spend their New Year vacations there.