Best Advertising Agencies in Helsinki (2026)

Introduction

Helsinki is the centre of Finland’s advertising industry, and the eight agencies below are the ones we could verify as running active Helsinki offices in 2026 with recent work for national and international brands. They range from Omnicom’s network offices in the city centre to independents in Kallio and Vallila.

The network map shifted over the past year. Omnicom completed its acquisition of IPG at the end of 2025 and is retiring the DDB, FCB and MullenLowe brands during 2026. In the Nordics, NORD (formerly NORD DDB) became the flagship of Omnicom Advertising Group’s regional hub, so the Helsinki office now trades as NORD Helsinki. Independents had a strong year too: hasan & partners was named Independent Agency of the Year at Golden Drum 2026, and United Imaginations won Agency of the Year at WINA 2026. The client base is broad, taking in retail groups such as Kesko and S Group, food brands such as Fazer and Valio, Finnair and Visit Finland, and a large share of public-sector and city work.

Every agency here has a verified Helsinki office in 2026. The list is unranked, since the right agency depends on the brief, the media mix and how much of the production you want kept in-house.

The best advertising agencies in Helsinki

1. TBWA\Helsinki

Omnicom (TBWA network) · Kamppi · tbwa.fi

TBWA\Helsinki has the largest team of the network agencies on this list, with 135 people in Finland out of around 330 across TBWA’s Nordic offices. It works from Fredrikinkatu 42 and has been named Finland’s Advertising Agency of the Year four times (2019 to 2022). Alongside the core agency it runs NEXT, an experiential and innovation unit, and Eleven, an earned-media creative agency.

Recent work includes an AI-led loyalty project for McDonald’s, metal-music makeup tutorials (“Heavy Makeup”) for a Finnish supermarket chain, and long-running work for Koskenkorva. Other clients named in its profiles include Neste, Telia, Fortum and Nissan.

2. NORD Helsinki

Omnicom (NORD, formerly NORD DDB) · Kluuvi · nordagencygroup.com

NORD Helsinki is the Finnish office of NORD, which Omnicom made the flagship of its Nordic advertising hub after the IPG merger. Andreas Dahlqvist (NORD CEO and Nordic chief creative officer) and Niclas Melin (Nordic CEO) lead the hub. The office sits at Vuorikatu 16 in the city centre, and a NORD Helsinki creative was on the team that won the Film Grand Prix and Digital Gold at Young Lions Finland 2026.

Campaigns from the first half of 2026 include Lidl Finland’s summer grilling work (“Pied Piper of Grills”) and a MyCamper campaign that turned travel mishaps into part of the adventure. Former DDB clients in Finland move to the surviving Omnicom brands market by market, so check which team will handle your account.

3. SEK

Grey network partner · Helsinki · sek.fi

SEK is one of Finland’s longest-established advertising agencies, with a design studio (SEK Design) and a growing AI practice. In autumn 2026 it hired Sheldon Smith to strengthen its AI work and creative director Chris Bolton for SEK Design. It had nine entries among the Finnish Comms Awards 2026 finalists, announced in October.

The client list leans towards big national brands: Finnair (the “Finnair 100 Nostalgia Takeover”), Visit Finland (“Masterclass of Happiness” and “Chill Like a Finn”), Finavia’s runway sauna at Helsinki Airport, Fazer, Valio, Kesko’s Pirkka, UPM, Veikkaus and Gigantti. It suits clients who want one agency across brand campaigns, social and design.

4. hasan & partners

Independent · Vallila (Konepaja) · hasanpartners.fi

hasan & partners has been in business for 33 years and works from the Train Factory on Konepajanraitti, a former railway works whose revival appears among its own case studies. It was named Independent Agency of the Year at Golden Drum 2026 after collecting ten shortlists there, and its “Banned Collection” for Naisten Linja took a Bronze at the London International Awards in 2026.

Recent clients include the City of Helsinki, Teosto (“Music Wins”), Matkahuolto, IFK Helsinki and Ebike Center, whose “Uphills Won’t Stop Cycling” campaign was shortlisted at Effie Europe 2026. Riku Vassinen is CEO, and the agency has a design and UX business area alongside its advertising team.

5. Dentsu Creative Finland

dentsu · Hakaniemi · dentsucreative.fi

Dentsu Creative is the creative agency of dentsu’s Finnish business, based at Siltasaarenkatu 8 to 10 in Hakaniemi. It connects to dentsu’s media and data teams in Finland, which helps when a campaign has to be planned and bought as a single job. A dentsu Finland entrant was on the team that took Media Bronze at Young Lions Finland 2026.

Featured work includes “Läheisyyden vaikutus” for Ronald McDonald House Finland, R-Kioski’s “Aamut vaikeita” and holiday campaigns for Holiday Club. The network also publishes an annual CMO report, the 2026 edition titled “Making It Real”.

6. Nitro

Independent · Kallio · nitro.fi

Nitro is a creative marketing agency with offices in Kallio (Kaarlenkatu 9 to 11) and Turku. It covers brand, advertising, social, web and analytics, and runs its own production unit, Nitro Film, which shares the Helsinki office and makes the agency’s ad films in-house.

