Finland's pharmaceutical market is one of the strictest in EU. It enforces tight ownership rules that restrict medicine sales—including over-the-counter drugs—to privately-owned pharmacies. This 'pharma monopoly' primarily benefits a few pharmacists while burdening families, the elderly, and the disadvantaged. As parliamentary elections approached, the brief from S Group was to advocate for a fairer pharmacy system and strengthen its image as a progressive market player. After all, the brand has always promoted a cooperative and sustainable business model. The objective was to spark a national debate during the elections and push for legislative change to dismantle the monopoly.

In a country with low corruption and little appreciation of behind-the-scenes lobbying, our insight was to lobby in the most transparent way. Our transparent lobbying allowed people to firsthand experience the alternative. This approach helped individuals to make informed decisions and also communicated the benefits to politicians preparing for elections.

Finland's unjust pharma monopoly has remained unchallenged, with 93% approval rates. This might've been due to no conceivable alternatives present. With the Finnish Parliamentary elections nearing, the S Group wanted to present a more just alternative. In a country with minimal corruption and little appreciation of behind-the-scenes lobbying, a new way to spark discussion and push for legislative change was needed. So, we chose a more transparent and direct way of lobbying and forwarding our cause: A walk-in pharmacy in the middle of Helsinki's bustling center, presenting a vision of a more affordable system. This allowed people to firsthand experience the difference and then make better voting decisions. Alongside we issued an international press release and launched an ad campaign highlighting our message and covering the country's biggest newspapers as well as display ads and social media. The following heated debate managed to reach politicians preparing for elections.

Lobbying behind the scenes for a market share in the pharma industry could have reflected poorly on a retail giant like S-group, especially given its heritage in cooperative principles. People respond better to transparent messaging and the opportunity to see and experience real alternatives. Our main goal was to promote such an alternative through the S Pharmacy, targeting both potential voters and politicians as the parliamentary elections approached. The centerpiece of our strategy was the S-branded walk-in pharmacy, where people could explore products and directly experience the benefits of improved medicine availability and affordability. Alongside this immersive installation, we issued an international press release, contacted a selected few news outlets, and launched an advertising campaign covering Finland’s largest newspapers, as well as nationwide TV, display ads, and social media.

Our campaign took place on 14 March 2023, over a month before the Finnish Parliamentary Elections, when the prototype S Pharmacy was set in the heart of Helsinki to showcase the possibilities of a monopoly-free pharmacy enabling people to browse products and experience another kind of market model in action. A national and global press release was issued that same morning, and distributed selectively to chosen journalists as well as a larger audience. It achieved significant attention in both Finland and abroad, for instance, in AdWeek. To further support the effort, we launched an ad campaign covering Finlands biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat as well as nation-wide TV, display and social media.

The initiative made the pharmacy monopoly a heated debate overnight and drew the attention of Finland's biggest news outlets as well as international ones such as AdWeek. Consequently, 2.8 M Finns – that’s 51% of the population – turned pro pharmacy reform. 4.7 M people showed positive sentiment towards S Group. 86% affected positively or neutrally towards S Group. The overall attention value was 69%. In social media, the campaign reached 2.15 M Finns (39% of the population), while the display ads racked up 500 000 unique impressions, and the total impressions were 10 M. Over 25 000 Finns engaged with the campaign website, submitting their own 'Pharma wishes'. In total, the recall figures surpassed all benchmark figures for the S group.

In terms of reaching political decision-makers, in Spring 2023, the Finnish Parliament set in motion reforms for the ancient pharmacy regulations.