Huhh… Where to begin? There are not many agencies in the world who could claim that they have branded a whole nation. FutureBrand, InterBrand and… us. ;-) Ok, there are more, but not many.
When it comes to branding a region the problems are usually not very simple. There are hundreds and thousands of different opinions and experiences and goals and facts and wishes to handle. Fortunately Estonia had a decade of track behind working with InterBrand and ASHA to analyze the data. The branding team has to be very delicate about everything they say or do. But being delicate is not a very good attitude to be different and outstanding (unless you are so delicate that it becomes an icon).
When we got involved, we started by defining the cornerstones of Estonia – the synthesis of previously collected data and opinions from different inputs.
Branding is not about logos or funny pictures. It’s more about attitude and the way people feel. Deeper insight makes better understanding and understanding is what a nation needs. Not just smart ads and endless promotion. At least this is what we think. Country brand on one hand is the actual experience (direct by visiting or indirect through visual) and on the other hand it’s a system how a country should talk about itself and what are the most important things.
Estonia is “Positively Surprising” by all means.
The positioning was a discovery of a very prominent work group of Estonia’s brightest heads lead by Cheltenham (UK) based branding firm ASHA (Mike Horn and Marksteen Adamson). The whole branding system is based on this positioning.
What does it mean?
We are not big nor we are well known in the world. But the people from all around the world who do know Estonia find it very interesting and much different (in a positive way) than they imagined it to be before visiting us. Estonia is a sort of a cross-road for different cultures and different interests through times.
We have been here 10 000 years which makes us one of the oldest nations in Europe but despite that we have always been very adaptive to different situations – starting from climate and ending with modern IT. We are a northern nation with surprisingly warm heart. If one goes deeper into our life he’ll find many contradictions that actually are completing each other and therefore making Estonia very rich in totally surprising contrasts. We are not exactly an extroverted nation but if you dare to take a closer look you’ll probably find something that is absolutely unique and engaging.
The system is best described in Brand Estonia Toolbox.
tutvustaeestit.eas.ee
The basic principles are explained in the brandbook and there are several other sub brandbooks that go into detail on different topics (tourism, internal branding, business and education). Everybody is most welcome to read and learn. The Toolbox is also about designing the communication. All branding elements, pictures and multimedia shows are there for the use of everybody (for free of course) who finds Brand Estonia useful and important thing for promoting his or her roots and home in everyday business or in life in general.
Everybody is very welcome to Estonia!
Here are some examples of materials that you will meet in the Brand Estonia Toolbox.
Brand Estonia brandbook (also available in English):
The brandbook for internal branding:
The brandbook for tourism:
Example of the use of the system:
Basically – just go to the Toolbox to discover the Brand Estonia. It’s worth of exploring.
Brand Estonia
categories: corporate identity graphic design
2009-03-09
Huhh… Where to begin? There are not many agencies in the world who could claim that they have branded a whole nation. FutureBrand, InterBrand and… us. ;-) Ok, there are more, but not many.
When it comes to branding a region the problems are usually not very simple. There are hundreds and thousands of different opinions and experiences and goals and facts and wishes to handle. Fortunately Estonia had a decade of track behind working with InterBrand and ASHA to analyze the data. The branding team has to be very delicate about everything they say or do. But being delicate is not a very good attitude to be different and outstanding (unless you are so delicate that it becomes an icon).
When we got involved, we started by defining the cornerstones of Estonia – the synthesis of previously collected data and opinions from different inputs.
Branding is not about logos or funny pictures. It’s more about attitude and the way people feel. Deeper insight makes better understanding and understanding is what a nation needs. Not just smart ads and endless promotion. At least this is what we think. Country brand on one hand is the actual experience (direct by visiting or indirect through visual) and on the other hand it’s a system how a country should talk about itself and what are the most important things.
Estonia is “Positively Surprising” by all means.
The positioning was a discovery of a very prominent work group of Estonia’s brightest heads lead by Cheltenham (UK) based branding firm ASHA (Mike Horn and Marksteen Adamson). The whole branding system is based on this positioning.
What does it mean?
We are not big nor we are well known in the world. But the people from all around the world who do know Estonia find it very interesting and much different (in a positive way) than they imagined it to be before visiting us. Estonia is a sort of a cross-road for different cultures and different interests through times.
We have been here 10 000 years which makes us one of the oldest nations in Europe but despite that we have always been very adaptive to different situations – starting from climate and ending with modern IT. We are a northern nation with surprisingly warm heart. If one goes deeper into our life he’ll find many contradictions that actually are completing each other and therefore making Estonia very rich in totally surprising contrasts. We are not exactly an extroverted nation but if you dare to take a closer look you’ll probably find something that is absolutely unique and engaging.
The system is best described in Brand Estonia Toolbox.
tutvustaeestit.eas.ee
The basic principles are explained in the brandbook and there are several other sub brandbooks that go into detail on different topics (tourism, internal branding, business and education). Everybody is most welcome to read and learn. The Toolbox is also about designing the communication. All branding elements, pictures and multimedia shows are there for the use of everybody (for free of course) who finds Brand Estonia useful and important thing for promoting his or her roots and home in everyday business or in life in general.
Everybody is very welcome to Estonia!
Here are some examples of materials that you will meet in the Brand Estonia Toolbox.
Brand Estonia brandbook (also available in English):
The brandbook for internal branding:
The brandbook for tourism:
Example of the use of the system:
Basically – just go to the Toolbox to discover the Brand Estonia. It’s worth of exploring.