Project : Brand New Helsinki

Interviews throughout the city

The Helsinki story was tested around the city over a period of six weeks. Brand project employees and an eight-person international team of students met the young and the elderly, tourists and developers, and random passers-by. We gathered over 400 personal interviews. At the Kamppi and Itis shopping centres, many people stopped by to test…

Young people given a voice at RuutiExpo

RuutiExpo, a young people’s social participation event, was held in Helsinki City Hall in November. Thousands of young people met with city officials, decision-makers, organisation representatives and politicians. Organised for the fifth time, RuutiExpo is an event where ideas and initiatives by young people are heard. We attended to listen to feedback from young people…

Draft Helsinki stories

People have a million opinions on Helsinki – or do they? Almost five months of broad qualitative research have been completed as part of the Helsinki brand project. This included a survey of Helsinki’s strengths and weaknesses and its near-term prospects. A large number of studies, personal interviews, experience mapping with focus groups, competitor analyses…

Summaries of survey phase

Helsinki Brand Project has included five months of extensive qualitative research with a survey of Helsinki’s strengths and weaknesses and its near-term prospects. A large number of surveys, personal interviews, experience mapping with focus groups, competitor analyses and theme-generating workshops formed the content of the research. A couple of hundred city people participated in mapping…

Finland, an education superpower

An exchange at noon in a New York pub: “So, you’re from Helsinki? I’ve heard that you have the best education in Europe.” “The best in the world.” “No, Europe.” “No, really, the world.” Our American friends had strong opinions about Finland. These are perhaps based on their Finnish and Norwegian forefathers: one claimed that…

A blender of human activity

In workshops during the autumn, participants have given thought to what differentiates Helsinki from other cities. Around a hundred residents – from various professional backgrounds – of our energetic, thriving and multicultural city participated. They included entrepreneurs, public servants, managing directors and students; but most of all city people. We came up with answers to…

One Helsinki

The Brand Building Steering Group includes opinion formers from the City’s agencies and partner organisations. Many members want to see ‘One Helsinki’ and a new, more unified operational culture emerge as a result of brand building. ‘One Helsinki’ does not mean a uniform culture – just the opposite. Multiculturalism needs to be turned into an asset…

“A cool port city and over-regulated small town”

Kuudes Kerros, the City of Helsinki’s partner in the brand project, has conducted interviews to explore opinion-formers’ views of Helsinki now and the city’s future directions. The results were no surprise on this occasion. Everyone familiar with the city mentions the same positive and negative aspects. Helsinki is a cool port city, but also an…

“Low temperatures are a draw for data centres” And life draws people

During the summer a huge number of studies on Helsinki, ranging from tourism to land development, were analysed. A new study explored Helsinki’s image among young people in 10 countries. It was startling to note how little was known about the city, even in its neighbouring regions. The key impressions among Swedish youths can be…

Money and love

The brand project began in June 2015 and will end in March 2016. It is a work in progress on a continuously open basis. You can follow Helsinki’s brand building in real time through our blog. An extensive background study was performed during the summer on Helsinki’s current situation and international reputation. It involved…