In the past few years, award-winning scripts from TBWA/PHS and Euro RSCG Helsinki have become hot commodities for foreign directors and production companies looking for solid creative work.

London's Arden Sutherland Dodd (ASD) recently completed two campaigns for Helsinki's TBWA/PHS, and London's Stink shared production duties on a major Euro RSCG campaign with Helsinki's Film Magica.

ASD's Charles Henley directed a two-spot campaign for Finnish Post Office in Liverpool and directing team Zach and Dan handled a three-spot Pohjola Insurance project, filmed in Prague. Will Cohen, ASD producer on both jobs, notes that while London agencies have been favoring "A-list" directors since the economic downturn, Finnish agencies are often willing to take a risk on younger directors from established English production houses.

"Scandinavian agencies are brave enough to work from a good treatment, even with a new director," says Cohen. "You make money [on Finnish spots] but you don't retire. They pay no more than an ordinary London budget, sometimes more. If you are not in the top-20 list of directors, you don't see big budgets in the UK."

"Guitar," "Vault" and "Crash Test" for Pojhola have individuals going to extreme lengths to protect their possessions or themselves; "Guitar" shows a music lover storing his treasured instrument in multiple cases, while "Vault" has a woman storing a case in an elaborate vault. "Crash Test" shows a car and dummy being prepared for an impact assessment; when the technician heads to a secure booth, the dummy buckles itself in.

The Finnish Post campaign stars Finnish footballers Sami Hyypiä and Jari Litmanen of the Liverpool and Finnish national teams. Longtime spokesmen for Finnish Post, the spots demonstrate how they make use of Finnish Post's electronic services while living abroad. One spot has Hyypiä bypass the English postal service in favor of the electronic Finnish alternative when he encounters a surly postal worker. The Litmanen spot focuses on the athlete's globetrotting career; as he traverses Liverpool's Chinatown, he notes his Finnish Post electronic address has remained constant despite his migrations. The postal campaign was produced with the assistance of She Stockholm, a Swedish freelance agency production company (see "She Stockholm," Boards, March 2002).

TBWA/PHS creative Petri Uusitalo estimates the agency produces some 70 spots a year. "Sometimes we work directly with producers from film companies or with freelance producers, but we don't have our own production department."

Uusitalo notes the UK is not a prime location for Finnish spots, which are more likely to be shot at home, or in Sweden, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Spain or South Africa.

Euro RSCG Helsinki's ongoing launch campaign for DNA, Finland's latest mobile operator consumed much of the agency's creative energy in 2001. In addition to outdoor and print ads, four spots, "Tube," "Match," "Spermbank" and "Art" have launched the company, the ads depicting individuals designing their own DNA in a "chic" fashion. "Tube" and "Match" were produced through London's Stink, while Helsinki's Film Magica produced "Spermbank" and "Artist."

Laurence Hamburger directed "Tube," a poignant subterranean tale depicting an elderly couple whose romantic kiss goodbye freezes a train and its occupants for a rare moment, while James Brown directed "Match," which depicts a squad of riot police playing a combative slow- motion football match against a pack of painted hooligans. "Spermbank," directed by Marcus Virpiö, depicts a beautiful woman, who, despite the wanton glances cast her way, cannot find her ideal mate. Frustrated, she creates a photo collage of her ideal man and presents it to a spermbank.

The latest, "Art," directed by Miikka Lommi, shows us an artist about to unveil his newest sculpture. The ad goes behind the scenes of his off-kilter world, a place where axes and squirrels are central; it's perhaps then no surprise that his new sculpture is a giant ax-carved wooden squirrel. Creative director Jussi Mansukoski, art director Juoko Laune and copywriter Timo Koskinen created the work.

Lommi, incidentally, is the first Finnish director to join the Stink roster, which now represents him worldwide with the exception of Finland. With the opening of an office in Stockholm in Novermber 2001, London-based Stink has put a heavy emphasis on its Scandinavian efforts.

At the core of Stink Stockholm are director Jens Jonsson (2001 First Boards Awards Winner) his former producer Anna Adamson who is executive producer, and director Adam Berg, formerly of Jarowski. Since November, Jonsson directed a Swedish lottery job through Ruth, Stockholm and travelled to South Africa to direct a Direct Debit spot for Wnek Euro RSCG, London (Monkey Films of Cape Town handled production services). Berg, best known for his music videos (Peter Gabriel, Groove Armada, A-Ha) most recently directed a spot for D'Arcy, Warsaw through Stillking Poland.

Webfiles:
Arden Sutherland Dodd> http://www.asdlondon.com
Euro RSCG Helsinki> http://www.eurorscg.fi
Stink> http://www.stink.tv
TBWA/PHS> http://www.phs.fi