Mikko Lehtinen is an award-winning film director, born in 1975 in Lahti, Finland. Mikko studied marketing, acting and theatre & cultural history. Mikko started as a production assistant on MTV3 TV-channel and several feature films. After a few years, he moved away from production to directing adverts where he has stayed to this day.

As a director, he has shot over 500 commercials around the world including New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Nairobi, Paris, London, Cape Town, Bangkok, Hamburg, Prague, Dubai, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago De Chile, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, Helsinki and Ljubljana amongst many others. He has worked for numerous international brands including Ikea, Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Tesco, Volkswagen, Virgin Mobile, Puma, Sprite, Milka, Vodafone, Finnair, Kinder, Sberbank, Samsung, Yandex, Dr. Oetker, T-Mobile, Nokia, Land Rover, Samsung, Emirates Airlines, and The Guardian newspaper.

Mikko has been a partner and founder of several film production companies including Also Starring Helsinki, Tantrum Productions London and Sauna International London.

He was also the managing director of Flow d.o.o. - responsible for producing the Flow Festival Ljubljana. Currently, Mikko is represented worldwide by  Hamburg, Aylene Gardiner Agency Milan, Grillifilms Helsinki and Trinity Munich. Mikko is the most awarded commercial director hailing from Finland and has won the prestigious Cannes Gold Lion. Other awards include Effie Grand Prix, Gold and Silver at Montreux, Gold and two Silvers at New York Festivals, Bronze Arrow and 2 finalist diplomas at British Television Advertising Awards, numerous Cannes Finalist nominations, several Red Apples, Golden Drum Grand Prix, Gold and Silver, Grand Prix at Voitto (The most respected Finnish advertising award) and two D&AD diplomas.