Autumn 2019

From Awareness to Action: Slush campaign

An colourful image from Slush 2019.

PROJECT CONTEXT

Slush is one of the world’s leading startup and technology events, held annually in Helsinki, Finland. The two-day conference brings together thousands of partcipants from around the world, including investors, founders, corporates and media. For Finland, Slush is not just a startup festival – it is also a key platform for showcasing the country’s innovation ecosystem and positioning Finland as an attractive place to invest, work and collaborate.

CHALLENGE

While Slush is well-known in the Nordics, it is still a niche event on a global scale. Building international awareness among global decision-makers and making sure that Finland’s commercial brand was visibile, was a challenge. It required structured campaign approach that went beyond ad-hoc promotions. The approach had to follow the marketing funnel, target specific international audiences and maximise visibility before, during and after the event.  

MY ROLE

  • Led social media advertising strategy and execution for LinkedIn (primary channel) and Meta.
  • Planned campaign frameworks, selected visuals and coordinated messaging with the editorial team.
  • Integrated long-form articles and photo reports into paid social campaigns, extending reach and impact.
  • Designed audience segmentation and targeting based on strategic objectives and account data.
  • Monitored performance and optimised campaigns.
  • Shared learnings and recommendations to strengthen future campaigns.

APPROACH AND SOLUTION

Slush campaigns on Meta targeting different audience groups.
Image: Each campaign was designed with tailored visuals and messaging to maximise engagement.

A three-phase funnel strategy was implemented to connect Slush coverage to Finland’s broader country brand narrative:

  1. Pre-event awareness: campaigns warming up broad professional audiences, including those, who have previously engaged with Good News from Finland’s digital channels. 
  2. During event: segmented campaigns tailored to four groups – investors, startup founders, students and tech talent. The inclusion of students was crucial as many students participated in the event as volunteers, while others attended to learn about entrepreneurship and tech. Each audience group received customised messaging tied to Slush’s themes. Ad content was linked with long-form articles and photo reports on the website.
  3. Post-event retargeting: focused on converting engaged audiences into followers and long-term contacts by showcasing Finland’s innovation success stories.

RESULTS AND IMPACT

  • Delivered strong visibility and engagement rates compared to previous years, when campaigns were promoted without a clear funnel strategy.
  • Increased traffic to the website extending the reach.
  • Strengthened Finland’s international visibility in a competitive global startup community.
  • Attracted both business decision-makers and future talent, supporting Finland’s dual branding goals of investment and talent attraction.
  • Provided a campaign model and insights to strengthen marketing around Slush in subsequent years.
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