FACC Newsletter - Spring 2006

From the Editor's desk

It certainly is Finland's year this year! Finland is currently hosting the presidency of the European Union, the country won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in May (and will host what is the largest music competition in the world) next year, and on another musical note, preparations to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the passing of Jean Sibelius, have begun. On top of this, tourism to Finland is increasing, and Finnair is on aggressive expansion plan, while Blue1 has doubled its network out of Helsinki in just seven months.

Finnair isn't the only Finnish company that has ambitious goals under a new lead. Finland's Nokia is the highest-valued European brand, and sixth in the world (behind Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE and Intel). Its new CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, has one mission: to beat Coke and be the world's top brand!

As of August Finns can apply biometric passports which contain a microchip storing a passport holder's personal data, passport data and facial image. The aim of biometric passports is to make travelling safer and smoother. They will also improve international security and contribute to fighting terrorism and illegal immigration. The aim is not to raise the general level of control, but rather to focus control more carefully than before.

Here in Australia, Finland is currently enjoying great coverage in the current issues of up-market travel magazines Australian Gourmet Traveller and Vogue Entertaining + Travel. In the September number of Gourmet Traveller, a six page spread lists 10 things to do in Helsinki, while V E+T included Klaus K as one of the world’s 20 coolest hotels.

The FACC networking event in May was a success, so make sure you do not miss the next even on Thursday, 31 August. The venue will once again be the Attic Bar and will take place between 6pm and 8pm.

Another key event coming up is the Australia-first Nordic Business Seminar on 17 October, so be sure to note it in your calendar!

From Sibelius to Lordi, 2007 will be an even more interesting year for Finland, and, especially, Finland's image. Eurovision has a cult following here in Australia, and there will also next year be a number of Sibelius events worldwide, including Australia. So watch this space!

Finland's EU Presidency

Finland took on the role as Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July. During the six month period, Finland will host a total of 130 meetings and particular attention will be given to environmental issues. Meeting organisers have been provided with a list of ecological and social factors that must be considered when meetings are being prepared.

The main events during Finland's Presidency will include the ASEM 6 Summit in Helsinki in September; the informal meeting of Heads of State or Government in October in Lahti; the Foreign Ministers' follow-up meeting of the Barcelona Process (EUROMED) in Tampere in November; and the European Council meeting in Brussels in December. In addition, there will be ten informal ministerial meetings.

During the presidency, Finnish cuisine will be highlighted and play a key role in catering arrangements. The menus are to reflect Finnish nature and its abundant resources. Meeting guests will be served meals prepared from local ingredients, in accordance with the seasons. Table settings will be typically Finnish - simple yet functional and stylish.

Networking function success

On 30 May, the Chamber hosted a networking function for members and sponsors at the Arthouse Hotel in Sydney. Attending his first ever Chamber function was Mr Glen Lindholm, Finland's ambassador to Australia. Mr Lindholm travelled up from Canberra, and was joined by a number of embassy and consular staff.

The function was well attended with approximately 40 guests representing the diverse range of businesses and individuals with an interest in furthering business and cultural ties between Australia and Finland. It was a unique opportunity to mix with other members, sponsors and government representatives in an informal setting. Many guests congratulated the Chamber for arranging networking drinks after a long absence from the Chamber calendar.

The Chamber is grateful for the support and hospitality provided by the Arthouse Hotel, who provided welcome drinks and cooked up some delicious snacks. There was discussion about whether the meatballs were Lapin reindeer rather than beef, but it didn't really matter - they were well received and quickly eaten.

The next network event will take place on Thursday, 31 August at the Attic Bar. The event will take place between 6pm and 8pm. If you wish to attend, please let us know by Monday, 28 August, so that we can confirm numbers with the hotel.

Nordic business seminar - October

A business seminar is being organised on 17 October. The seminar is being organised by the Chamber in association with the Swedish-Australian Chamber of Commerce, the Trade Council of Denmark and the Scandinavian Business Club. The seminar is to promote trade between Australia and the countries represented: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.

