The Finnish capital Helsinki is getting a boost with a new place branding. Reflecting Finland’s reputation as one of the world’s happiest countries, the new brand identity highlights the city’s open and welcoming atmosphere.
Helsinki is known for its balanced work culture, rich natural environment and traditional sauna culture. However, it has been somewhat lacking in attracting international visitors and talent. Helsinki Partners worked with Kallan&Co’s Helsinki Studio to integrate the city’s business, talent and visitor strategies and to rebrand the city.
The new place branding strategy is built around the vision of ‘Welcome to Your Happy Place’. As a city with a global reputation for sustainability, innovation and design, it is key to highlight the open and welcoming nature of Helsinki. Helsinki is also one of the first cities in the world to have appointed a Chief Design Officer.
The brand’s linguistic identity is built around friendly and relatable expressions. By avoiding exaggerated expressions and excluding common clichés used to describe cities, we are able to communicate more directly with a variety of audiences.
The visual identity has also been newly developed based on the existing brand. It reflects handwritten typography, warm and friendly colors, natural photo style, and simple yet cheerful illustration elements. A more concise design and dark mode color palette have been applied to business-related content.
Kallan&Co also implemented the new brand identity across Helsinki’s various digital platforms and social media. The MyHelsinki website was redesigned to become a unified platform for each of the key audiences: visitors, talent and businesses.
The brand launch campaign was filmed on location in Helsinki and features scenes of nature and diverse people in the city, highlighting the city’s “imperfect but real” appeal.
