The Most Reputable Companies Were Honored – Photos of the Festive Atmosphere

Tuesday, October 9, was a rewarding day.

We organized our annual reputation event, during which we unveiled the results Reputation&Trust latest Reputation&Trust and honored Finland’s most reputable companies in 2018.

Forestry machinery company Ponsse deservedly claimed the title of most prestigious company with the highest score in T-Media’s history of rankings. The awards were presented to the winner and the runners-up, Supercell and Kone, by Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä.

A warm thank you to everyone who participated in the event—the audience, the award recipients, and the speakers—for creating such a sincere atmosphere. The photo collage below will let you relive the atmosphere from last Tuesday.

Photos: Niko Jekkonen

12:30 p.m. We're waiting for our guests. The 2018 "Finland's Most Prestigious Company" awards were held at Restaurant Palace in Eteläranta, Helsinki.

Coffee and chocolate pastries with a view. Thank you to the kitchen and dining room staff at Restaurant Palace for the delicious treats.

Harri Leinikka, CEO of T-Media, opened the event. In his opening remarks, Leinikka emphasized that a people-oriented approach brings together reputable companies.

The event was attended by an audience of nearly 100 people. Among the attendees were top executives from Finnish publicly traded and family-owned companies, but we were also pleased to welcome representatives from public and third-sector organizations.

Humans are not rational thinkers. Riku Ruokolahti, the developer Reputation&Trust, delved into, among other things, the principles of cognitive bias as part of the formation of reputation perceptions and stakeholder support.

In his speech, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä emphasized the importance of trust in politics and business. He was also inspired to share some amusing stories from his own time as an entrepreneur.

The winner's award was accepted by Juha Vidgrén, the son of Einari Vidgrén, chairman of Ponsse's board of directors, majority shareholder, and founder of the company.

Vidgrén shared the story of Ponsse and the secret to its success:
“Ponsse has come a long way since the recession of the early 1970s, when the first PONSSE forest machine was built in Vieremä—named after the village’s mixed-breed stray dog. Back then, we had no capital, no engineering expertise, no knowledge of machine manufacturing, and not even our own factory building. Our success today is based precisely on overcoming the challenges of those early days.”

The performers captivated their audience.

The top three winners, all smiling. On the left is Linda Åström, Director of Communications at Supercell, which came in second, and on the right is Hanna Rutanen, Communications Manager at Kone, which came in third.

In keeping with our tradition, we recognized the most active Twitter user at the event. Marjaana Kivioja from Fingrid was on top form this year. #reputation

Cellists Liina-Mari Raivola and Petja Kainulainen provided the afternoon's musical entertainment.

4:05 p.m. The winners have been honored and the speeches have been given. A successful event is behind us. You can find today’s discussions on Twitter using the hashtag #luottamusmaine. Our study also made the news in major media outlets. You can revisit the results by reading the articles below, for example:

A machine shop operating in a small village in Savo rose to become Finland’s most reputable company, surpassing Kone and Supercell—What makes Ponsse such a special company? ( Helsingin Sanomat, Oct. 9, 2018)

Ponsse, which scored a record number of points in the ranking, is Finland’s most prestigious company—the bottom of the list comes as no surprise (Kauppalehti, Oct. 9, 2018)

See you next year!

The T-Media Team