SEK: building the creative road for 90 years

An excerpt from SEK's staff handbook, 1967:

“SEK was founded in 1935, immediately after the Great Depression. The founders, Suhonen, Erkelenz and Knuus, were commercial artists, and in the early days the company operated as a studio and a window-dressing business, serving both commercial firms and advertising agencies. Some progress was made gradually in the years before the war, but there were no clear goals or programme, so there was no great rise.

The year 1941 was a turning point in SEK's history. Aarne Salomaa was then invited to become managing director of a SEK that had run into difficulties. Drawing on the management's commercial and general advertising experience, the transformation from studio to advertising agency began. SEK adopted a new way of thinking about advertising. It was no longer content with writing copy and placing ads, but delved into questions of sales. So began SEK's rise to a leading position in the Finnish advertising agency world.”

Building iconic Finnish brands since 1935

SEK has been helping to build iconic Finnish brands for a long time, longer than any other agency in Finland. And there aren't many agencies like this in the world, either. Without our creativity and our work, many Finnish success stories would never have happened.

No success story happens by itself. It takes people who pave the way and show the direction. Our creative road began in 1935, when our founders Suhonen, Erkelenz and Knuus set up the SEK studio. Over the decades, hundreds of different people have built on it a vast number of layers, junctions, new lanes and bridges.

Through these decades we have been driven forward by creativity, passion and renewal. At SEK we certainly don't wait to see whether someone else will do it first. A strong history won't carry you very far on its own: every new year, every new client, every new project and every new piece of work is always done with the same passion and creativity as Suhonen, Erkelenz and Knuus brought to it in their day. We plan to carry on down this creative road for the next 90 years too.

So begins our anniversary year, with a programme of glimpses into our history, events, looking to the future and, of course, celebrating. You're invited to join us.

Happy 90th birthday, SEK!