1. Starting point

Västerbottensost is a beloved national cheese in Sweden, crafted using a secret recipe since 1872. While highly familiar to Swedish consumers, the brand was still relatively unknown among Finnish cheese lovers and lacked strong recognition on Finnish retail shelves.

The objective was clear: increase brand awareness and introduce Västerbottensost to Finnish consumers in a relevant and engaging way.

Conaxess Trade Finland had previously collaborated with Otavamedia on several food brands, making it easy to start planning the campaign together with a trusted team.

2. The Solution

Passionate home cooks can be found across Otavamedia’s network, particularly within Kotiliesi and the Toukola food community. For Västerbottensost, we designed a timely and impactful campaign that coincided with the start of the crayfish party season.

A classic Swedish crayfish spread known as Öjebyröra was selected as the hero recipe. The easy-to-make delicacy was produced as a recipe video in collaboration with Toukola, providing a highly engaging way to showcase the cheese in an authentic culinary context.

The month-long Toukola partnership package included:

• Turnkey recipe video production
• A native article and permanent placement in Kotiliesi’s recipe library
• Visibility across Toukola and Kotiliesi’s TikTok, Instagram and Facebook channels
• Brand exposure in the Toukola section of Kotiliesi magazine
• Promotional placements on Kotiliesi.fi, Anna.fi, Kaksplus.fi and Seura.fi
• Exposure through newsletters and social media channels across Otavamedia brands

👉As an added benefit, the client received full access to the finished video assets for use in their own marketing channels.

Throughout the campaign, content elements such as headlines, imagery and native content promotions were continuously optimized to maximize performance and audience engagement.

You can watch the Västerbottensost recipe video alongside this case study. Simply turn on the sound using the button in the bottom-left corner.

3. The Results

The Toukola partnership proved to be the perfect choice for Västerbottensost. The campaign achieved extensive visibility across Otavamedia’s network, generating 3.8 million gross impressions.

The strong performance of the recipe video and its targeted distribution to cooking enthusiasts were reflected in both the high number of video views and thousands of engagements across social media channels. The video generated nearly 140,000 views on social media, with Facebook driving the highest view count and TikTok delivering the strongest engagement.

“The campaign delivered excellent results. Through the Toukola partnership, Västerbottensost gained broad visibility among consumers interested in cooking across media websites, newsletters, social media channels and print media. Both the brand and the content integrated naturally into the Toukola environment and alongside editorial content, which is clearly reflected in the campaign’s strong performance,”
says Pinja Karvonen, Commercial Producer at Otavamedia.