Otavamedia and ProCom win at World Media Festival

A total of 785 projects from 37 different states competed in different categories for international acclaim at the World Media Festival in Hamburg. Procom, The Finnish Association of Communication Professionals teamed up with media house Otavamedia to produce the short documentary The History of Communication Professionals, which clinched gold in the Professional Education category.

Produced by Johanna FIinkkilä of Otavamedia, the documentary depicts the historical journey of the communications profession, from propaganda to public relations and digital storytelling in a vivid way.

“The documentary is a mosaic built around hundreds of few-second clips of photos, archival films, special audio effects, graphics, music and new footage,” Flinkkilä explains.

The story is told in the context of Finnish history, reflecting the various universal tendencies that also had a part to play in the evolution of the profession, such as the rise of technology, the inclusion of women and the tension between public relations and independent journalism.

“The idea was to produce a unique and documentative picture, whose intensity keeps the viewer in its grip to the very end,” elaborates Elina Melgin, CEO of ProCom. “The feedback has been outright laudatory.”