Place: Puolanka, Finland
Timeframe: Long term
Goal: Rebranding perception og place
WHAT IS IT?
Puolanka is a remote municipality in Northern Finland with less than 3,000 inhabitants, far from cities and with issues of population loss and ageing. People’s assessments are negative, there seems to be no hope and pessimism (“what’s the point?”) is a widespread attitude. However, the residents are actually happy, satisfied with their life amid nature and actively engaged in associations. By turning pessimism into a positive brand, the wicked humour brings tangible benefits to local tourism and other businesses, local people, Puolanka’s cultural production and the marketing of the municipality
In the early phase, humorous road signs were set up along the main roads with texts like “Are you lost? Next up: Puolanka” and “Soon, Puolanka. You’ve still got time to turn around”
The project produced short videos for Facebook and YouTube as well as other social media content and a magazine. The ‘Puolanka pessimists’ clips and music videos address the challenges and problems faced by the municipality in a humorous way. The idea was based on the skills and interests of young people in Puolanka.
Why is it a succes?
The project managed to turn the negative into a positive and to gain visibility and new visitors for the municipality of Puolanka by developing a new type of territorial marketing. At the same time, this helped develop and increase cultural activities, as well as a sense of belonging and community.
Videos scripted and produced by locals have gathered over 100,000 views on social media, and one of the videos was included in the e-learning material of an upper secondary school. The social media phenomenon also includes 29,000 “pessimist” Facebook followers.
Two national TV news channels (YLE and MTV) visited Puolanka to cover the premiere of the first “pessimism musical.” This was the first time a premiere by an amateur theatre company in Kainuu attracted national media attention.
The Pessimist Days event was awarded the press’ favourite event at the Finnish Municipal Marketing Championships in 2018.
Thanks to this project, Puolanka is the most pessimistic town in Finland – and yet, everyone knows its name.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Key lesson from the European Network for Rural Development deskription : “A distinctive municipal brand can be successfully built by boldly basing it on typical features and unique characteristics and by using youth’s expertise. Authenticity can also lead to success, without the costly use of professionals.”
LEARN MORE
The official homepage of the project: Puolanka pessimister (puolanganpessimistit.fi)
Academic paper: “Liveability under shrinkage: initiatives in the ‘capital of pessimism’ in Finland” by Ria-Maria Adams, Alla Bolotova & Ville Alasalmi: Full article: Liveability under shrinkage: initiatives in the ‘capital of pessimism’ in Finland (tandfonline.com)
BBC article:Puolanka: Finland’s ‘best worst’ dying town (bbc.com)