Summary: Introducing Estonia in 2018
In 2018, the messages and materials of the Estonian brand were used at more than 100 events over the world, and websites introducing our country were visited almost 6 million times. Various campaigns reached more than 100 million people.
Among the participated events were 32 international trade fairs, where more than 200 Estonian companies introduced their products or services. In addition to trade fairs, unified visual language and messages were used in conferences, high-level visits, contact events and receptions.
“Companies and establishments do not need to create a separate design for their campaign from scratch due to agreed upon messages, visual language and prepared materials; instead we have an existing strong and unified foundation. Thus our activities in introducing Estonia are more cost-effective and have a larger impact,” explained Elina Vilja, Head of Marketing of Enterprise Estonia.
According to Vilja, a clear and positive image of the country benefits us all. “This helps to be more successful in selling Estonian products and services abroad, as well as attract more tourists, students and talents. In addition to economy, the image affects the importance of the country in the world, or in other words, helps to ensure our security,” said Vilja.
In 2018, brand.estonia.ee, a service environment that assembles materials introducing Estonia, had almost 45,000 unique visitors and the total number of registered users increased by 3,370. The number of times the materials were download increased by 61% in a year and reached almost 20,000. As a result of collaboration between various parties, 557 new materials were added to the toolbox, and the users were, for example, the Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia, ministries, professional associations and many others.
According to Doris Põld, Manager of the Information and Communications Technology Cluster, they utilise consistently the messages and visual identity of the Estonian brand in order to introduce and sell e-solutions of Estonian companies abroad. “The keyword here is cooperation because we are too small to be able to separately develop and market a brand of our own. By using unified materials, we ensure that the public sector tells the story of IT companies as well – thus we amplify messages that are important for us,” said Põld.
According to Sirje Potisepp, Head of the Estonian Food Industry Association, the food industries use the Estonian brand and messages in joint panels in international trade fairs as well as at the level of companies and professional associations when introducing Estonia to potential cooperation partners. “Estonia is little known in the world and we believe that it is very important to use unified messages not only in the food sector but also in other sectors, as well as more by the country as a whole. It is us who need to make ourselves visible and larger, and the country has a strong role in this,” she added.
“Several countries like Denmark, Netherlands and even Aruba have shown interest in us, and the Estonian brand was given the City Nation Place Global “Best Use of Design” reward in a world-leading location-based marketing conference that took place in London,” said Vilja.
“Since 2018, many Estonians have a piece of our brand in their wallet. Namely, the new design of ID cards and digital identification documents use the design features of the Estonian brand,” said Vilja.
At the beginning of 2017, Enterprise Estonia introduced updated principles, presentation templates, graphics, photo library and a unique typeface Aino to the public.
A detailed summary of introducing Estonia in 2018: https://brand.estonia.ee/2018-summary/