Author Archives: Julian Stubbs

More fury, which isn’t exactly a core Scandinavian trait, has broken out again over Stockholm as The Capital of Scandinavia. Headlines in national newspapers across Scandinavia have appeared raising the debate once more. This time the Norwegians have accused the Swedes of being too ‘kaxig’ a Swedish word that means arrogant. Exciting stuff. Well I hate to break it to them but it was an Englishman who actually helped the Swedes become a little more ‘kaxig’. I was heading a small team that was responsible for developing the positioning back in 2005, so it’s rather interesting that it’s taken the Norwegians seven years to actually get worked up about it. Apparently this all came to a head a week or so ago down at MIPIM, the very large real estate conference held every year in Cannes in the south of France, where the Norwegians registered their un-happiness about it. Most real estate events tend to be accompanied by vast quantities of free food and drink, so I can imagine that after a few glasses of chilled bubbly and heated discussions, a food fight broke out and the herring started to fly. Now that would be one smelly food fight. When we originally developed The Capital of Scandinavia work, the Danes were not exactly over the moon about it either. I had a Danish radio show ring me up and they wanted a comment. They asked me if we shouldn’t have asked permission first of Copenhagen before launching the campaign. I replied that that would be rather similar to Pepsi calling up Coke to ask permission to run an advertising campaign. Probably wouldn’t happen would it. However, I was told sometime later by a good friend, who happens to be a Dane, that the Danish unhappiness with The Capital of Scandinavia positioning had more to do with the fact that the Danes hadn’t thought of it first. But the truth is, even if they had, they couldn’t have used it even if they had wanted to. Copenhagen, fine city though it is (and the Danes do make the best bread on earth), would just not cut it as the true Scandinavian capital. Nor would Oslo which, despite being a place I really love visiting, feels more like a large friendly town than a major city. However, when in Oslo recently I did manage to buy the most expensive round of drinks I’d ever bought. The cost was more like the deposit on a small apartment. Stockholm is the natural centre point of Scandinavia. It’s the most dynamic business region, culturally the most vibrant and geographically at the very heart of Scandinavia. Now here I have to apologise to the Finns – sorry Finland – but most of the rest of the world includes you in Scandinavia even if technically it should be defined as the Nordic region. Check any large international tourism website and it normally includes Finland in Scandinavia. Simply put Stockholm has taken a positioning that it can rightly own. This isn’t to be confused with developing a simple slogan or tagline. A good tagline is just the creative execution that gets the core idea across based on a strong and viable positioning. BMW has claimed to be The Ultimate Driving Machine for over 35 years (being consistent and persistent in branding counts). It’s not just a slogan. It’s the creative expression of their focus on a single aspect, even a single word, when it comes to the BMW brand. Driving. If you want a real drivers car, that’s what Beemers are all about. It’s a positioning that’s helped build one of the most powerful car brands in the world. Now we all know Scandinavia is not a country – so Stockholm as The Capital of Scandinavia is a hypothetical situation in reality. However Stockholm is the most important place for business and tourism in Scandinavia – full stop. It’s a strong and clear positioning statement. Part of the function of a good positioning is to stake out a territory that you can rightly claim as your own. To do that you need to make a clear statement. Producing wishy washy bland generalisations just isn’t going to cut it. In doing this you will also probably tread on the toes of a few competitors and get them excited. Are Copenhagen and Oslo competitors? Of course they are in many respects when it comes to tourism and inward investment. However they are also close and important partners in the Scandinavian region as well and by working together they can help grow and advance the entire region. As for being kaxig, or arrogant, that is something I wouldn’t advocate. However being confident is right and Swedes can sometimes be a bit too modest for their own good, so I’m proud of the fact that an Englishman has helped them stand out a little more. Personally I’m just a bit worried that the next time I visit Norway they might not let me in. P.S. If you want to read more about the branding of Stockholm and destinations my book Wish You Were Here goes into more detail. Available at the sites below: Swedish book site Firmaboken www.firmaboken.se/art-1.asp?id=3169 On Amazon USA http://www.amazon.com/Wish-You-Were-Here-Destinations/dp/1456414232/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332058957&sr=1-2 Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Order Windows 7 Ultimate Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Sale Windows 7 Ultimate Cheap Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Buy Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Order Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Buy Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Buy Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus

One of the most important elements in the building of any Destination Brand is the engagement of the people who actually live there. Seeking their advice and input, and ultimately helping them feel proud about where they live, is paramount. In the arrivals area at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, the hall of fame presents some famous Stockholmers. It’s very much about building local pride and involvement, as well as promoting Stockholm to its visitors. It gains great attention and utilises space in a valuable way to help build the Stockholm brand. (Extract from Julian Stubbs book Wish You Were Here. The Branding of Stockholm & Destinations.) Sale Windows 7 Ultimate Discount Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Order Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Buy Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Sale Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Sale Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Cheap Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus

