


	IFRA XMA Cross Media Awards 2008 projects





	Company: Helsingin Sanomat OY
	Project name: Oma Kaupunki - My City

	Topical category of the project

	C: Cross media communities for special interest groups (e.g. travel, young audience, gardening), that are a platform for new advertiser target groups

	General information about the publication

	Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subcription based newspaper in the Nordic region. Founded in 1904, Helsingin Sanomat has been Finland 's largest paper since the early part of the twentieth century. The paper's weekday and Saturday circulation totalled in 2007 419,791 copies, and its Sunday circulation 474,726 copies. The online edition HS.fi has around 950.000 unique visitors per week and together with the classified portal Oikotie.fi (300.000 unique visitors per week) accounts for about 10% of the total revenue of Helsingin Sanomat Ltd. On weekdays the newspaper is 40 to 80 pages, and on Sundays it often runs to over a hundred pages. Helsingin Sanomat is the country's leading advertising paper, with over half a million ads printed yearly

	Project description

	What's up your neighbourhood; reviews, news, maps, events, shops, sights, even your neighbours!

	The basic idea of the project

	Oma Kaupunki – My City - is Helsingin Sanomat’s approach to compete with the large search engine companies’ local search portals and online Yellow Page directories while leveraging all of the print editions’ Metro sections’ journalistic and circulation building efforts in print+online+radio+events to answer our local consumers’/readers’ questions of daily life such as Who is in charge of all the road works? How can I make my neighbourhood park a safer place? When is the nearest swimming pool open? Where can I find a reliable plumber? Where can I get the best deal on car tyres this week? For this purpose the print+online service becomes a social community service where local advertisers can list their business or target segments with particular interests such as dog owners or people searching for restaurants in a particular style or part of the city. As the community grows this advertising environment becomes increasingly interesting. The first part of the My City -project has been to make the brand known and build the community as a joint journalistic and marketing + sales effort across all channels (print, online, radio and events).

	Used media channels


	Newspaper		Event(s)

	Mobile Services		Online

	Radio

The implementation

The concept is a constant work in progress, a product and brand that combines the journalistic expertise of Helsingin Sanomat, creative brainstorming, and a polished and comprehensive implementation where high quality journalistic content lives side by side with user generated content. At the same time it acts as a psychological instrument with which to drive through a new reader-centred model for operations in the Helsingin Sanomat as a whole. For us it is also a way to provide advertisers’ access to online communities and the ability to sponsor user interest groups.
The concept recognises and realises the core strategic objective that has been put forward as the newspaper’s main priority, namely increasing the reach of readers in Helsingin Sanomat’s main circulation area and increase online revenues by entering the online directory business to compete with incumbent yellow page providers as well as Google Local listings. Oma Kaupunki brings the paper, its online services, and local radio as close as possible to the reader, online user, and listener.
There are two basic elements in the developing concept. Each complements the other:
- Helsingin Sanomat’s own Oma Kaupunki articles and events.
- The OmaKaupunki.fi community and directory service on the Net.

Image(s)

Links

omakaupunki.hs.fi
omakaupunki.hs.fi/laajennettuhaku/sauna+helsinki
omakaupunki.hs.fi/mesta/141537/Fin-Duck
omakaupunki.hs.fi/tapahtumahaku/Musiikki
omakaupunki.hs.fi/ryhma/21688576/Lapsen+kanssa
www.gallupweb.com/tnsmetrix/details.aspx?nid=520&w ...
www.gallupweb.com/tnsmetrix/details.aspx?nid=520&w ...

Project results

Oma Kaupunki has thus far produced several hundred articles, images, and graphs in the newspaper, online services, and on local radio. Nearly 20,000 people have participated in public events arranged in connection with the venture. These gatherings have also brought within reach thousands of people who do not subscribe to Helsingin Sanomat and at the same time it has strengthened the bond that exists between the paper and its regular subscribers. The Oma Kaupunki web service has made a promising start and the target for 2008 is 100,000 unique visitors a week. The concept provides an excellent platform for realising media sales objectives. The unique visitors has gone from 35.000 to 70.000 in the first half of 2008 and the page impressions from 150.000 per week to 300.000 per week.