1. Starting Point

Otava is a Finnish family-owned company with more than 130 years of history. Its core mission – to promote Finnish culture and learning – has remained unchanged since the company’s founding.

Otava’s long history and family business values form a strong foundation for responsible and long-term operations. Education and culture play a key role in building a sustainable and well-functioning society.

Responsibility is one of Otava’s core values. Part of that responsibility is ensuring that the company’s sustainability efforts are communicated clearly, engagingly, and in a way that resonates with its audiences. Alongside the standard-format sustainability report, Otava wanted a more narrative and communicative channel to share its sustainability story.

2. Overview

As part of Otava’s renewed sustainability communications, Otavamedia Content Marketing conceptualized and produced the Sustainability Review website vastuullisuuskatsaus.otavakonserni.fi/en.

The website serves as a communicative and more flexible platform for showcasing the sustainability actions of the Otava Group’s different business areas. The Sustainability Review is an annually updated and continuously evolving narrative about Otava’s sustainability work. It highlights the company’s daily efforts to promote reading, learning, and education – while also addressing environmental perspectives and Finland’s diverse media culture. The imagery features Otava’s products, employees, and workplaces – offering an authentic look into the everyday life of Otava people.

Otavamedia Content Marketing designed the site structure, user interface, and visual identity, and supervised the technical implementation. The goal was to create a visually striking and elegant site that uses typography, still imagery, and video effectively – placing sustainability at the forefront. Accessibility was a key design principle, and all articles on the site are also available in audio format. The website continues the digital design line established by Otavamedia Content Marketing in 2019, when it created Otava’s annually updated digital annual report website.

3. Results

The Sustainability Review website enhances Otava’s sustainability communications. The company now has a platform to share its sustainability actions in a more engaging and approachable way. The website also reaches audiences who typically do not read sustainability reports.

Otavamedia Producer Verna Julkunen reflects on the project:
“As a producer and one of the workers at Otava, it was truly rewarding to help tell the stories of our different business areas, people, and sustainability efforts. Even for me, the everyday work we do now appears in a new light. I hope others who visit the site will experience the same insights.”