Valio’s touring recipe book gathered stories and raised emotions

Valio’s “Sano se leipoen” is a baking challenge in the form of a recipe book that has been circulated around Finland, gathering together the most beloved recipes and stories behind them from Finnish influencers and followers of influencers. During the summer of 2023, 40 recipes and stories were collected in the recipe book. These were later compiled into a digital recipe book, which reached an even wider audience.

Valio tasked us with bringing the brand and the concept of baking closer to consumers.

Valio had built the emotion of the bakery category well, which is reflected in the inspiring content and collaborations. The themes are easy to get involved in and the threshold to try even the most difficult recipes is lowered through accessible content. At its best, it leaves lifelong memories. Most of us have a memory or a story to tell about baking. We decided to focus on this.

We designed a “Sano se leipoen” baking challenge for Valio. In practice, the challenge was a physical recipe book to go around. Mellakka designed the recipe book and was responsible for its production, printing and binding.

Once the books were ready, we packed three blank recipe books in wooden boxes with a kitchen towel, polaroid camera, film, pens and a roll of tape. We then sent the boxes to nine collaborators, who sent them to their selected followers.

The influencers were selected from those who had previously collaborated with Valio. They are united by their affinity, warmth of spirit and the fact that they have managed to build a community among their followers. They included Emili Kumpuniemi, Jonna Luukko, Hanna Väyrynen, Veronica Verho, Juhani Koskinen, Tuija Pehkonen, Sara Vanninen, Janni Keituri, Erika Poussa, Kia Arpia of Bella Table and Petra Wettenranta.

In the recipe book, influencers and their followers handwrote why a particular treat is important to them, what it reminds them of and the story behind it. They took pictures of the finished baked goods with a Polaroid camera and attached them to the book. Each person got to choose who they baked for and why, and were encouraged to share these stories on their social media channels.

The book was distributed in 13 locations around Finland and collected 40 recipes from different people. When the tour was over, we collected the books and decided to continue the story.

We produced a digital recipe book of people’s recipes, because we wanted to share the joy they bring to even more people. To preserve authenticity, we scanned the recipe book pages as they were and put them together. The pages showed each baker’s handwriting, the drawings and the whipped cream splattered on the pages as they baked.

A “Sano se leipoen” sub-page was created on the Valio website, where the recipe book was embedded. People were directed to it through a social media advertising campaign we created. The faces of the campaign videos were selected from the people involved in making the book, two influencers and three consumers. In the videos, they bake according to their own recipes and the soundtrack tells their stories behind the baking.

“We believe that baking is a language of love: baking is fun, it’s a way to get away from everyday life, it’s a way to enjoy and bring joy to yourself and others. The riot has really understood what we mean by this. The ‘Say it with baking’ baking book project has allowed us to get really close to all the everyday bakers in Finland and hear from them themselves, through recipes, pictures and stories, how baking really is a love language for each and every one of them.

What makes the project exceptional is that we had a team of people who all believed so strongly that we were on the verge of something real and genuine, and who dared to go out together to implement an idea that, at first glance, wasn’t exactly a slam dunk. It warms my heart to think how much joy this campaign has brought – to its creators, to its influencers, to their followers and to everyone who shared their recipes and stories. I felt that this campaign was not just one among others, but a project we all loved together, and that the importance of this campaign for the authors’ team went beyond their goals.”

– Emma Mikkola, Marketing Manager