Kurio

Mantsinen 300 is the world’s largest hydraulic material handling machine. Despite its 380-tonne magnitude, it is the most precise in its size range. In order to communicate this benefit to the business decision makers, we selected a medium every board room has: paintings. We crafted a brush for the Mantsinen 300. Took three teen artists. Trained them to drive the machine. And gave them a challenge: to express themselves with it. Our exhibition with 42 paintings broke all previous PR records. We made something the business leaders can’t unsee: the crane as precise as an artist’s brush.

Mantsinen is a company from the outback of Finland. The family-owned company has grown into a specialist in it its own field: They are the manufacturer of the world’s largest hydraulic material handling machine, the Mantsinen 300. Despite its 380-tonne magnitude, it is the most precise in its size range. And when it comes to material handling, precision saves both money and time. So how do you convince the business decision makers in their board rooms of this benefit?

Zero exclusion – a trans-Atlantic art project with the world’s largest brush

We crafted a very special brush for the Mantsinen 300. Took three teen artists. Trained them to drive the machine. And gave them a challenge: to paint “hope” onto 5x2 meter canvases. All the proceeds were donated to the NGO Hope, to tackle the social exclusion of kids. We made 42 paintings altogether. They were created in two stages. The first one was at the harbor using Mantsinen 300 as the brush. A special paint was created for this project by their long-time business partner Neste – a world’s first coating based on their 100% renewable diesel. The second stage was done at the Albright-Knox, Buffalo, one of the leading modern art museums. At this stage the harbor-scale canvases were cut into smaller individual works and then finalized using various methods. Albright-Knox provided artistic coaching for the teens throughout the process.

On the very first day, 1/3 of the paintings were sold to companies, making it to the boardrooms. Paintings were also exhibited at art galleries, and even at the no. 1 fine dine restaurant Savoy. To date, we’ve raised more than 50 000 EUR – enough to help the education of over 100 children. We even did the unthinkable: made it to the biggest televised event in the country, the annual Presidential Ball. An evening gown with a print from one of our paintings was worn by the director of The Union of Upper Secondary School Students, who spread the word at the event and all its coverage. Earned media reach: 23 MM – breaking all previous // PR records Return on marketing investment: 769% But most of all we achieved what we set out to do – we made sure people will never look at the crane the same way again. Instead of just the size, you see the precision.