It will be the first time in Australia the five Nordic chambers have come together to organise such a business seminar. More information will be available at the FACC website, with invitations to come.

Sibelius 2007 Anniversary

Composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is one of the most famous Finns throughout history and next year is the 50th anniversary of his passing. Various events and concerts will be held in his honour in Finland, but also here in Australia. So watch this space for upcoming events!

For fans of classical music heading to Finland, the Finnish Tourist Board will soon release information on specific tours including Sibelius' home Ainola, events and concerts.

Universal Music will produce a special Sibelius CD and DVD that will be available in Australian stores early next year.

A new Finnish image

Lordi's win at the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens in May was certainly a departure from Finland's regular spot in the bottom of the list, but its impact has gone far beyond the music scene. The stereotype of blonde, reserved and high-tech Finns is now questioned worldwide following Lordi's goth look and Conan O'Brien's tour around Finland earlier this year.

Newspaper reports both in the US and Australia claim there are plans for a Lordi postage stamp, Lordi action figures, a Lordi comic book series, Lordi commemorative coins and Lordi the movie - a horror flick starring the band members as themselves.

A central square in Rovaniemi and a youth centre in Karkkila have been renamed of Lordi members, while an abstract rock sculpture has been erected in Mantasala.

Alex Stubb, a Finnish member of the European Parliament told The New York Times: "We are now seen as the miracle of the north, the land of Nokia and high-tech, one of the most competitive economies in the world, and a country that is rocking and rolling."

Partly due to a heavy metal boom, the German-speaking Europe is now the largest export market for Finnish music.

The 52nd Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Helsinki on 10 and 12 May, 2007. But by then Helsinki might have been renamed Hellsinki in Lordi's honour.

Finland's hot summer provides mixed results

The Southern and Western parts of Finland have endured the driest summer in hundred year reports Helsingin Sanomat. Other particularly dry summers in Finland over the last century were noted in 1917, 1937, 1950, 1955 and 1969. Because of the extreme heat, certain regions had by the end of July had twice as many bush fires as it would an entire summer.

On a positive note though, the hot summer has attracted more tourists than ever before. Besides the weather, the growth is also put down to Finland's successful summer festivals which are gaining international recognition.

Tourism now accounts for 2.4% of Finnish GDP and has significantly overtaken the foodstuff industry, which represent a 1.8% share.

Did you know…

The Academic Ranking of World Universities earlier this month released their annual list of the world's top 500 universities. Five Finnish universities made the list, same as last year. The University of Helsinki is the country's highest ranked university at number 76, down from 74 last year. The University of Turku (#291), the Helsinki University of Technology (#447), the University of Jyväskylä (#469) and the University of Oulu (#479) also made the list.

In 2004, however, Finland topped the global school table amongst 15-year old school students.

According to the latest figures, Finland is ranked second worldwide in terms of research and development spending, based on percentage of GDP. Finland spent 3.48% of its GDP on R&D, compared to Denmark's 2.62%, Norway's 1.75% and USA's 2.68%. Only Sweden bested Finland with its 3.98%.

Finland's R&D spend has increased impressively over the years. In 1981, it was a meager 1.16% (ranking below Europe average), but had more than doubled to 2.52% by 1996.

Finland boasts the highest per-capita coffee consumption in the world. On average, the Finns drink more than four cups of coffee a day. A Finnish study from 2004 found that those who drink most have the lowest incidence of adult-onset or type 2 diabetes. By drinking three to four cups of coffee a day, the risk of developing diabetes fell by 29% for women and 27% for men.

For true hardcore "coffeeholics", who drink more than ten cups a day, the risk of diabetes was reduced by 79% for women and 55% for men. It did not, however, reveal if such large amounts of coffee resulted in any side affects.

