Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs Puts the Spotlight on New Initiatives With Lumen5
ABOUT FINLAND MFA
Promoting the Security and Welfare of Finland and the Finns
Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs promotes the security and welfare of Finland and the Finns while striving for a fair and secure world. The ministry maintains relationships with governments and multiple organizations while operating at both a global and domestic level. Employing over 1100 staff globally and 876 domestically, it operates 94 diplomatic missions worldwide, including embassies, consulates, and service points. The ministry also manages Finland's travel services and promotes the country's image abroad. Through their development policy, MFAF helps in resolving global problems and international cooperation by managing initiatives around everything from sustainability to international trade. Finally, it directly serves Finland's economy, society, government leaders, Parliament, and citizens.
"Fully relying on outsourcing was not a viable option. It was often too time-consuming, expensive, and frequently inconsistent with our visual identity."
Ella Jokinen, Visual Communication Designer, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
THE CHALLENGE
Lights, Camera, Edits
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs knew the best way to reach new audiences and heights was the lever the power of video in its marketing and communications strategy. Their challenge: create impactful videos AND at scale. Not just videos that could educate, but videos that could engage and captivate audiences. Ultimately, build awareness for their key initiatives with immediate results.
The reality is: video plays a significant role in the ministry's content strategy. Compelling, algorithm-friendly, and easy to understand, it was the perfect medium for the ministry's messaging. At least, it would be, if it wasn’t for one small problem.
Ask anyone who's dealt with video and they’ll tell you — approval processes are an absolute nightmare! Especially within a company so grand in size and global efforts. A single video can take weeks to produce as it ping pongs between stakeholders in an infinite feedback loop. Nobody’s got time for that! What they needed: to create regular, timely content for both internal and external channels - traditional video production was not an option!
"We needed a faster, more streamlined video creation process that aligned with existing workflows," explains Jokinen. “Fully relying on outsourcing was not a viable option. It was often too time-consuming, expensive, and frequently inconsistent with our visual identity. Creating a unique video template for different scenarios and use cases empowered us to increase our in-house video creation output and encouraged creativity. We have videos for multiple needs!”
Jokinen’s plate was becoming fuller than one’s dinner plate on Joulu (Christmas in Finnish) and sought out a tool with the capacity to quickly create multiple videos - without requiring lengthy approval processes. Jokinen knew her team needed a solution that was intuitive, usable by both visual designers and regular communications staff. Not to mention, the need for scalability.
"Our people work in multiple languages and timezones, and each embassy has its own events and initiatives. A tool managed by the communications department but usable by anyone was our best option," says Ella Jokinen, Visual Communications Designer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ministry’s operational size - not just in human power, but in multiple international embassies brought forward the utmost important requirement: the need to maintain a consistent visual identity across all embassies. With this in mind, the ministry prioritized seamless team management and separate workspaces in its search for the perfect solution.
"Lumen5 had nearly everything we were looking for and well within our financial means. Communication from their team was also excellent, and they worked closely with us in spite of the time difference."
Ella Jokinen, Visual Communication Designer, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
THE SOLUTION
Branded Templates Drive Serious Improvement
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs first heard of Lumen5 from another ministry that used the solution. When that ministry's director of communications joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he brought it to the table as a viable option. Having already demo-ed multiple alternatives — and found all lacking — Jokinen and a colleague demoed Lumen5 to their head of web communications. Safe to say, it was the perfect fit!
And once it was determined the platform met its security and branding requirements, the ministry purchased licenses for both its communications department and six major embassies.
"Lumen5 had nearly everything we were looking for and well within our financial means. Communication from their team was also excellent, and they worked closely with us in spite of the time difference," says Ella Jokinen, Visual Communications Designer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
There were many reasons why the Ministry for Foreign Affairs fell in love with Lumen5. It helped the Ministry overcome geographic boundaries and the multi-location problem, helping keep its teams connected wherever they are in the world. They also loved the intuitiveness of the drag-and-drop interface, pre-built branded templates, and a comprehensive library of stock footage, video, and imagery.
"Lumen5 as a whole is excellent!" says Jokinen. "Working with the company is like being both a customer and a collaborator. We've not only developed our visuals and communications practices, but also have the tools to realize them."
Lumen5 also helped the Ministry create their own branded templates to accelerate the video creation process. This allows users to create their own custom templates with elements that include layout, color schemes, bumpers, and branding. The platform also provides comprehensive editor and administrator options, including the ability to delegate videos to other users. Finally, Lumen5 supports multiple download formats, making it easy to fit a video to any media channel.
"Because we can make an entire video in one place, we've greatly increased our video production. Team features such as editor and administrator roles are also quite useful, allowing us to keep better track of how people use videos and visuals and make our content better and more coherent in the future," says Ella Jokinen, Visual Communications Designer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"It's easy to work with Lumen5, and I'm not afraid to mention if something's wrong because I know they will take care of it. The platform is constantly evolving and improving."
