Why is the state providing tools for introducing Estonia?

Introducing the country using unified tools is cheaper and more effective for everybody. This is the reason why most developed countries from Sweden to New Zealand use a unified system to introduce themselves.

Government agencies, business and other organizations have to also introduce Estonia when marketing and selling outside Estonia. For example, at trade exhibitions, meeting foreign partners, on webpages and other marketing materials. It is important that the message communicated outside would be clear and unified – only then will it be remembered. A clear image will help both tourism and the sale of Estonian products.

Already since 2002 the government has through EAS provided materials to help introduce Estonia, for example photos, design solutions, and written success stories, with the goal of helping government institutions, businesses and organisations to introduce themselves and their country abroad.

In 2017 EAS presented the new tools for introducing Estonia, the presentations, designs, the photo bank and the Aino typeface. These tools are now widely used to introduce Estonia all over the world.

What has been done?

Before updating the existing design and materials, Estonian Design Team developed principles that would help to create unified solutions in future.

Also, a media bank was created containing over 600 photos, 50 videos, 8 presentations and over 180 graphic element ant illustrations.

The main facts about Estonia are made available and are constantly updated on the estonia.ee webpage.

Nine industry specific slogans have been developed.

2017 brand estonia

What use has been made of the materials?

Almost 70 institutions, organizations and businesses used the materials. Among them The Office of the President of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonian Ministry of Rural Affairs, Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs, Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Estonian Defence Industry Association, Estonian Furniture Industry Association, Port of Tallinn, Estonian Jazz Union, Estonian Connected Health cluster.

In 2017 our web pages had over 157 000 unique visits and the materials were downloaded 11 432 times.

At the beginning of the project the Estonian Design Team had a goal that the unified messages and visual language would be used by different sectors communicating outside Estonia: tourism (Visit Estonia), talents (Work in Estonia), education (Study in Estonia), business and e-residency. This goal has been achieved. In addition, the virtual and also physical gateways to Estonia have been updated.

2017 brand estonia examples

Using the tools, the following has been created:

The elements and different applications have been used at 33 different events:

  • sport (Simple Session, Otepää FIS World Cup, World Orienteering Championships)
  • culture (Weekend festival, Saaremaa Opera Days, Estonian Jazz Union concerts)
  • business (Estonian food PR events in Japan, China, Germany and Finland, which were conducted in collaboration between the Estonian Ministry of Rural Affairs and the Estonian food producers)
2017 brand estonia examples
2017 brand estonia examples

What has been the feedback?

We asked different users (designers, ministries, associations and clusters) to comment on their use and to point out what would need improvement.

Some of the positive feedback:

„The tools have been of great use of us – they’re flexible enough, substantial and helpful, supporting the story we wanted to tell through Estonian language. Thanks, and good luck!”

— Ave Habakuk, business developer, Lingvist

„I think the new branding created by EAS is cute, clean, Nordic, fresh, brave, philosophical and well-thought-out. The toolbox seems smart and good.”

— Tiia Nightingale, UN security council campaign coordinator, Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

„The imagery is a total favourite of mine. Very relatable and, well, authentic!”

— designer, Age McCann

„After updating our webpage, thanks to several contributing factors, the number of people turning from visitors to e-residency applicants has risen from 0.5% to 2.7%, this means that if we have 10 000 visitors a month, then before 50 of them would have applied for e-residency. Now the number is 270. In addition, our NPS score has risen from +37 to +49, the web page plays a big role in selling the service.”

— Silver Siniavski, product lead, e-Residency

 

In addition to the positive feedback we also received criticism and suggestions, how to develop the tools in the future:

“We would need a much larger selection of photos and videos for Estonian businesses and institutions and the material could have more emotional variety.”

“In presentations it should be identified when they have last been updated. There should also be a separate presentation about Estonian economy. Ideally the presentations would also be in German and French, as the Estonian diplomats usually give talks in the language of the destination country.”

2017 brand estonia examples

What is happening in 2018?

This year we are planning to make available photos on the following subjects: food, electronics and defence industry, transport and logistics, business environment, e-estonia, Estonian universities and technology development centres. We are also planning to produce videos to introduce the Estonian business environment.

The web pages will be updated according to the feedback we have received. EAS is planning on contacted workshops and seminars. If interested, do not hesitate to let us know at [email protected].

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