In 2002 Marksteen Adamson (when global Creative Director of Interbrand), led the original branding work for Estonia resulting in the successful ‘Welcome to Estonia’ Campaign that helped Estonia’s pitch to become part of Europe.

In 2008 Enterprise Estonia approached Marksteen and the team at ASHA to continue the work and take the project to the next level of brand engagement, not only with the external audiences but also internally in Estonia.

ASHA began the process in 2008 with extensive analysis and a series of workshops in Estonia working with a mixed group of key business leaders, academics, government and tourist representatives. The result of this was two project streams; ‘Why Estonia’ and ‘Let’s Do It’.

Positively Surprising:
The ‘Why Estonia’ document was a summary of the analysis, and the ‘out take’ of the WHY ESTONIA workshops undertaken with the Enterprise Estonia team and industry experts, led by ASHA. The workshop set out to discover and explore what has changed in the last 6 years and to establish new and tangible projects that will help to build a more powerful brand over the next 6 years. One of the ideas developed from this process was to take the original positioning for Estonia ‘Positively Transforming’ and update it to ‘Positively Surprising’, which is more in line with where Estonia is today. It’s now much more about ‘being’ than ‘becoming’.

The ‘Let’s Do It’ publication set out to explore various brand building actions around the Estonian brand that would help to strengthen Estonia’s image, and leave a lasting and rewarding memory with those who visit the country, and those who live in it. It provides ideas that can be rolled out over the next 6 years.

As part of this analysis other key issues emerged, most notably the need for Estonians to relate to the project. It had been felt for some time that ‘Welcome to Estonia’ was entirely ‘outward’ focused, and has never truly been embraced internally by the Estonians.

The ‘Let’s do it’ document sets out to address these issues, but more importantly, gives clear guidance and practical solutions that will enable Estonia to start ‘Doing’ rather than simply ‘Saying’. The actions, ideas and projects in the document are meant as starting points to help shape the briefs that will eventually lead to projects that can happen in Estonia, working with Estonian entrepreneurs, creatives, industry leaders and government. The document serves to inspire and excite audiences internally and externally to the wonderful world of opportunities that lie ahead for Estonia and its brand perception and reputation. This is only the beginning. Welcome to Estonia.