Ella Jokinen, Visual Communication Designer, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
THE RESULTS
Creating Professional Multi-Lingual Videos at Scale
50 videos with multiple languages Created in 1 month 2x Increase in content creation 3125% Increase in views on one video Over 200 videos Created in 6 months
With Lumen5, Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has significantly increased its rate of video production through streamlined approvals and intuitive video creation. Since deployment, its users have created over 200 videos in 6 months. One of the first English videos created with the platform received over 30 times more visibility on Twitter compared to previous content, reaching over a total of 180,000 views in the first 24 hours after distribution.
The Ministry continues to leverage branded templates to create impactful and informative videos at scale. These branded templates make it incredibly easy for the Ministry’s teams to turn ideas into ready-to–publish videos in hours, not weeks. Not to mention, to publish videos in multiple languages: English, Finnish, and Swedish.
"Previously, our videos were mainly for event documentation, speeches, or greetings," says Jokinen. "Lumen5 has made it easier for embassies and the entire communications department to enrich their content by creating videos on current topics. Editing is also considerably more efficient and people don't need other applications or help from a graphic designer to adhere to our visual identity."
More recently, the ministry used Lumen5 to create four separate multi-lingual videos about Finland's decision to join NATO, which one video had received over a total of 10 000 views, 106 retweets, and over 350 likes. Other initiatives supported by video content include more serious topics, such as climate issues, Finland’s support to countries in crisis, and humanitarian situations, such as the war in Yemen. However, videos are also made to recap events such as their annual high-level week videos or even more holidays and celebrations, such as Pride month.
"Lumen5 has changed how our team thinks," Jokinen concludes. "People want to make things pop, and they've realized it's easier to do that with video. Currently, we're working to deploy the tool to more embassies, holding in-house training with the eventual goal of tackling larger themes and repurposing old content."
“With the traditional agency, the time is usually about one week. But with Lumen5, it’s cut down from weeks to hours.”
Visual content director at Siemens AG
“Lumen5 is especially helpful for business people who don't have the technical experience to make their own videos.”
Media relations and content manager
“Thanks to Lumen5, we have been able to cut down on the time and costs related to video making.”
Global advertising and sponsorships
“We’re able to create a video quickly with a turnaround of five minutes versus trying to coordinate with an agency and see if they have time to fit you in. With Lumen5, you could just get it right then and there.”
Social & digital content manager
“The best part about Lumen5 is that it's not time-consuming. It's really easy and you only need a couple of minutes to create a video because everything is included.”
Senior online marketing manager
“We have scaled Lumen5's use across our marketing organization, realizing benefits across many team layers. As company communicators, this agile tool enhances each customer's experience and engagement.”
Director of global integrated marketing, Emerson
“We saw increasing demand within Communications for an intuitive self-service video production tool and Lumen5 filled the gap.”
Creative & digital assets manager, Corporate Voice, Swiss Re
The Ministry needed a fast and scalable video creation tool that could support multiple embassies, multiple languages, and strict brand requirements. Lumen5 provided an intuitive platform that aligned with the Ministry’s security standards, accelerated approvals, and reduced reliance on outsourced production that was often slow, expensive, and inconsistent with their visual identity.
Lumen5 created custom branded templates based on the Ministry’s visual guidelines, allowing every embassy and communications team to produce videos that look consistent across all channels. The platform centralizes layout, color, typography, motion styles, and identity elements, ensuring coherent messaging even when dozens of users in different locations create content simultaneously.
Since adopting Lumen5, the Ministry has dramatically increased its output, with more than 200 videos created in six months and 50 multilingual videos produced in a single month. Average production time has dropped to a few hours, enabling teams to publish timely content across English, Finnish, and Swedish without long approval cycles.
MFAF teams work in different languages and time zones, and each embassy creates content for its own local initiatives. Lumen5 allows users to easily adapt video templates, change languages, create regional versions, and manage separate workspaces. This makes it possible to publish high quality multilingual content at speed while maintaining brand consistency across all embassies.
Video plays a central role in how the Ministry explains policy decisions, highlights international initiatives, and increases visibility for global events. Lumen5 helps MFAF create fast, compelling videos for topics such as climate action, humanitarian crises, foreign policy announcements, and Finland’s NATO membership. The platform enables the Ministry to publish current, impactful content without long delays.
Yes. Lumen5 works directly with MFAF’s brand and communications teams to refine templates, train users, and optimize the video workflow. The Ministry receives ongoing support, regular instructional sessions on new features, and guidance on best practices for multi-team deployment. This partnership has helped MFAF strengthen its visual communication standards and scale video creation across embassies.
