How the porridge war turned into a hunt for the next hit food – and media buzz poured in
Competition at St. Thomas Market intensified in 2025. The "porridge war," which began at the market, saw its battleground expand to Kunontori Christmas Market, Manta's Christmas Market, and among individual vendors. However, Christmas is a time for peace. St. Thomas Market's goal was not to incite a porridge skirmish, but to attract city residents and tourists to discover new experiences at Senate Square.
The aim was to reinforce the idea that Helsinki's oldest and most beautiful outdoor Christmas market offers a ladle-full of other delights beyond just trendy porridge. So, how could we shift the attention of the social media crowd and media, who were obsessed with the hit porridge, towards St. Thomas Market's other food offerings and gift ideas?
St. Thomas Market generates FOMO – the fear of missing out. Social media and news have been brimming with festive market vibes, sparking a desire to experience the Christmas atmosphere at Senate Square firsthand. In recent years, many have flocked to St. Thomas Market specifically due to the FOMO created by the hit porridge.
We fueled interest in the Christmas market by demonstrating that if you skip St. Thomas Market, you'll miss out on the culinary phenomena brewing beneath the surface – what the entire city, including news media, will soon be talking about. By visiting the Christmas market, you'll be among the first to immerse yourself in both the festive atmosphere and the hottest food trends.
We reached our target audience through Meta channels, as in previous years, and also began producing TikTok content. We started publishing teaser content right after the Halloween festivities. Halloween is over, let the Christmas spirit begin! – this message garnered significant interest and made St. Thomas Market's social media explode already in November.
The primary goal of St. Thomas Market's social media was to inspire and create new trends for Christmas enthusiasts and the social media community. On the Trail of the Next Hit Food – in this content series, we hunted for the undisputed food hit of 2025. Simultaneously, we showcased and tested the Christmas market's diverse food offerings in an enticing way, creating an irresistible urge to taste the delicacies firsthand.
We also highlighted the people behind the hit foods, the Finnish Christmas atmosphere, and innovative gift ideas. We introduced market employees and shared genuinely useful tips with our target audience for finding the best Christmas presents.
St. Thomas Market's social media successfully enticed people to experience the latest hit foods firsthand – regardless of queues or weather. On the trail of the next hit dish -the name naturally became a part of the organic content created by market-goers.
The Tuomaan Markkinat also garnered significant media coverage, including international news media CNN reported on the Tuomaan Markkinat once again as one of the world's best Christmas markets.
→ over 2 million organic impressions on Instagram
→ 29,308 engagements on Meta (November-December)
→ over 2,700 shares on TikTok
→ over 16,000 engagements on TikTok
It was great to continue and develop our collaboration with a familiar team – it's incredibly valuable when work is also enjoyable to do together. This year, our deepening collaboration was particularly evident in the refinement of our communication tone, the impact of our content, and bold trend-setting. We successfully transformed last year's 'porridge war' into a positive quest for a hit dish, which activated both vendors and visitors to enjoy and talk about Christmas delicacies. When participants are social media-oriented, marketing becomes an organic part of the market experience. This was evidenced by extensive media attention and a record audience, who flocked to Tuomaan Markkinat to shop and indulge.
