When the circular economy company Suomen Uusiomuovi Oy expanded its operations in 2022–2023, a need for a larger strategic and communicational overhaul also emerged. Netprofile took action and created an emotionally appealing visual identity, enabling the company, now known as Sumi, to convey its strategy clearly and with a touch of humor.
Suomen Uusiomuovi Oy expanded its operations in 2022–2023 from implementing producer responsibility for plastic packaging to five different packaging materials. During the same process, the company's ownership structure and name changed.
The current Sumi Oy is a growing circular economy company, having already established three subsidiaries, with the task of organizing the collection and recycling of metal, plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, and wood packaging, and promoting recyclability.
The company's new direction required a new strategy and a new style for visual communication. In its industrial sector, Sumi wanted to communicate its strategy clearly – and deviate from industry expectations with a relaxed and emotionally appealing visual style.
Differentiation was particularly important because, due to legislative changes, the implementation of packaging producer responsibility was opened to alternative producer organizations. Thus, packaging producers had to choose with whom they wanted to implement their producer responsibility.
Netprofile participated as a facilitator in designing Sumi's new strategy. Immediately after its completion, the collaboration continued with a strategy visualization project, involving Sumi Oy's CEO Mika Surakka, Netprofile's graphic designer, the agency's strategy director, and later a broader group of Sumi employees.
To start the project, Netprofile organized a brainstorming session, where we carefully listened to Sumi's needs and goals regarding the target groups and usage of the strategy image. In the second phase, Netprofile proposed a visual theme for the strategy image, and in the third phase, the visual details and textual content were adjusted to fit clearly on one PPT slide.
The final image reflects Sumi's desire to portray its role as an implementer, integrator, and developer of the circular economy, helping its customers and stakeholders move forward in improving the national recycling rate – resulting in more environmentally friendly solutions in the packaging value chain.
After the strategy phase, it was time to consider other stakeholder communication needs. Sumi needed to communicate openly and clearly to various audiences – from authorities to consumers. Sumi wanted to do this in a way that appeals on an emotional level.
In the planning process, which consisted of several workshops, the first consideration was identify what kind of visual storytelling would deviate from the industry's traditions. The result was to iconize the range of materials covered by Sumi into cartoon-like, playful characters.
In the next phase, the characters were given distinctive features, and finally, the five "Sumili" characters were harmonized to work seamlessly together in different visual contexts.
The Sumilis have excellently met Sumi's goal of creating a visual communication concept that accelerates discussions with stakeholders. The characters implemented by Netprofile act as a catalyst for stakeholder discussions, freeing up the atmosphere and quickly and positively getting discussions on even complex topics underway.
Mika Surakka, CEO, Sumi Oy