C.G.E. Mannerheim, war hero and former President of Finland; Tove Jansson, beloved author of the Moomintrolls; Jean Sibelius, the greatest Finnish composer ever; Johan Ludvig Runeberg, our most famous author; Elisabeth Rehn, former Minister of Defence, now working for the UN; and Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux.

Today, the Swedish-speaking population of Finland amounts to 5.8% (295,000 people) of the total Finnish population of five million. About one third of all Swedish-speaking Finns are monolingual in Swedish, the rest know Finnish fairly well and use it to a varying extent both in everyday life and at work. In the urban areas in southern Finland, most working-age people have to be bilingual with a good knowledge of Finnish. On Åland and in Ostrobothnia it is possible to be monolingually Swedish both in private and professionally.

Although the Molotov cocktail is named after former Russian Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov's delight for pre-dinner cocktails, the Finns took on the term and coined its own version. When Molotov claimed in radio broadcasts that the Soviet Union was not dropping bombs on Finland, but rather delivering food to the starving Finns, the Finns started to call the air bombs satirically "Molotov picnic baskets". They soon responded by saluting the advancing Russian tanks with "Molotov cocktails". At first the term was used to describe only the burning mixture itself, but in practical use the term was soon applied to the combination of both the bottle and its contents.

This Finnish use of the hand- or slong-thrown explosive against Soviet tanks was repeated in the subsequent Continuation War. Molotov cocktails were eventually mass-produced by the Alko Corporation at its Rajamäki distillery, bundled with matches to light them. Production totalled 450 000 during the Winter War. The original design of Molotov cocktail was a mixture of ethanol, tar and gasoline in a 750ml bottle. The bottle had a pyrophoric matter (Bengal fire stick) attached on its side. Before use the Bengal fire stick was lit; when the bottle broke on impact, it ignited the mixture. The Bengal fire was found to be safer to use than a burning rag on the mouth of the bottle.

A view from the top

Under the wings of new president and CEO Jukka Hienonen, Finnair has embarked on one of the aviation world's most aggressive expansion plans. Since Hienonen took over the post on January 1 this year, Finnair has announced its network will include Edinburgh, Geneva, Kiev, Krakow, Nagoya, Pisa and Venice. The connections between Helsinki and Manchester, as well as Helsinki-Madrid, have been improved to be non-stop and from November Finnair will fly three times a week to Delhi. The carrier has also announced a further for destinations for next year: Bucharest, Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon and Ljubljana.

Meanwhile, SAS Scandinavian Airlines GM, Australia and New Zealand, Lars Sandahl Sørensen, is leaving Sydney this month to take on the newly appointed role as Chief Commercial Officer, Senior Vice President, Scandinavian Airlines International. Based at the SAS headquarter in Stockholm, Sandahl Sørensen's role will oversee SAS International's worldwide product concepts, network, pricing, revenue management, distribution, alliances, sales and marketing, as well as customer relations.

Lars Sandahl Sørensen joined the airline and was appointed GM, Australia and New Zealand, in 2003. Under his management, SAS' business in Australia has grown strongly in both the corporate and leisure markets. Before joining the airline, he was the managing director of the Danish Tourist Board. He is currently also the president of the Swedish Australian Chamber of Commerce.

SAS' Helsinki-based subsidiary Blue1 has doubled its European network since the end of 2005, now servicing 18 European and seven Finnish destinations.

Before jetting off back to Scandinavia, Lars Sandahl Sørensen took some time out to give us his view from the top, while Jukka Hienonen gave his answers from a sunny Helsinki.

Lars Sandahl Sørensen: One key challenge is to be able to communicate our many offers at the right time to the right people, as we do not have the enormous funds to communicate as some of the airlines flying here do. Travel agents get incentives to promote certain airlines, which travellers aren't aware of when booking flights and therefore do not always get the best deals. We have really good products and offers, and the people here who fly with SAS are usually happy to fly with us again.

