Valve Branding: Agency in the Spotlight
Agency name
Valve Branding
Year established:
2000
Location, country:
Helsinki, Finland
Number of people:
91
Breakdown of staff (approx):
Creative: 43 / 47%
Account: 7 / 8%
Digital: 28 / 31%
New business/marketing: 5 / 5%
Admin/finance: 8 / 9%
Managing Director:
Jorma Maaninka
Best known clients:
B2B
Konecranes, Metsä Group, Nokia, Stora Enso, UPM
Public sector
Keva – the largest pension provider in Finland, Senate properties – the work environment partner and specialist of the Finnish government and the Finnish Defence Administration, Traficom – Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Väylä – Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency
What we’re good at:
Digital growth marketing and Hubspot, analytics, brand identities, creative campaign concepts, communications and PR, VFX and events. We believe in working for the client – rather than just with them – and can provide an in-house expert or a whole team if needed.
So in short: we do it all and we do it well. We can even repair a lamp at the office Lamp repair
Best piece of work done recently:
Valve VFX team designed and implemented all visual elements and produced 3D animated videos for the Nokia FP5 network processor launch event.
Link to more info: https://www.valve.fi/en/cases/nokia-fp5?hs_preview=IAikJZHY-75271121218
Average age of employees (approx.):
37,6
Office personalities:
- Hype corner – our growth marketing experts may be the loudest bunch in the office but being around them is a guaranteed pick-me-up.
- 3D artist corner – they usually stay in their natural habitat in the VFX sector, but occasional sightings at the coffee machine are probable during the 2pm slump.
- Office doggos – big contributor to our daily hustle and bustle.
Rising stars (bright young things):
Malin Hertsberg is the TikTok campaign mastermind and a Gen Z psychic who’s always on trend.
Jack Tarvajärvi insists he’s the country’s youngest has-been but conducts growth marketing strategies with a passion like no other.
Agency legends (people who have been here longest):
- Jussi Niemi: a.k.a. Cannes2007 Jussi – brand and visuals guru.
- Vesa Virlander: Hubspot code genius and front-end developer extraordinaire.
- Juha Pohjola: a designer with more than 100 visual identity projects under his belt – and a published author on visual management of brands.
- Jaana Lemetti: at Valve since the olden days in many roles from front-end code to project management and digital solutions lead.
- Mikaela “Mikkis” Berghem: a true E3 and marketing veteran who’s seen it all since 1998 with Recommended Finland. Already before Valve – or our youngest employees for that matter – were even born!
Agency motto:
Smart and impactful marketing
What does everyone love about the agency?
First, the people. They are just plain good to work with, no divas or big egos here.
Second, the office space. It’s light, airy and full of plants (our TikTok team loves them!). At Valve we’re in hybrid mode, but most people seem to choose the office over working remotely, which probably means the space works.
@valve.fi Valveen kasvien tukiryhmä #flowerpower #plantsoftiktok #plantlover ♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim
What does everyone complain about?
Double-booking the conference rooms.
What agency traditions do you have?
Beerjantai – The Beer Friday get-togethers. Not every Friday, but whenever the mood strikes. Or when there’s a lamp that needs assembling.
Day in the life of Valve: our team building event from this fall made it to the company TikTok
@valve.fi Work hard, play hard #teambuilding #corporatetok #officelife #agencylife ♬ NOTHING – Westover
When did you join the network?
We’ve been a member as Valve since 2022 and before that as Recommended Finland since 1991.
Why did you join E3?
We saw it as an opportunity to deliver added value to our customers. With E3 we’re able to offer them international contacts as well as help customers of other agencies succeed in the Nordic market.
Which other agencies have you collaborated with?
We collaborated with Shanghai-based Brandigo in landing UPM to the Chinese market. This was a start of a long and prosperous co-operation. We have also formed an international team for our customer with creative and strategic experts from multiple agencies.
One thing everyone gets wrong about Helsinki:
It’s not always cold and snowy – we actually have up to two weeks of summer yearly. Lapland is a different story though.
What’s the coolest thing about Helsinki that no one else knows about?
Helsinki only became the capital city due to its close proximity to the Russian Empire. If the reign had stayed with the Swedish Crown, the capital could still be the oldest city of Finland, Turku.
What’s the one thing you have to do here when you visit:
Get a Finnish person to take you to their cottage in the countryside and get the full Finnish experience.
Where we go after work:
We hang out quite a bit at the office – it works for both business and after-works.
Restaurant we take clients to:
It may not be breakfast at Tiffany’s, but we have a pretty decent canteen downstairs. The menu staple is fresh salmon smoked on the spot daily.
Essential phrase in local language
When we say ‘no niin’, we actually mean…well, anything. We Finns are people of few words, so it’s only natural for us to use one phrase with which one can end or start a conversation, pivot to the next topic or express any emotion ranging from surprise to delight and disappointment to frustration. And don’t be afraid of lulls in conversation – we are comfortable with silence!