It’s increasingly obvious that the world needs to change and change quickly and radically. It needs to find new ways to work and new ways to do business. Five years ago I used to spend at least three hours a day in a car, driving around 120 kilometers (70 miles) a day to and from work. I’d sit in an office with around 50 other people all of whom had made similar journey’s to ‘the office’ by one mode of transport or other and had consumed energy, in one form or another, doing so. In a typical day I would truly interact with no more than four or five people, and then have to face the commute home again, to arrive home late, tired and not particularly happy. Something needed to change in my own life. As individuals, we all need to consider the impact humankind is having on our world and start to re-balance the effects of two hundred years of industrialization. We have to be realistic however, and appreciate the very real and positive benefits of globalization, economic growth and development. We can’t turn the clock back. We just think there has to be a better way to work and that part of the answer lies in the digital world. Mankind has always found solutions to major problems by his own ingenuity. The digital revolution has impacted how we all interact and work, and it’s making things possible now that weren’t just a few years ago. Similarly companies and brands today need to think about their wider role in society if they wish to build a truly sustainable business. Brand building is about reputation and that must be built on something substantive and real that goes to the very roots of the business and is not just the responsibility of the communications department. So in June 2010 we had an idea. We asked ourselves if it would be possible to create a completely new type of organization for delivering strategic and creative services using cloud based technologies? We know that using today’s technologies, we are capable of delivering an ever-higher standard of service, with enhanced flexibility from experts whose goals are to deliver results. That’s the simple idea behind *UP There, Everywhere and it’s one of the things that makes us totally unique. It is a completely new way of working. The dream of teams of people working remotely has been around a while, but only now is that dream becoming a reality. Our connected-community approach is helping shape this totally new way of working. Our mission is to help change the way the world works. That’s a big mission we know, but one we believe we can achieve. Our clients include the world’s leading scientific journal, Science, based in Washington DC. The Nobel Peace Prize Concert, in Olso Norway, and Airport City Stockholm, a major development focused on sustainability and the promotion of cleantech industries. Maybe it’s time you looked us UP*. www.upthereeverywhere.com Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Order Windows 7 Ultimate Discount Cheap Windows 7 Ultimate Sale Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Cheap Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Cheap Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Cheap Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Cheap Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus

Article from LÄNSTIDNINGEN January 14th 2012, on an Åre / Östersund Olympic bid. Sale Windows 7 Ultimate Order Windows 7 Ultimate Discount Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Cheap Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Buy Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Discount Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Buy Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Buy Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus

This years joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize gave three powerful lectures yesterday in the impressive setting of Oslo City Hall. It was a moment in history and I was fortunate enough to be there and witness it in person. This year’s award was won jointly by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee, the Liberian peace activist, and Yemeni pro-democracy campaigner Tawakkol Karman. They were recognised for their “non-violent struggle” for women’s safety and for women’s rights to participate in peace-building work. I felt however that there was a fourth woman present on the stage. A woman who represents all woman on earth who have suffered through domestic and international conflicts. That for me was the significance of the prize this year being given to these three courageous woman. UP* & The Nobel Peace Prize Concert I was there because *UP There, Everywhere has been working with the Nobel Peace Prize Concert since March this year. We have developed a new graphic identity for the concert as well as a website with social media interface for this globally televised event. The Nobel Peace Prize Concert is one of the world’s great events and the opportunity to work on such a prestigious project and play a small part is without doubt a highlight for us at UP*. I’ve spent the last six months going over to Oslo at regular intervals and heading UP our international team, which has been based in Scandinavia and the US, who have worked on the new identity. The new logotype in black and red features the Gold Norwegian Nobel Peace medal. We had to work hard to maintain the heritage of Nobel, whilst creating an identity that’s appropriate for such a contemporary musical concert and celebration. The new website (www.nobelpeaceprizeconcert.org) reflects the new re-designed brand image of the Nobel Peace Prize Concert and presents an updated, modern public face for this annual contemporary music concert. The new site incorporates interactive features such as videos and social media sharing options, with Facebook and You Tube, that were not part of the previous site as well as working on the SEO. For more information about *UP There, Everywhere visit www.upthereeverywhere.com. UP* can also be found on Facebook at UpThereEverywhere, Twitter at @UP_For_It  and Linked In: www.linkedin.com/company/up-there-everywhere.  Read more about the where the name *UP There, Everywhere originated on the web site’s blog “Being Different. Want to see what makes UP* truly different from other advertising agencies- even international ones? Watch the film. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZVyiSw4Sng Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Discount Sale Windows 7 Ultimate Buy Windows 7 Ultimate Cheap Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection Cheap Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Sale Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus Cheap Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus