Opening of Olivia restaurant at Helsinki Central Station viewed by a million

In 2021, Norwegian restaurant chain Olivia landed in Finland with two new restaurants. Mellakka’s task was to introduce the new restaurant chain to the Finnish public and to highlight the brand’s values and passion in its new market area. The opening was moved to 2022, so relevant buzz and anticipation had to be created around the brand even before the actual opening of the restaurants.

Leading up to the openings, Mellakka created an image of the brand through media work, press releases and events. Mellakka harnessed the most important social media influencers to spread the word with curated product launches, paid collaborations and smaller pre-opening events. Social media channels were optimised to reach relevant audiences and increase engagement.

Between October 2021 and April 2022, media pitching done by Mellakka earned an impressive 34 hits, in addition to which the pre-opening activations created continuous visibility on social media.

After the initial opening buzz, Mellakka turned the attention to recruitment and considered new recruitment marketing methods. Mellakka’s solution was an influencer collaboration with a Finnish actress Vivi Wahlström. Vivi filmed relatable and authentic material from behind the scenes at Olivia restaurants, interviewed the staff and shared her own experiences. One single post managed to attract an impressive 175,998 unique views and generated 392 clicks on the Olivia website. This was quite an achievement for a campaign with only one influencer. The recruitment efforts paid off, and new staff were successfully recruited after the campaign.

Mellakka has been Olivia Restaurants’ PR and communications partner in Finland since 2021.