Helsinki City tourism brand
In autumn 2005 the Helsinki City Tourist & Convention Bureau introduced a project to create a unique tourism brand for Helsinki. According to feedback from foreign markets in response to an image survey, Helsinki was found to compete particularly with other Nordic capitals, as well as with Tallinn and St. Petersburg. Within Finland, Helsinki was felt to be unique and did not face much competition. We sought a brand that would serve better as an operating model and that would be more sustainable in terms of international marketing. Helsinki’s tourism brand was approved in spring 2007 as part of the Finnish tourism brand (the 4 C’s) adopted by VisitFinland.
Helsinki’s tourism brand is based on three types of customer-centred brand equity.
Brand equity 1
The first form of brand equity is related to service products and their characteristics. These emphasise Helsinki’s position as the capital city of Finland, its Arctic location on the Baltic Sea coast, and its cultural location where Eastern exotica meets Scandinavian chic. The following elements are related to the last of these in Helsinki’s tourism image:
- Archipelago and Baltic Sea, Suomenlinna, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Design, especially the Design District as an ideal destination for visitors interested in design
- Architecture, especially the Neoclassical city centre, Jugend/Art Nouveau districts and buildings by legendary Finnish designer and architect Alvar Aalto
- Green, park-like city, cleanliness, public transportation
- Events (thousands of different cultural and sport events throughout the year)
- Finnish cuisine, HelsinkiMenu restaurants
- Pocket-sized city, everything within walking distance of each other
- Helsinki Cathedral, the most visible symbol of the city’s image
Brand equity 2
The second important brand element is related to Helsinki’s residents and service culture, which highlight the safe nature of the city for visitors. Helsinki’s tourism infrastructure is internationally competitive. Finland’s service culture includes an excellent grasp of languages. This could be considered emotionally based brand equity. Finnish service is friendly and efficient.
Brand equity 3
The third brand dimension is also related to Helsinki residents. This social brand equity involves such factors as a flat hierarchy and the fact that Helsinki residents are easy to approach. The service sector includes both male and female workers. Many companies have implemented national and international quality programmes.