Social media campaign generates record audience for Tuska Festival

Mellakka has worked with the Tuska Festival since 2019. The largest metal festival in the Nordic countries achieved its attendance records in 2022 and 2023 and also had a strong presence on social media thanks to its unique sense of community.

In 2019, Tuska had entered into a partnership with shopping centre and public transportation hub Redi to provide access to the festival through it. They wanted to launch their exceptional collaboration and mark the significant change in practical arrangements in a noticeable way, so Tuska turned to Mellakka for help. Mellakka clarified the message and planned and implemented measures surrounding the launch, including the visuals. Inspired by the huge earned visibility, both partners were keen to expand their collaboration.

The collaboration between Mellakka and Tuska started rapidly starting with the summer 2019 festival, which the Mellakka team attended simply to get familiarised with the event. During the festival, the team ended up jumping fully into social media activities while at the same time bonding closely with the Tuska team. After the festival, Mellakka created a communications strategy for Tuska and began implementing it in practice.

Although Tuska could not be arranged due to the pandemic in 2020–2021, the work to preserve and grow the unique spirit of the festival continued on social media. In addition, Tuska created the Tuska Utopia series, which combined metal music and online travel, with which Mellakka was also able to take Finnish metal music and mental landscape on the world map. Mellakka conceptualized and implemented a communication and marketing campaign for Tuska Utopia that creatively combined media communications, social media, niche segmentation and networks.

Preparations for the 2022 festival were still being made under the shadow of uncertainty cast by the pandemic, but starting in the spring it finally became certain that the festival could actually take place as planned. And Tuska did come back with a bang! The 23rd Tuska Festival attracted 49,000 heavy music lovers to Helsinki’s sweltering Suvilahti over three days, representing the largest number of visitors in Tuska’s history at that point.

In 2023 that record was eventually broken with the festival’s second consecutive attendee record. Already sold out in advance, Tuska gathered no less than 63,000 metal heads in Suvilahti during three days.

In addition to customer service in social media, content production and marketing, Mellakka has been responsible for maintaining the festival’s social media, updating the crisis communications plan for the event, directing the festival’s own photographers and content producers, and planning and implementing media communications and website and partner contents before, during and after the event. The social media activity which has been a big part of the festival garnered a lot of thanks, including audience comments. In addition, no less than 523 media hits were accumulated during the year.

Our collaboration with Tuska continues, and we are currently working on the 2024 festival.