SUMMARY
Harvia is a global leader in the sauna and spa market. The company employs over 500 professionals in Europe, North America, and Asia and had a revenue of EUR 109.1 million in 2020.
In 2021, Harvia wanted to inspire both internal and external stakeholders to connect with the company’s mission “Healing with heat” in a creative and meaningful way.
Services
- Art as a Method
- Internal Brand Engagement
- External Brand Engagement
CHALLENGE
A company’s mission statement is most of the time expressed verbally or in written language, which limits its potential emotional impact. Harvia’s mission statement ”Healing with heat” is both inspiring and imaginative. It invites us to re-connect with our all of our senses.
We started on a journey to discover and explore a new and creative way to bring the “Healing with heat” experience to life.
PROCESS
We used Art as a Method to describe Harvia’s mission statement in a multisensory way, through different forms of art, including dance, sound and light design. This creative process became an artistic study of how healing with heat might feel like for a human body and mind.
Although we set a specific outcome that we worked towards – the Healing with heat multisensory short film – the process of exploration before and after the film was produced became equally important in revealing insights and strengthening the brand experience.
“The process was very different from my point of view. If we would have done this with an ad agency and we wouldn’t have used Art as a Method to express “healing with heat”, the process would have been such that I would have needed to give the exact brief to the creatives, approve everything and make sure that the outcome is as we envision it. But now it was so cool that the artists were working together, and that they had the freedom to turn it into a piece of art and not something that was scripted in advance.” Päivi Juolahti, VP of Innovation and Marketing, Harvia
We facilitated workshops between the artists: ballet dancer and choreographer Minna Tervamäki, sound artist and designer Ava Imogen Grayson, lighting designer Ville Tolvanen and director and cinematographer Vanessa Vandy, as well as hosted joint sessions between the artists and Harvia’s leaders: Tapio Pajuharju, CEO and Päivi Juolahti, VP of Innovation and Marketing.
“I’m used to getting a film or getting the visuals first, but the fact that we started with the sound was lovely because I got to have free reign for a moment in time and then pass it off to Minna and pass it off to Vanessa, and then see what would come of that in that way. So it was a very pleasurable collaborative experience just to be able to build on this process together.” Ava Imogen Grayson, sound artist and designer
We documented the creative process and captured some of the insights discovered on the way in a documentary conversation.
OUTCOMES
The multisensory short film brings to life how healing with heat feels like, in a unique interpretation and collaboration between all of the artists involved.
“The essence of our art is to bring feelings to surface, so that people don’t need to think about it in words – instead, they can simply connect to the sounds and movement in an intuitive way.” Minna Tervamäki, ballet dancer and choreographer
The film is an art piece open to different personal interpretations. Watching it with headphones turns into a very intimate experience, much like being in a sauna. And with each person that experiences it, the film takes on a new life.
“We wanted to create a space for each person to have their own experience, in the same way that being in a sauna is a different experience for each of us. My first impression when I saw the film was a very powerful experience, I got goosebumps. The sounds, visuals, lights, movements, and facial expressions draw you in. It is a holistic piece of art that invites you to feel and reflect for a few moments.” Päivi Juolahti, VP of Innovation and Marketing, Harvia
