How Finnish Railways Rocked the News with Gigantic KISS Masks Stunt

If you happened to be in Finland two weeks ago, you simply couldn’t miss this: the iconic Men of Rock statues at the Helsinki railway station got KISS masks a week before the band’s concert in Finland. The famous statues, located on Helsinki’s most central square, are a widely recognised symbol of the Finnish National Railway company (known locally as “VR”). The zero media budget marketing stunt got covered all across Finnish media and was talked about around the world.

However, most impressed by the stunt was the band itself: “It’s an absolute honour that our Finnish fans made this happen. What we didn’t realise was that the statues are so huge!” KISS lead singer Paul Stanley commented.

The stunt was born out of a proactive idea by the Finnish National Railways’ creative agency, TBWA\Helsinki. “The only way to involve our clients’ brands in culture is to create proactively and reactively. The VR client instantly realised the PR opportunity of our idea, and the rest is KISStory,” said Taneli Mattelmäki, Client Service & Strategy Director at TBWA\Helsinki.

The 3D-printed masks have now been taken off the statues, but will soon tour KISS expos around the world.