Itella Corporation and IVANAhelsinki have concluded a licence agreement giving Itella exclusive rights to use IVANAhelsinki designs in selected Post products and services, such as postcards and packaging materials and supplies. This agreement will enable Itella to develop a novel product family, based on the material licensed by IVANAhelsinki, while IVANAhelsinki will have the opportunity to sell its products through the post office network, at first in the Helsinki General Post Office. Itella made a similar licence agreement with Marimekko in 2007.
Consumers represent an important customer segment to whose changing needs Itella is seeking to respond. Itella is dedicated to providing its customers with opportunities to send greetings and other messages using both conventional and new methods. The product range based on IVANAhelsinki designs has the aim of encouraging Finns to send personal greetings to their nearest and dearest by post.
The personal and inspiring IVANAhelsinki patterns will be used, for instance, in the Post’s packaging materials and supplies as well as electronic consumer products, such as ePostcards and Mobile Postcards. The first prints included in the agreement will make their entry into the Post’s product range in early 2009.
“We are complementing our consumer product range through co-operation with IVANAhelsinki,” says Lars Eklundh, Director of Consumer Sales at Itella. “Itella, with its strong Finnish roots, and the unique design work of IVANAhelsinki, recognised in the international fashion arenas, go well together. We are developing our products and services with high respect for traditions while creating something novel, by teaming up with Finnish designers,” Eklundh continues.
“In logistics, Itella has been a familiar and safe co-operation partner for us for many years. Itella’s open-minded, contemporary approach to combining attractive, visual elements with their services and products was the basic starting point for our collaboration. This co-operation will now realise our aim of bringing beauty to everyday life and festive occasions in a very concrete form, explains Pirjo Suhonen, Producer of IVANAhelsinki.
More information for the media will be provided by:
Lars Eklundh, Director, Consumer Sales, Itella Corporation, tel. +358 20 45 26125
Pirjo Suhonen, Producer, IVANAhelsinki, tel. +358 50 347 6131
Itella Group provides solutions for managing information and material flows. Itella operates in mail communication, information logistics and logistics. The Group, with operations in ten Northern European countries, reported a turnover of €1,688 million in 2007, employing some 25,000 staff. The Group’s corporate services are delivered under the Itella brand, while the Post brand is used for services targeted at Finnish consumers. More information on the Group is available at www.itella.com/group.
IVANAhelsinki is a Finnish art brand established in 1998 that has grown into an internationally recognised brand name over the past ten years. The best known of IVANAhelsinki’s product ranges is the IVANAhelsinki design fashion collection designed by Paola Suhonen with items representing a new fashion product category, ‘ethical luxury’. Characteristic of the designs of IVANAhelsinki is their unprejudiced way of combining fashion, art and design. IVANAhelsinki products are available in 25 countries all over the world.
