Evia Oyj was one of the largest Finnish marketing communication agencies. The company was founded in 1955, and it was known as Markkinointi Viherjuuri before the 2001 name change to Evia Oyj.

Evia Oyj
Company typePublicOyj
(Nasdaq HelsinkiEVI1V)
IndustryMedia
Founded1955 in Finland as Markkinointi Viherjuuri, since 2001 Evia Oyj
FoundersMatti Viherjuuri and Kaija Viherjuuri
Defunct2009 (bankruptcy)
Headquarters,
Finland
Key people
Jari Torvelainen, CEO
ServicesMarketing communication
RevenueDecrease 10.7 million (2006)[1]
Number of employees
40
DivisionsAxel Digital Group, Viherjuuri Helsinki Oy, Indigo

On 18 June 2009, Evia filed for bankruptcy.[2]

History edit

Evia was founded in 1955 and was named Markkinointi Viherjuuri by its founder Matti Viherjuuri. From 1955 to 1989, Markkinointi Viherjuuri was private company (Oy), and after 1989 public company (Oyj) and was listed in OMX (formerly Helsingin Pörssi) OTC-list.

In 2001, Markkinointi Viherjuuri announced new name for company, Evia Oyj to reflect the parent companies role better. Evia was formed from two separate parts: E meaning of digital communications and Latin word via meaning of road.

On 18 November 2002, Evia concluded personnel negotiations where three people was dismissed, two people was laid off for the time being and four persons as of 1 April 2003. After this Evia had another personnel negotiations on 26 August 2003, when concluded that 36 employees will set to fixed-term layoff for three months.

On 31 August 2004, Evia gave profit warning, and positive profit warning on 20 January 2006.

On 28 June 2005, CEO Mika Sario resigned and a new CEO, Jari Torvelainen, started on 1 August 2005.

Services edit

Evia offered advertisement, marketing and communication services: direct marketing and digital communication services, brand management and design management. Evia had average of 90 employees at its best days.

International cooperatives edit

Evia was cooperative of global Edelman, which had 46 own agencies and over 50 cooperative agencies all over the world. With cooperative contacts Evia did global projects like medical company communications and Shell oil company brand communication.

Awards edit

  • Outdoor campaign made for Sony BRAVIA was selected January 2006 in London as JCDecaux Group December 2005 best Innovate-Campaign in whole world.[3]
  • Toyota, which is Evia's marketing customer, won total of six awards in Loyalty Awards 2006.
  • Evia Stenfors-campaign won Best Viral Campaign title in Finnish media Grand One 2007 gala.[4]

Bankruptcy edit

On 18 June 2009, the company sought bankruptcy due to heavy debts and recession in the marketing business. Marketing agency Viherjuuri Helsinki Oy, which was part of Evia, was split into an independent business and continued to operate. Viherjuuri applied for a court approval to undergo a reorganization.[2][5] On 30 November 2009, it too filed for bankruptcy.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Evia Annual Report 2006 Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (in English)
  2. ^ a b Nieminen, Martta. "Publicly listed company Evia bankrupt, Viherjuuri will continue". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  3. ^ "Sony Bravia was awarded by JCDecaux Group". JCDecaux. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
  4. ^ "Grand One 2007". RE (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 2010-03-29. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
  5. ^ "Hundreds will lose their money in bankruptcy of a listed company". Kauppalehti (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  6. ^ "Ad agency's gauntlet ends in a bankruptcy". Kauppalehti (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 2009-12-01. Retrieved 2009-06-18.