Toast 20-year Chronicle
28.10.2021 09:08
Toast was born in the fall of 2001 on the ruins of For Oy by a group of enthusiastic post-production men who had become unemployed. Professional skills had been developed in the basement of MTV3 (commercial tv-channel) with hundreds of spots, TV programs, and videos. The new operating methods and technical expertise of the creators were top-notch at the time. The core group, Sami Käyhkö, Jari Turunen, Kari Mankinen, Jari Vuoristo, Juha-Matti Aho, and Vesa Vinni decided to continue operations under the name of a new company. Additionally, they were joined by Maarika Suopanki, a production manager well-versed in the advertising industry. Equipment was leased from MTV3 and a business plan was created. Work for the team came automatically from familiar directors and companies. The first jobs for Toast were MTV3’s new screen identity and Kummeli’s comedy drama tv-series “Jurismia”. With those and several spot jobs, the company got off to a swift start.
To make the business profitable, we soon realized that we also needed a professional and quality partner. We got just that in Mika Sylvin’s Vulcan Films, which became a significant shareholder and brought in a pile of spot work. Back then, Vulcan was led by Mika and others like Osmo Walden, Marko Antila, Mikko Pitkänen, and Imppu Tiirikainen.
The problem was the new company’s name, which we couldn’t come up with at all. Finally, Vulcan’s director Mikko Pitkänen waved an A4 with a printed yellow toast on it, and he also had another paper with the word “Post.”
Toast Post Production Oy Ltd was born.
THE ERA OF LÖNNROTINKATU
It soon became clear from the MTV3’s basement that Toast Post needed premises in the center of Helsinki, and the approximately 230 square meters suitable for operations were found from the courtyard of Lönnrotinkatu 28. In the end, there were four editing units and one audio unit. The effects main device was a refrigerator-sized Inferno. We moved to Lönnrotinkatu in the winter of 2002 and celebrated the opening in the autumn of 2002.
In the early days of advertising production, we were able to utilize our talents in all areas of post, the only thing we were not yet able to offer at that time of film was color grading.
The advertisements and their designers at the beginning of the 2000s were bold. Our partner Vulcan Films was also in great form at that time. Toast got to produce advertising for all Finland’s largest brands. Especially, the competition between mobile phone operators was fierce. The most intense moments in our premises were when we were producing advertisements for three phone operators in different editing rooms at the same time.
In 2003, Motel Royal replaced Vulcan Films, and the operations were joined by, among others, Rane Tiukkanen and Ykä Nieminen from B-Rappu. This was the golden age of legendary advertising campaigns. DNA’s “Life is” and McDonald’s “Eat Chicken” slogans became familiar to the entire nation. Motel Royal was also selected as the production company of the year in 2005-2007 and 2009. (Satu ry) During those years, Toast was extensively visited by the top names of Finnish advertising agencies, including from PHS, Taivas, and Bob Helsinki. The Toast family continued to grow when Veikko Ruuskanen, Tommi Rehn, and Karo Broman joined the company.
As an interesting side note from those times, it’s worth mentioning a side branch of Toast’s business, the authoring of DVD discs. Toast, along with Spinefarm and Ewo Rytkönen, got to produce DVDs for Nightwish, Children of Bodom, TikTak, Aknestik, and Children of Bodom, which sold thousands of copies worldwide.
Toast moved to larger premises at Lönnrotinkatu 32 in the spring of 2008 due to the housing company’s renovation, with Anki Nikula starting as a new production manager. We also strengthened our expertise in the 3D and effects field. The new recruits to Veskun’s team included Rodrigo Paiva and Felipe Bauer from Brazil. Stefan Lindfors designed paintings and interior decor for the corridors of the old bicycle courier premises that was now Toast. The 450 square meters of premises at Lönnrotinkatu housed 12 units. The rise of the advertising industry was strong until the stock market crashed in the autumn of 2008. Unfortunately, at that time, we had to lay off 4 of the company’s new recruits. The era of big advertising gigs was temporarily over. At the same time, Sami Käyhkö and Jussi Aho detached from Toast to their own company, Craneworks.
In 2010, Toast invested in its first color grading unit and a high-quality videoprojector on Lönnrotinkatu. Color grading became a significant new area of expertise under the leadership of Veikko Ruuskanen. We have been among the first companies in Finland where digital material replacing film has been processed. The first experiments with RED material at Toast were already done in 2008. With color grading, we acquired new clients and, for example, Kennel Helsinki extensively used our services.
Elina Hyppönen started at Toast as a producer in 2011. Also, around the same time, Jukka Åkerman joined our sound design team.
In 2011, Toast’s 10th anniversary was also celebrated at Lönnrotinkatu.
THE MOVE TO MERIKORTTELI
Motel Royal ceased operations in 2014. From this point, we can mark the beginning of the disruption in television advertising for Toast as well. The competition for advertising euros was intense with new production companies and production methods. The digital delivery of cinema advertising to Finnkino also ended at Toast in 2015. As a result, Kari Mankinen, Jari Turunen, and Veikko Ruuskanen remained as the owners of the company. Jari Vuoristo continued to his own ventures. In the same transition, we had to move to new premises, this time to Merikortteli, because the Lönnrotinkatu facilities were once again converted into apartments.
In Merikortteli, we renovated, among other things, two color grading units and also got excellent facilities for our operations. We also feel that we came closer to the core of the advertising world near the advertising agencies. Our favorite partner, Popular Oy, also moved with us to our premises. The collaboration with Piia Kankare has been very rewarding. (popular.fi) Popular provides voice over talents and models for filming.
Since 2015, we have also grown our business more in television programs, documentary films, and drama.
The latest addition is Antti Peltoranta’s arrival at Toast. With Antti, we added the Syke drama series to our portfolio and gained a great experience for our team.
The AV industry is in constant change, and it has been wonderful to follow the development of technology and productions. Toast has also remained at the forefront of post-production, closely monitoring changes in the industry. We believe that our operations will carry us far into the future, hopefully at least to the next 20 years.
We would like to thank our staff, partners, and clients for the past years. Without you, we wouldn’t be here.
Raise a Toast!
– Kari Mankinen, Jari Turunen
The following people were employed at Toast during 2001 – 2021
Maarika Suopanki, Jari Turunen, Sami Käyhkö, Jari Vuoristo, Kari Mankinen, Juha-Matti Aho, Vesa Vinni, Tommi Rehn, Kari Pennanen, Teija-Liisa Paananen, Essi Tuukkanen, Veikko Ruuskanen, Karo Broman, Anki Nikula, Rodrigo Paiva, Felipe Bauer, Mikko Pesonen, Hanna-Leena Kartano, Jani Teräväinen, Jaako Stenius, Jukka Åkerman, Elina Hyppönen, Petja Salmio and Antti Peltoranta.