Challenge: Brand for the whole of Lapland

In 2022, House of Lapland, the region’s shared marketing company, closed down. Too few parts of Lapland felt it spoke of and for them. The image abroad is both strong and narrow: Santa, snow, huskies, northern lights. Santa is true, but huskies are an imported species. Almost nobody sees the home it is to people, business and culture. Its industries, from natural resources to Arctic science, defence, tourism and arts and crafts, all compete for the same scarce thing: people who stay. In the far north lies Sápmi, homeland of the Sámi, Europe’s only recognised Indigenous people, whose ancient culture spans borders between Arctic countries. With a history of their culture being used as an exotic addition to Lapland marketing, they had the strongest reasons for caution. A decade-old brand built for tourism could not carry all that. Before Lapland could persuade anyone to move in, its brand had to ring true to the 175,000 already there.

Approach: Showing up for all of Lapland

Over late autumn and winter, we took to the road to visit every one of the six sub-regions with our client – from industrial centres, to major towns and tiny villages. The weather was sub-zero, daylight lasted mere moments, if at all. It’s called kaamos and means that the sun stays away, in some places for up to two months. But then the flipside is the Northern Lights, which really blow your mind against a black sky. The citizens and stakeholders took part in workshops, interviews and validations everywhere. For those preferring a less demanding option, we offered an open online survey, which attracted almost 1,200 participants despite its many questions. We took notes, we gathered, we analysed, we translated feelings and got to work crystallising it all into a rather comprehensive brand strategy. We bravely opened the draft strategy up to challenge: six validation sessions, three iteration rounds, two weeks of open online commenting, and a public event and display in the town of Posio.

Outcome: Heart on Lapland’s (parka) sleeve

What changes in practice? More people, more voices, more of the everyday in Lapland. Less of a winter postcard, more of a letter – about life, land, work and culture. The brand identity follows the same idea: colours drawn from Lapland’s nature, a symbol shaped by the landscape and its creatures, photography closer to people and everyday life, and a voice that is spirited, unhurried and full of care.

The story is also for anyone thinking about building a life in Lapland. The positioning comes with a condition: “We are the land of the spirited – creating the new without forgetting what is already here.” Lapland’s four defining forces explain what makes life there different: nature as the interface to everyday life; being close to what matters in life; more action than words; and the depth and power of cultures. All came from the hearts and minds of the people of Lapland. Unsurprisingly, the descriptions have hit hard and even moved people to tears.

The biggest brand and communications architecture we’ve ever devised, a 12-vertical system for messaging about all the things Lapland has to offer, was distilled from all those workshop walls, with everyday life as one vertical and Sámi culture having its own. Individual voices made it into headlines with the perfect tonality, like “Come back when you have time” or “You can expect unconventional initiatives from Lapland”. Like this one.

Learning: Engagement pays off… in the end

Engagement is a tricky trick. We learnt this through the heel – the Finnish way of saying “the hard way”. Different ways work for different people, but levelling the playing field is the first step. Every session began with a crash course in the art of branding. Then there’s the readiness to change things on the go. Tidy answers were a wake-up call, prompting us to rework the exercises until feelings started to show and be heard. And every voice matters. When two people turned up for a workshop at −40°C, we ran it. The payoff for all this endurance came when the strategy and slogan reached decision-makers – they had already been road-tested. Many difficult conversations had happened, and everyone was ready to move onwards.

Impact: Pride and joy

The launch is behind us, and the few tears (of joy and pride) and many messages tell us we’ve captured something deeper than a pretty surface. The brand is starting its journey to come alive and be well and truly experienced. Every steering group member is now an ambassador. A genuinely shared Lapland brand was deemed impossible. Today its owners carry it forward together. We love it.