Lars Sandahl Sørensen: SAS has plenty of plans to expand worldwide. We have expanded heavily in Europe, and other areas, such as the US. Asia is very much on our radar as well, but we have a more global approach. We have a number of expansion plans to Asia, but we do not only want to get a number of cities, we also want pretty high frequencies, as that offers more flexibility of choice to our travellers. If we only serviced a city three times a week, then that would not be the best way to service our customers.

Lars Sandahl Sørensen: Luckily here in Australia, Scandinavia has received more and more positive attention over the years - in industry, culture, media, etc. There are also a number of Australian companies investing in Scandinavia, and they naturally want to work with the true Scandinavian carrier.

For travelers, most travelers want the good service and quality concept, which is a very Scandinavian concept. We offer that, as well as good connections and reasonable prices, so it doesn't really matter exactly what our name is as such. Most people usually associate Scandinavian brands with positive connotations such as trust, safe and quality.

Lars Sandahl Sørensen: It very much depends on industries. The world gets more and more global, so you have to have an identity. More and more companies are using a national identity, just note many of the Australian companies. In our case we are very much aware of the global importance, but the Scandinavian traditions, quality and approach are there, and carried into the company. Globally, everything becomes more of the same, and people are looking for positive differences.

Jukka Hienonen: Our key challenge is to make our product, our northern destinations in general, and Finland in particular, more known for Australians.

Jukka Hienonen: Finnair is focusing on Asia where there are healthy growth opportunities. In the traffic between Asia and Europe, Finnair is able to provide the fastest connections thanks to the favourable geographical position of Helsinki. Since the turn of the millennium, Finnair has gained market share with an annual growth over 20%. This will continue next year when we add 25% more capacity.

Finnair´s aim is to introduce one to two new destinations in Asia annually and to add frequencies to existing destinations.

Jukka Hienonen: The Finnair brand values are safety, Finnishness, freshness and development. They set us apart from our competitors and create a strong foundation to build future growth on. Punctuality and reliability are also typical Finnish characteristics valued by customers, and satisfied customers are our best spokespersons.

Jukka Hienonen: For more than 80 years Finnair has played a key role in the Finnish society and the national identity is of course reflected in brand values and customers contacts. National identity is something that all companies carry with them, some with a higher, some with a lower profile. Traditionally airlines have adopted a clearly visible national identity.

Traveller's tip - Finnish hotel news

Travel+Leisure, one of the world's most prestigious travel magazines, has listed Helsinki's Hotel Kämp (www.hotelkamp.fi) as one of Europe's top 20 hotels in its World's Best Awards 2006. With an overall rating of 87.17, it also made the world's top 100 hotels list.

In a recent issue, the magazine also recommended the new restaurant Ilmatar at design hotel Klaus K (www.klauskhotel.com) under consulting Swedish super chef Marcus Samuelsson. Australia's Vogue Entertaining+Travel also named Klaus K as one of the world's 20 coolest hotels in its current issue.

The renowned Hotel Seurahuone in Helsinki has undergone an extensive refurbishment. The hotel, which opened in 1833, opened its new look recently and now offers the highest of standards.

In the world of business, nothing is more important than branding. Though the general consesus is that any publicity, even bad publicity, is good publicity, nothing is more valuable than positive and continous mentioning in the media.

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Our Finnishing touch to our service weaves the genuine and direct Nordic approach seamlessly into the Australian market. We currently represent a number of both Nordic and Australian clients, ranging from airlines to a magazine and from tourist boards to financial and telecom services. Although Finnesse Communications specialises in the tourism, travel and lifestyle industries, our expertise and services streches far beyond these businesses. No matter what business you are in, we can implement a strategic public relations program that will crerate awareness and guarantee extensive coverage of your products or services.

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FACC Events Calendar 2006

Please, note that the dates are yet to be confirmed. For enquiries and suggestions for future events please contact: the FACC secretariat facc@finconsyd.net or call 02 -9327 5164

Events in Finland

The FACC board 2006