Finnair is one of the longest operating airlines, and Helsinki Airport is an award-winning travel hub between Europe and Asia. Both companies wanted to rethink their entire service chain to improve the quality of air travel for their customers.

They aimed for the biggest crowdsourcing effort in the service industry, ever. The companies launched Quality Hunters, Season 2 as a continuation of Finnair’s Rethink Quality Campaign from 2010.They hired 7 Quality Hunters through an open application. The Quality Hunters travelled the world, seeking out fresh ideas on how to improve air travel, both at the airport and on the airplane. A jury selected the Hunters based on a public vote.The Quality Hunters engaged the public in discussion on quality on their website and on Twitter, along with YouTube and Flickr.Everyone was amazed by the amount of discussion. Finnair and Helsinki Airport decided to choose one of the most active members of the public to become the 8th Quality Hunter.

260 ideas for service development from the Quality Hunters and the public were compiled into a list and carefully reviewed. The first batch of the ideas are already being put into practice: The Airport Book Swap and Art Gallery are being implemented in early 2012.The companies received 2,088 Quality Hunter applications from 77 countries. The number of media hits on key markets was 420. The Hunters created 576 blog posts, which were commented on 5,508 times. The combined Twitter reach for the campaign was an astounding 9,607,343.

September 1: A teaser video is published.September 13: The Quality Hunter recruitment starts.October 26: The Quality Hunters start their travels.November 23: The 8th Quality Hunter is selected.November 29: The top ideas are shortlisted on the campaign site.From December 12: The top ideas are put into practice.To get the best Quality Hunters possible, the goal was on the quality, not quantity of applications, so applying was intentionally demanding. Twitter soon became, along with the campaign site, the most important tool in engaging the public and initiating conversation. Recognising this, we redirected more effort towards Twitter-engagement and raising discussion on the development ideas.The campaign was adapted according to the feedback received. A member of the public was hired as an 8th Quality Hunter, to reward the very active community. The public could also influence the layout and functionality of the campaign site.

The companies received 2,088 Quality Hunter applications from 77 countries. The hunters created 576 blog posts which were commented on 5,508 times. Helsinki Airport and Finnair received a whopping 260 suggestions on how to develop their service. The number of media hits on key markets was 420. The combined Twitter reach for the campaign was an astounding 9,607,343.The initiative spawned an entire community focused on the discussion around quality. The initiative has turned into an ongoing process. Both companies received much positive feedback on their bold approach to service development and transparent dialogue. The campaign highlighted the companies as forward-thinking innovators.In addition to being a successful PR campaign, the initiative succeeded in improving the quality of air travel for all customers of Finnair and Helsinki Airport. The first development ideas are already being implemented and the discussion continues.