Context

2032 will be a turning point in the fight against climate change. If we don't act now, the damage will be irreversible. According to the environmental monitoring resource The World Counts, human activity has already emitted more than 8.6 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere and melted 149.5 billion tons of ice by January 2021.

Despite these numbers, the climate crisis often seems like a distant and unsolvable problem for many people.

Not so long ago, in the isolated village of Salla, people spent endless winter nights singing about their adventures in the cold, snowy landscapes. But now, the landscape is melting, the temperature is rising, and winter is getting shorter.

Salla will no longer be the same. So we needed to put this little village on the map and ensure everyone discussed it. As it is closer to the North Pole, people already feel the drastic effects of climate change. One of the coldest cities in the world will likely become a tourist destination during the summer due to the effects of CO2 emissions.

Creative challenge

2032 will be a critical moment in the fight against climate change. How can we take advantage of this moment to turn things around and ensure that Salla's economy, which is highly dependent on snow and tourism, remains strong?

Solution

Global warming, as the name suggests, is a worldwide problem. We "hijack" the most significant global event of the year. A crazy idea with a serious message. We launched an unlikely bid: one of the coldest cities in the world as a candidate to host the 2032 Summer Olympics.

We follow all the necessary steps for the actual application. This included creating a nomination film, a logo, a nomination book, a gift shop, sports pictograms, and a mascot among other materials.

Execution

The irony of the campaign has been incorporated into every piece of content an actual candidacy makes:

We mobilized the city: 3,408 citizens embraced the idea. Everyone believed and acted as if they were hosting the Summer Olympics. Everyone believed in doing something that mattered.

There are no actors. Just real people from Salla doing their best to sell a crazy idea but with a severe message.

The logo was based on our iconic snowy mountain "Sallatunturi," but melting by the Global Warming Rings, which gained a new meaning: Blue represents the water crisis, Green for the "Death of Rainforests," Black for CO2, Red for the burned forests and Yellow for rising temperature.

In partnership with Domestika, we invited artists to create the Official Salla 2032 Poster. We then held a contest on social media to choose the official one.

A souvenir shop has been set up with official Summer Olympics merchandise. The official website showed how Salla was preparing to host the summer games. The mascot is a reindeer whose species is mainly affected by the temperature. A 230-page bid book laid out a detailed plan for how Salla would host the Summer Olympics.