Experiences of co-operation between an advertising agency and a media house: Ahooy Creative and Sanoma

What happens when you take professionals from a creative agency with marketing and design know-how and mix them together with media experts and insight strategists from Sanoma? Let’s hear what Kirsi Venäläinen from Ahooy Creative and Satu Raatikainen from Sanoma have to say regarding the co-operation between an advertising agency and a media house.

Advertising agency Ahooy Creative develops brands and builds lasting customer relationships

Ahooy Creative is an independent creative agency, whose clientele includes a wide spectrum of companies, ranging from industrial B2B companies to consumer brands with familiar products you may recognise from store shelves.

Meet Kirsi Venäläinen, Account Manager at Ahooy. 

“My responsibility is to make sure things go as planned for our clients, and that our creative team is always up to speed on what we are doing and why. For some of our clients, I also serve as an outsourced marketing manager.”

Instead of individual advertising campaigns, Ahooy focuses on long-term partnerships with a more strategic business model. Co-operation with our clients usually starts with brand development. The aim of marketing, advertising and campaigning may, for example, be set as the enhancement of the value and popular recognition of the brand. 

“The actions are usually part of a client’s yearly to-do-list for marketing, and they always aim to reach the strategic or even tactical goals that we have set to reach together.”

Shifting from media purchases towards a more diverse approach

Ahooy Creative and Sanoma crossed paths during the autumn of 2021 when Satu Raatikainen scheduled a meeting with people from the agency. The point of the meeting was to take a look at the research and insight data that Sanoma had collected, and to discuss what kind of support a media house could provide creative agencies in Finland. 

“From Satu’s presentation we got a clear picture of the diversity of services that Sanoma could offer. During the discussions, we also learned that the Sanoma team could provide us with research data regarding the behaviour of target groups and how some themes appealed to different demographic groups, for example,” Kirsi explains. 

Why does a media house want to help creative agencies plan their selection of media, as well as give them access to valuable research data?

“For us, it is important that agencies get some thoughts, inspiration and tools for their own work. They are free to ask us anything, whether it is about media outlets, target audiences or the data itself. It is great to be able to help other professionals in their fields,” Satu explains.

Good planning and division of labour hold the key to successful co-operation

For co-operation to work smoothly, a clear division of labour is necessary. How does the co-operation between an advertising agency and media house function in the workplace and what does each party bring to the table? 

Ahooy is of course responsible for all the campaigns, design, concepts and creative solutions of its clients. Kirsi keeps an eye on the big picture and is in contact with the clients, with Satu and her team jumping on board when their are called on to join in. 

Kirsi describes their typical procedure: 

“A good work model has been to give Satu a briefing once we know our target audience as well as our goals, and have the team ready to pitch in with some ideas.”

“We tell her about the goals of the campaign, the target audiences and our creative ideas. Satu may give us her proposals quite freely and, thanks to her feedback, our team has also gained more ideas that we can then refine further.”

Co-operation takes places in many dimensions

The planning and execution of campaigns are only one part of their co-operation. The work we do for a customer’s campaign comes in many forms. The final selection of media outlets is a visible form of co-operation — with a lot of knowledge regarding target audiences, data, and even research. Sometimes, campaigns utilise Sanoma’s channels, while at other times different media are used.

“The most important thing for us is to share all available information and know-how, and that we can help agencies serve their clientele better,” says Satu, describing the background to their work model. 

This model also receives praise from the other side of the room. 

“Satu understands that we also have other partners and that we are constantly comparing. Sparring gives us vision, and the planning phase often leaves you with fresh seeds for ideas that will come in handy with future endeavours,” explains Kirsi. 

The client comes first always – even in this co-operation

The most important thing of course is for the client to reach its target audience as accurately and cost-efficiently as possible. Examples and past cases also help clients see new possibilities. 

“For many businesses, multi-channel marketing has already become routine. However, if the customer is only getting started with media advertising, we can provide various examples to demonstrate how media and channel design influence a campaign,” explains Kirsi. 

“We are now able to provide an even wider variety of options for clients who have decided to outsource both their advertising and media design to us. They have really enjoyed it.”

Co-operation also leads to mutual learning

Regular joint sparring sessions also help ensure the team stays completely up to date with media changes. As for the media house, working with professionals from the advertising agency has clarified the picture of how a customer’s campaign is structured: what kind of work takes place behind the scenes and what sort of information helps a creative team. 

Kirsi points out that continuous learning is valuable for all the parties involved. 

“Each form of media has its own special characteristics. At Sanoma, we know how and when different trends can be seen and what effect they have, and what kind of solution seems to work best in each specific situation.”

“When you expand your own familiar team with external media design, it helps move the customer’s issues forward much more effectively. At the same time, you also learn a lot yourself!”

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