Helsinki Region Environmental Services soil revolution campaign draws attention to the importance of biowaste recycling
CLIENT
YEAR
SCOPE
Helsingin Seudun Ympäristöpalvelut (HSY)
2022
Communications and media relations,
Events,
Social media and content production
How to draw people’s attention to the importance of biowaste recycling? We dumped 6000 kilos of soil next to the iconic Havis Amanda fountain, planted 1000 violets on it and invited people to pick them. The Mullankumous “soil revolution” campaign attracted enormous popularity and media attention.
Biowaste has been collected at Helsinki’s apartment buildings for years, and in 2021 the collection of biowaste was also extended to single-family houses. However, the importance of sorting biowaste is still not clear to people, and there is still too much biowaste among mixed waste. Mellakka’s job was to communicate this in a way that would be noticed.
Mellakka decided to approach the subject through joy. We organised the Mullankumous “soil revolution” campaign in which 6000 kilos of soil were dumped next to the iconic Havis Amanda fountain and 1000 violets were planted on top. With the help of the media, social media and influencers, we informed the public that they could come and pick the flowers and collect soil as long as they lasted. The event culminated with Havis Amanda, a mermaid sculpture, getting a flower wreath placed on her head, and the fountain’s pedestal was surrounded by people collecting flowers and soil. Naturally, the soil and flowers could be transported home in containers suitable for recycling biowaste.
Highlight
- The Mullankumous “soil revolution” campaign was covered by national and local media and potentially reached more than 8 million people. The promotion was reported before, during and after the event. For example, Finland’s national public service media company YLE’s breakfast show made a live broadcast of the event on television, and the story was also covered by YLE news online and in the evening’s regional news broadcast. The biggest newspaper in the Nordics, Helsingin Sanomat and many radio stations also noted the event.
- Seven influencers participated in the advance communications for the event.
- An estimated couple of thousand people came to pick up flowers and soil. But above all, with the help of the media, social media and influencers, we successfully conveyed the client’s key messages about sorting biowaste and how much of it still ends up among mixed waste.