Some excerpts from this document, related to Finland’s branding:
Finland is recognised as one of the world’s most competitive economies with high standard of living and well being. Finland is a success story which is attractive to the world, but this is not enough. Finland must tell this story to the world in an interesting and explicit manner.
The story of Finland must reflect both the history and the future. This would be important not only for other nations but the Finns themselves. The story tells how Finland as a small country survives in the global world; and crystallizes the Finnish mind-set and self-belief. Finns must ask themselves: What is it about ourselves that we believe, strong enough to carry on to the future? How can we inspire ourselves and the world?
The self-analysis in the Finnish strategy work has taken place only on the level of competence, not on the deeper level of identity or values. In Finland there is a clear need for creating a process of self identification starting with genuine values, leading to the new national self-image, and ending up to goal-oriented branding of Finland.
What are the basic values that make Finland different from other nations? Values are the basic framework for action that includes a twofold challenge for Finland. First, Finns need to recognize their own specific national values, and second, they must learn to better recognize the values of the other nations. The new arenas for global possibilities cannot be recognized and found without the recognition of these value frames. The posture of Finland as a “cultural island”, key to her success, needs to be recognized, better understood and further exploited.
Currently the conscious branding of Finland is not made by any agency. The corner stones of the Finnish brand could be, for example, Nature, Technology, and Culture (e.g. Finnish design). These are presently identified clearly enough. The existing strengths are the ones that can and must be improved. Besides branding, Finland needs to project its image outside, in order to be recognised by other nations and citizens in the world. Projection of the country’s image is clearly related to how the new path for development will be defined.
