Redesigned Pirkka helps us make smart choices

KESKO PRESS RELEASE 27.01.2016 AT 10.00 1(2)

The K-Group's customer magazine has been revamped in terms of content as well as appearance. Pirkka and its digital channels are a practical media package making the K-Group customers' daily lives easier with its content, ideas and tips derived from customer needs and recommendations.

"We have redesigned the Pirkka magazine with respect for its traditions. The function of this over 80-year-old magazine, founded in 1933, has been to tell about smart choices and offer inspiration for a good life. And so it is today," says Merja Haverinen, Vice President for Group Communications and Editor-in-Chief.

In addition to the magazine, Pirkka Media comprises the digital channels www.pirkka.fi and the most frequently used social media channels. There is active dialogue with customers on the digital channels and interesting topics, tips and ideas are produced for them. The classic Niksi-Pirkka is present in the magazine and on the digital channels. A newsletter announcing the publication of the next issue of the magazine summarizes the key news and reminds the customers about the upcoming issue. The newsletter can be subscribed to at www.pirkka.fi.

Nearly eight million copies of the Pirkka magazine are printed per year and it is a significant employer for the Finnish paper and printing industry. Pirkka is a printed product that carries the Swan label and its paper and printing house meet the Nordic environmental criteria. The paper is manufactured in Finland at the Sappi Kirkniemi Mill. The Pirkka magazine is printed by UPC Print in Vaasa. The publisher of Pirkka Media is A-lehdet Dialogi Oy.

"It's great to be part of building a new kind of media package. In the new Pirkka desk, we continuously produce contents for all Pirkka Media channels, respond to the readers' needs and help them make smart choices. In addition to tips and useful information, we also want to inspire readers and offer them interesting reading," says President and CEO Jyrki Rehumäki of A-lehdet Dialogi.

Free access to a full issue of the Pirkka magazine is available to all on the Pirkka.fi service. Printed copies of the Pirkka magazine are delivered to K-Plussa customer households whose average purchase amount from the K-Group stores over the last 12 months exceeds 250 euros per month.

A Pirkka magazine volume can be redeemed with one thousand K-Plussa points by contacting K-Plussa's customer services at plussa@kesko.fi or by phoning +358 10 198 604 (Mon-Fri at 8-18, local network charge or mobile network charge). A subscription to the magazine at pirkka@dialogi.fi costs 25 euros. A subscription abroad costs 77 euros.

Further information is available from Merja Haverinen, Vice President, Group Communications, tel. +358 105 322 764.

Kesko is a Finnish listed trading sector company. Kesko operates in the grocery trade, the home improvement and speciality goods trade and the car trade. Its divisions and chains act in close cooperation with retailer entrepreneurs and other partners. In 2014, Kesko's net sales totalled €9.1 billion and it employed nearly 20,000 people. Kesko has over 1,500 stores engaged in chain operations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus. Kesko's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. The company's domicile and main premises are in Helsinki. Kesko is the most sustainable trading sector company in the world (The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World). www.kesko.fi

A-lehdet Dialogi is a subsidiary of A-lehdet Oy and one of Finland's biggest content marketing and customer communication houses. We engage in B2B and B2C marketing communications in a number of industries. We produce over twenty customer, personnel and stakeholder magazines in digital and print through all channels. Our customer publications reach over three million Finns.