City of Helsinki

Effective messages for Finland’s largest city

We served as the City of Helsinki’s primary communications agency partner from 2021 to 2025. The collaboration ranged from strategic work to hands‑on daily support and high‑profile campaign executions. A portfolio of more than 160 projects supported the city’s growth in an open, sustainable, and inclusive way.

Client

The City of Helsinki is Finland’s largest employer, a major growth hub, and a highly visible public organization. Its strategy A Place for Growth (2021–2025) guided all city activities throughout the strategy period. Our work touched all city divisions and several municipal enterprises — from top management to grassroots‑level city operations.

Challenge

Working with a large public organization requires a partner who can react quickly, understand diverse needs, gently guide work toward truly effective outcomes, and above all, understand society. This is not always easy. Sustainable growth, well‑being, the city’s attractiveness and ability to retain residents, functioning services, inclusive civic participation — and, ultimately, a genuinely good place to live and be — do not happen without communication that is truly in tune with the times.

Solution

The strategy guided everything we did — sometimes clearly in the forefront, sometimes more quietly in the background. Designing and proofreading the annual report of a single city division, communications for a major street construction project, or a brand renewal for a municipal enterprise are very different undertakings in scale.

What mattered most was meeting the city’s people with attentiveness, honesty, and openness. When this succeeded, the outcome was good as well. Most of the time, it was.

Highlights of our collaboration:

A communications and marketing roadmap for the final phase of the strategy period
A communications plan for urban development areas, strengthening their attractiveness and reducing segregation
Several campaigns supporting civic participation, such as OmaStadi
Numerous marketing campaigns and influencer collaborations
Various media trainings and speaking engagements
Support for day‑to‑day communications and content production — from polishing PowerPoint decks to sparring on crisis communications

Tulokset

During the collaboration years 2021–2025, we delivered more than 160 projects for the City of Helsinki and its municipal enterprises. Supporting the City of Helsinki’s communications was a matter close to our hearts for four years — and a clear example of how a long‑term partnership can influence the development of an entire city.