Finnair has won the annual Nikkei Advertising Awards in Japan. Finnair’s winning newspaper ad presents its flights from Japan as the shortest and fastest routes to Europe. The main star of the advertisements and Finnair’s figurehead is Koji Yakusho, highly popular in Japan and well known worldwide as a movie actor.
The success of the campaign is mirrored in concrete results. Japan is very significant to Finnair in terms of traffic: the company’s Japanese sales unit is the most productive and largest of all Finnair’s foreign sales units, and in 2010 its sales were greater than those achieved on Finnish home soil. It is the first time that an overseas unit has overtaken Finnish sales.
”It is excellent that our investments in the Asian markets have yielded results and that Finnair’s global position is being strengthened,” said Finnair’s Sales Director in Japan, Sakari Romu, who received the award.
The Mr Europe campaign starring Koji Yakusho was devised to strengthen sales in Japan. The central aims were to increase familiarity with Finnair and its comprehensive European connections. Media interest in the campaign was great from the beginning. About 100 journalists attended the launch event and the campaign achieved high visibility.
Nikkei Inc is a globally known media company whose marketing competition in Japan gives awards to successful marketing campaigns in 10 different categories. Finnair’s success was in the transport, tourism and cargo category.
Finnair Plc
Communications
24.1.2011
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