A Campaign That Reached the Big Screens
Seafood Innovations winner 2025
Fishionäärit -
Aivan toisenlainen kalajuttu
The mission was simple but daunting: make fish relevant to a generation that had forgotten how to cook it. By moving away from traditional industry tropes and leaning into digital subcultures, we transformed a student competition entry into a nationwide marketing phenomenon.
The Mission: Seafood Innovations 2025
The Seafood Innovations competition, organized by Pro Kala, is a high-stakes challenge designed to find fresh perspectives for the domestic fish industry. In 2025, the challenge was specific: reach the youth. With fish consumption declining among younger demographics, the industry needed more than just a recipe—it needed a cultural bridge. My team, Fishionäärit, entered the arena with the goal of dismantling "fish phobia" and making the fish counter a place of confidence rather than confusion.
The Concept: A Different Kind of Fish Tale
Our winning campaign, “Aivan toisenlainen kalajuttu” (A Fish Tale of a Different Kind), was built on the insight that young people avoid fish due to the perceived complexity and social friction associated with buying them. We replaced the "preachy" tone of traditional health marketing with a narrative of mystery, humor, and digital-first engagement.
The campaign came to life through four mysterious social media personas who disrupted comment sections and engaged with food influencers in their own language. This "digital mystery" led users to the Kalaluukku (The Fish Hatch), a dedicated hub featuring "Nonchalant Recipes" and pro-tips for navigating the fish counter without fear.
Execution:
From Vision to Activation
With a €20,000 implementation grant, we transitioned the concept from a strategic pitch into a high-visibility reality.
The execution was built on a multi-channel framework designed to meet the audience both in the digital world and on the physical streets.
-
Visual Dominance: We secured high-impact outdoor advertising across Helsinki’s "Big Screens" and public transport networks, ensuring the campaign occupied the same visual space as major global brands.
-
Strategic Industry Engagement: The strength of our concept led to an invitation to K-Kampus, where we presented our strategy and youth-demographic insights directly to K-Group’s national marketing team.
-
Retail Pilot & Research: We moved beyond theory by conducting in-depth interviews with store owners and launching a pilot activation in-store to test the bridge between digital content and the physical fish counter.
-
Digital Resonance: We collaborated with influencer Fami Chao to produce high-engagement video content, utilizing the mysterious personas of our campaign to drive digital traffic.
-
Quantifiable Success: Impact was measured through real-time data, including QR-code engagement and video reach, proving that our "different kind of fish tale" had successfully signaled a new direction for the industry.
The Fishionäärit Team
While the Seafood Innovations competition is open to students, the Fishionäärit team operated as an entirely independent creative unit. This mission was built from the ground up outside of any academic curriculum; we received no school credits, no faculty guidance, and no institutional funding.
Driven by a shared ambition to disrupt the industry, we dedicated our personal time to forming a high-functioning "agency" model. We combined our diverse skill sets from strategy and copywriting to visual design and project management to prove that a small, agile team can outperform traditional structures when fueled by genuine initiative and creative freedom.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
Related articles
The jury’s feedback
“An exceptionally well-researched piece of work, with the brief approached with genuine seriousness. The campaign is a professionally designed, cohesive whole in which strategic marketing thinking has been taken remarkably far. An outstanding presentation for a student project—one rarely encounters such carefully and convincingly constructed concepts. It is commendable that young people are encouraged to engage with the fish counter, and that the thinking is both ambitious and far-reaching. The team’s enthusiasm for the subject was clearly evident.”