Sweden Sweeps the Times with Rebrand

As a Svenska flicka (Swedish girl), I have always appreciated how Sweden has a culture that prides itself on being distinct from other European countries. So I was not surprised when Sweden recently announced that it was working on rebranding itself as a country. I mean hey, you can brand products, people and organizations—so why not brand an entire country! 

Sweden wanted to rebrand its image to increase awareness about its tourism, government, lifestyle, history, education system, traditions, culture and nature. This rebranding was centralized around revamping its website. The rebranding of Sweden’s website Sweden.se included:

• A new design, which focuses on image-based graphics
• Updated information
• More user-friendly features
• A responsive site that adapts to the device it’s being viewed on
• A custom designed font—Swedish Sans

According to the Swedish Institute (SI) website, they were the ones in charge of designing, producing, maintaining and operating the new website, in cooperation with Söderhavet and Fröjd Interactive. Sweden.se is a project within The Council for the Promotion of Sweden (NSU).

The website is also publicly funded with four organizations supporting it: the Swedish Institute, the Swedish Government Offices; including the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, Business Sweden and VisitSweden.

After navigating through the website, it was not only easy to use but also very visually stimulating. It has a blog-like structure where website viewers can click on a topic headline that then directs them to an in-depth article about the topic. Some of the topics include “10 Things That Make Sweden Family-Friendly,” “Eight Reasons Why Sweden Rocks” and “Classic Swedish Foods.”  

Sweden had the perfect idea to brand itself as a country, and it surely did it right. Sweden adapted the old-school, serious country and tourism website to a more innovative, informative hub. It serves as a great model for other countries to follow if they want to update their image.

Well done, Sweden! Or should I say, bra gjort sverige!