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NTRNZ media signs global deal with TVF International

A groundbreaking documentary series named "Untold Arctic Wars", produced by the award-winning Finnish NTRNZ media ltd, has obtained a significant global distribution agreement with TVF International, the UK's largest independent distributor. In addition, the TV rights have already been sold to all Nordic countries except Iceland.

The six-part documentary series opens up the least known events of World War II, the battles in the Arctic, to the international public for the first time.

The documentary series sheds light on the importance of the northern region in the Second World War and unveils several events previously hidden from the general public. The viewers can expect significant discoveries from Arctic battlefields and archives.

The international significance of events in the Arctic is much greater than previously understood. The political games related to natural resources in the region played a major role in the Second World War. The accuracy and meaning of these events often get blurred behind national war traumas and experiences.

Teemu Hostikka, producer and screenwriter

Untold Arctic Wars’ script team includes prominent military history experts Mika Kulju and Lars Gyllenhaal. In addition, the series features experts from universities and museums from various countries and fields of science. The show follows as Kulju and Gyllenhaal dive deep into archives and disembark to the remote locations to study the impact the Arctic wars had on the course of the Second World War.

Arctic natural resources, climate change and modern Arctic rivalry are solid reasons to learn about the wars that have been fought in the Arctic. But I also think watching this series is a way to experience some very remote and beautiful places on planet earth

Lars Gyllenhaal

Production is ongoing despite the Covid-19 pandemic

Filming of the series has started as planned in the summer of 2020, and has taken place in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. In addition to Scandinavia and Russia, the series will also be filmed in Central Europe and North America. To date, the filming teams have toured to follow the field studies of several professionals who are actively mapping war events.

Of course, we had to balance between the constraints in different countries and keep up with the constantly changing situation. Fortunately, we got all the filming organized as planned. The majority of the filming in summer and autumn took place in very remote Arctic landscapes, where close contacts are minimal.

Anna-Reeta Eksymä, second producer and screenwriter

New historical discoveries

Already at this stage, it is clear some of the findings made in the series will be globally newsworthy, and some will serve as a starting point for future research. Many tragic events in the northern regions are still unexplained or are generally only known at a surface level.

NRK is very glad to take part in Untold Artic Wars, a series on less familiar events of WWII. The Second World War is still a subject that captivates people of all ages in Norway and we hope the stories of Untold Artic Wars will shed new light on the acts of war in the arctic-regions and give us the possibility to learn from the past. NRK is looking forward to broadcasting the series in the near future.

Andrè Haglund, Commissioning editor, NRK

This is an important series both for the Finnish people and Yleisradio/YLE. A well-made and comprehensive series about the events north of the Arctic Circle is significant content-wise alone. In addition, this is an extensive international project with several partners and investors who now trust the Finnish expertise in producing non-fiction content as well.

 Ari Ylä-Anttila, commissioner, YLE

Untold Arctic Wars seeks to answer the question of the root causes of war: Why were battles fought in the Arctic, and what were the previously unknown effects of these events to the course of World War II?

NTRNZ media Oy is a creative house focused on content production, whose values ​​are based on the pure nature of the north. NTRNZ media is best known for the three Golden Venla award-winning Eränkävijät TV series, as well as its international version Love of the Wild.

When the going gets tough the tough get going

NTRNZ media Ltd has acquired the business of Luova toimisto Ranka and opens Helsinki office

Award-winning creative house NTRNZ media Ltd has strengthened its strategic competence by acquiring the business of Luova toimisto Ranka Ltd. Both companies are based in Oulu, Northern Finland. The company is also about to spread its operations to the capital area as its new office opens in Helsinki in May.

In connection with the acquisition, Ranka CEO Juhani Parhiala starts as the Head of Strategy at NTRNZ media. In March, the NTRNZ media team was strengthened by Creative Director Pia Grekula, with background and experience from agencies like Bob the Robot and TBWA.

It’s time to blow up the traditional way we think about content production and marketing. We’re building a completely new type of creative agency, that does not fit into any known pattern or business model. This way, we’re able to serve our customers in the best way possible and create bigger, higher-quality content entities.

Founder and Executive Creative Director Teemu Hostikka

The business acquisition combines the core competencies of two Northern Finnish companies: powerful visuality, meaningful content production and strategic planning. The team thinks that it’s about time customers wake up and invest in new, innovative ideas. 

In this difficult time when people, companies and society are looking for a direction, we need someone to lead the way. I’ve never been comfortable with the ad industry business logic. With NTRNZ media, we decided to take a big step and form a team that has the means to change the industry’s logic as a whole. This team is able to deliver new type of productions that exceed any international quality standard and that are intellectually sustainable and profitable. And we will.

Director of Strategy Juhani Parhiala

NTRNZ Helsinki – a foothold in the Capital area

NTRNZ media opens an office in the Finnish Capital Helsinki at the beginning of May. The new unit is lead by Creative Director Pia Grekula, who has won dozens of prestigious advertising awards. Her latest projects include the ”Long Shot” campaign for Hartwall, directed by Renny Harlin, and the most visible campaigns of recent years for VR and Stockmann, for example.

To me, NTRNZ media’s content and format know-how is a truly differentiating factor. Traditional production companies do not offer ad agency services, and on the other hand, a traditional ad agency does not have know-how in formats. NTRNZ’s extensive experience of both as well as their international merits open up the possibility to create completely new content formats for our advertising agency customers as well.

Creative Director Pia Grekula

NTRNZ media is a creative house that has won the Finnish Television Academy Golden Venla award three times. The company’s series are distributed globally and it has multiple ongoing international productions and collaboration agreements with prominent international TV and film distribution companies.

I’m proud to lead a company that under one roof, combines online stores, visuality and cross-media concepts into seamless entities, and takes a bold step forward in this challenging situation.

CEO Hanna Mustonen

More information:

Teemu Hostikka
+358 45 639 8664

Juhani Parhiala
+358 50 343 4967

Pia Grekula
+358 50 361 9660

Hanna Mustonen
+358 45 634 3073

Photos

NTRNZ media is an award-winning creative house specialised in content production and marketing. The company is best known for the tv series Eränkävijät (Love of the Wild), as well as being the marketing partner of many known brands such as Visit Kalajoki, Oulun Kärpät Hockey Team, Northern Finland’s biggest festival Qstock, Europcar, Biltema, Bittium and the University of Oulu. 

Luova toimisto Ranka, founded in 2014, is a creative agency focused on marketing strategies and ad agency services. Its customers include student housing association Pohjois-Suomen opiskelija-asuntosäätiö, Pudasjärvi Development Ltd and Visit Oulu. 

Eränkävijät (Love of the Wild) wins third Golden Venla award

Finnish Television Academy recognises the popular series

Eränkävijät (Love of the Wild, original Finnish series) was awarded its third Golden Venla at the Finnish Television Academy’s annual Venla Gala on January 17th, 2020. This time, the series was chosen as the Best Lifestyle Program of 2019. Earlier, Eränkävijät has won the Best TV Program 2017 and Best Performer 2018 awards, by popular vote. The Best Lifestyle Program is chosen by the Television Academy’s professional jury.

Eränkävijät premiered on YLE TV1 in 2016. The fourth season aired in the autumn of 2019, followed by Love of the Wild – From the Alps to the Arctic, an international version of the series that follows nature lifestyle in five European countries. The fifth season of the Finnish original series premieres in the autumn of 2020, and a second season of the international series is in production.