Ilmastoveivi 2019 Campaign

activism branding campaign climate crisis EU global warming non-profit protest visual identity youth

Ilmastoveivi2019 was a campaign launched by independent citizens in Finland. The aim of the campaign was to push Finnish leaders to utilise Finland’s term as the President of the Council of the European Union to advance climate action and EU climate policies. Ilmastoveivi2019 asked the whole nation of Finland, of its citizens and societal actors, to take action. They had no prestige or authority, instead they reached out as one person to another. After all, this is our climate, our planet and our society.

The goal

The campaign aimed to connect Finns – regardless of age, background, and life situation – for the sake of preventing climate change. As Finland was to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the campaign intended on making use of this opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Finland was to have the mandate to make a motion to update the 2030 and 2050 target levels to put forth in the 2020 climate & energy package. This would put the EU on the right track to reach the ambitious, but necessary goal of 1.5 degrees.

The most concrete mission for the campaign was to collect signatures for a plea. This was to be sent to the Finnish politicians, as a way of encouraging them to take the leading position in preventing climate change. In the end, the Ilmastoveivi2019 campaign was to function as an amplifier for the voice of the concerned.

A unique opportunity
to make a difference

To create attraction and a sense of unity the campaign strategy was shaped to appeal to the people of Finland. A visual connection had to be made between team work and a sense of "now or never". For the campaign team, the approach was written on walls: Ice hockey.

Ice hockey is considered to be the national sport in Finland. In 2011 when Finland won the World Championships in Icehockey, Mikael Grandlund scored a goal with a move that was coined "ilmaveivi". The victory in the championships became dear to every Finn and the ilmaveivi lived on as one of the defining moments of the games.

Grandlund's ilmaveivi can roughly can be translated in English to "air turn". As it happens to be, the word "air" in Finnish is closely related with the word "climate", and so, hinting at the urgency of the matter, the uniting campaign name had been found; Ilmastoveivi2019.

Everyone's campaign

A visual identity had to be created that echoes the uniting force of sports, all the while dealing with the difficulty of the topic. While climate change is a serious threat, in order to have a maximum reach, a joyful tone-of-voice was chosen for the visual language. The campaign did not aim to frighten people, but to encourage people "to do this together".

The visual identity relied on a large palette of colours, with a clear blue used the most, as to signal the connection to Finland and the EU. Three accessible font families where chosen to support different ways of communicating. All of them where accessible through subscription font services, which ensured user friendliness for the 300 volunteers of the campaign.