Finlandia® Cheese
Driving volume with a Consumer Contest & PR

Objective: The task was to increase consumer requests for imported Finlandia Cheese at supermarket deli counters and to generate broad PR.

Challenge: Within a limited budget, the challenge was to create a newsworthy event that had consumer, trade and PR leverage.

Solution: The Finlandia Cheese “Great Sandwich Recipe Contest” was an innovative, cost-efficient program that made sandwich ingredients the hero. Sandwich history was made on November 3, National Sandwich Day, at the legendary Carnegie Deli, where five finalists competed to win the sandwich contest. The winning sandwich earned a place on the Carnegie Deli menu and a trip to the Sandwich Islands, commonly known as Hawaii.

Elements: Contest judges included food editors from Time, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Ladies Home Journal, Newsday and Deli News. Promotion support included an FSI, radio, deli easels and other point-of-sale, and the Finlandia website.

Results: Sales increases and PR coverage heartily satisfied everyone's appetite and exceeded expectations. The promotion was so successful, it was covered by 4 major TV networks (NBC, ABC, Fox, WB), hundreds of publications, and achieved widespread online word-of-mouth. The winning contestant was invited to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres show.