Clients include Veikkaus, Tallink Silja (“Let’s Paatti”), Porsche, Löfbergs and Naisten linja. Its rebrand of Kouvolan Lakritsi as Lakula was a Finnish Comms Awards 2026 finalist. In-house film production is useful for clients who want TV and online spots without a separate production tender.

7. United Imaginations

Independent · Hakaniemi · unitedimaginations.fi

United Imaginations was founded in 2022 and has grown quickly to around two dozen people at Hämeentie 11. It was the most awarded agency at Vuoden Huiput 2025, and in 2026 it won Agency of the Year at WINA along with a Titanium, Grand Prix and Gold for UNICEF Finland. The UNICEF work also took a Bronze Lion at Cannes.

The agency combines brand, marketing and communications work. Clients include Helsingin Sanomat (“New(s) Perspectives”, a Eurobest Silver), Kone (“The One”), K-Supermarket (“We Read Every Comment”), Kespro, OP and Helsinki Partners.

8. PHS BBDO

BBDO network partner · Kamppi · phs.fi

PHS BBDO carries the BBDO name in Finland. Its holding company, TBWA\PHS Helsinki Holding, dates from 1989 and shares the Fredrikinkatu 42 address with TBWA\Helsinki, so the two agencies sit under one roof while working as separate brands.

Its 2026 Finnish Comms Awards entries were for Instrumentarium, covering expert and news visibility. With BBDO now one of Omnicom’s three global flagship networks, it is worth asking how the Finnish office links to BBDO’s Nordic and global teams if you need multi-market work.

What to look for in a Helsinki advertising agency

Start with ownership. Helsinki’s network offices (TBWA\Helsinki, NORD, PHS BBDO and Dentsu Creative) bring links to international clients and Nordic hubs, and can draw on media agencies in the same group. Independents such as hasan & partners and United Imaginations tend to put senior people on the account and have won much of the recent award attention.

Ask how the agency is being affected by the Omnicom changes. The retirement of DDB, FCB and MullenLowe through 2026 has moved clients and staff between Nordic offices. Names and email domains may change mid-contract, so confirm which entity you are contracting with and who leads the account.

Check the media mix. Finnish campaigns still lean on TV, Yle and commercial broadcasters, outdoor in Helsinki and the big retail chains’ own channels, alongside social. Some agencies make film in-house (Nitro Film is one example), while others tender production to Helsinki production companies. Ask who owns the edit and how many review rounds are included.

Finally, look at how review works. A single TV spot can go through scripts, animatics, offline and online edits and a set of cut-downs, each with comments from brand, legal and media teams. Agencies with one place for the latest version, and a clear way to collect and close feedback, keep schedules intact when several people on the client side need to approve.

How Fabric helps advertising agency teams

Fabric gives an advertising agency one workspace for files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The agency setup works well for shops running several retail and brand accounts at once: one space per client, with briefs, scripts, decks, media plans and call notes in one place.

Campaign rushes, edits and cut-downs sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and heavy video opens without a full download. Audio and video transcription makes every spot, radio ad and recorded client call searchable, and search works by meaning, so a producer can find a past campaign’s end frame or a line of voiceover and jump to the timestamp.

For review, share a file or folder with the client as a commenter. Shared links work without sign-up. Through annotations, commenters leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame to point at a product shot or a legal line, and draw on images such as key visuals and OOH layouts. Any comment can be marked completed, so a round of feedback works like a checklist the team closes off. There is a walkthrough in how to get client feedback on a video.

For final delivery, a file or folder can be published as a web page. Published pages are view-only (with optional download), which suits approved masters and press material. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link and how long they spent on it, which helps with pitch decks and media sell-ins.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs for per-client pages on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best advertising agency in Helsinki?

It depends on the brief. On 2026 recognition, hasan & partners was Golden Drum’s Independent Agency of the Year, United Imaginations won Agency of the Year at WINA and a Cannes Bronze Lion, and SEK had nine finalist entries at the Finnish Comms Awards. Among network offices, TBWA\Helsinki has the largest Finnish team on this list, at 135 people.

What happened to NORD DDB Helsinki?

Omnicom is retiring the DDB brand in 2026 after acquiring IPG. NORD became the flagship of Omnicom Advertising Group’s Nordic hub, and the Helsinki office now trades as NORD Helsinki from the same Vuorikatu address.

Is McCann still in Helsinki?

McCann’s own office directory lists no Finnish office as of November 2026, so McCann Helsinki is not on this list. Brands that worked with it should check which Omnicom agency now holds their account.

How is an advertising agency different from a creative agency in Helsinki?

The line is loose. Advertising agencies here focus on campaigns across TV, outdoor and social, often with network links and media partners. For idea-led independents and integrated shops, see the best creative agencies in Helsinki.

Do Helsinki agencies work in English?

Yes. Several of the agencies above run international or Nordic accounts, and their case studies are published in English as well as Finnish. Ask for English-language references if your team is outside Finland.

Related lists

Advertising agencies in other cities: Stockholm · Copenhagen · Oslo · London · New York

More in Helsinki: Creative agencies · Marketing agencies · Branding agencies · Social media agencies · Content studios

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for agencies · Fabric for commercials production · Best video review software for creative teams