To put these meaningful global and local issues back into the limelight and to celebrate the trade of quality journalism, we created a concept called The Art of Journalism. We gave the most in-depth and well-written articles of Helsingin Sanomat into the hands of Finland's twelve most celebrated visual artists and one artificial intelligence. They turned these millions of words into 13 pieces of poster art.

Elements of augmented reality gave a deeper look into the artists interpreting their themes. By scanning the posters with Arilyn (Augmented Reality application), the viewer had a chance to read the artists comments and thoughts on the art piece and the theme behind it. With this poster campaign Helsingin Sanomat wanted to attract new, younger audiences (18-45 year olds), who are conscious and media literate.

Each of the 12 artist represented different visual genres/crafts; illustrators, graffiti artists, photographers, textile artists, graphic designers, font designers and visual journalists. We gave the most in-depth articles of Helsingin Sanomat into the hands of these artists and they all chose themes that resonated with them the most.

The 13th piece was created by IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence. It analyzed thousands of Helsingin Sanomat articles and then showed us the world today through the eyes of data. The only given guideline for the artists was to create the work around the iconic outlines of Helsingin Sanomat logo.

What started as a poster/OOH campaign, expanded quickly to digital platforms such as AR and social media. The posters were also on display at art exhibitions. Most importantly, they decorated the streets of Helsinki as urban outdoor exhibitions; they mostly appeared, not on single OOH spaces, but as location take-overs (bus stops etc.).

With The Art Journalism we highlighted the fact that Helsingin Sanomat is Finland’s beacon of thoughtful, in-depth journalism conveying deep understanding for its readers in form of impactful articles.

According to the results our message seems to have struck home. The amount of subscribers grew for the first time in 25 years. The campaign reached 11 242 000 consumers. Instead of forcing advertising on consumers, HS turned its core content into pieces that people spent time with.

The public loved the art; many purchased them for their homes. The revenue, worth thousands of euros, went to charity. The campaign didn’t underestimate its audience. It provided the consumer a joy of discovering the intellectual themes behind the art. This turned into high awareness numbers (83% over the average OOH awareness).

Helsingin Sanomat turned its core essence into impactful art and urban exhibitions in a way that none of its competitors could.