First, meet the heroes of the story: two pioneering Finnish companies, both deeply committed to sustainability on every level. Neste is the world's leading producer of renewable fuels. Hesburger is the leading fast food chain in Finland.

The two companies wanted to increase their impact together and build thought leadership by cooperating in circular economy. However, circular economy is an extremely complex and complicated entity that people do not really understand. Therefore, we had to find a way to approach circular economy in a way that speaks to everyone.

Our primary target audience was B2B decision makers but to reach out to them, we needed to make the message understandable also for their customers. Our research showed that Finnish consumers expect brands to act sustainably and offer consumers sustainable choices. Neste and Hesburger wanted to show that it does not need to be done alone. Partnerships and cooperation are key, especially when talking about solving complex challenges.

Our primary KPI was to generate awareness and discussion through earned media hits and social media conversation – we measured their amount, reach and quality. As a business target, we followed the sales of Neste MY Renewable Diesel.

The highly influential co-operation was done on 3 fronts.

1. Everything started with the climate act: Neste started to make Neste MY Renewable Diesel out of Hesburger’s used cooking oil. This brought circular economy out of the academic elite bubble, into the everyday life of Finns – right between trucks and french fries. As Hesburger switched from fossil fuels to Neste MY Renewable Diesel, their trucks now run their annual 680 000 kilometres with 90% less carbon emissions.

2. Our PR focused on the partnership act, pitching to selected media in Finland and the Baltics (as both the companies operate in these markets). We wanted to succeed especially in nation-wide news media and decision maker media.

3. To support our message, we created content for both companies’ own and bought channels, such as Hesburger restaurants and trucks, and both companies’ social media channels. We also advertised on LinkedIn for the business decision maker target group.

The biggest challenge to overcome was agreeing on the actual climate act and organising it from gathering the used cooking oil from Hesburger restaurants to returning it to Hesburger trucks as renewable diesel. PR and comms were used to spread the message and influence others.