One year after the invasion began, Brand Ukraine launched a new campaign - #WhatWeAreFightingFor – which gave Ukrainian citizens the opportunity to share the reasons they kept fighting for their homeland. We reached out to Maria Lypiatska, Head of Brand Ukraine, to discover how the team are leveraging strong, authentic communication in the face of adversity, and how they’re giving a voice to more than 40 million Ukrainians.

The place branding strategy of Eindhoven is a long term project: to serve the community of Eindhoven and to raise self-esteem of the inhabitants as well as creating economic value and make local society future proof. But how have they achieved this?

The Brixton X Harlem festival reached across continents to celebrate shared stories and weave together the rich tapestries of two iconic neighbourhoods that are deeply rooted in the African and Caribbean diaspora. We sat down with Gianluca Rizzo, Managing Director, and Jessica Dyer, Cultural Manager at Brixton BID, to understand how they put community at the heart of this placemaking initiative and what it took to make the twinning partnership successful.

When the headlines broke that Meta and Twitter were laying off huge swathes of their staff, Go Vilnius launched an opportunistic, guerilla marketing campaign to tempt people into moving to the city. Pija Ona Indriūnaitė, Head of Marketing for Go Vilnius, shares what inspired the strategy and what it means for the future of Vilnius as a Tech Hub.

The Dutch city of Leiden is steeped in history – and is home to the country’s oldest university, founded in 1574. Fast forward some five hundred years, the city is leaning into its long heritage of scientific innovation to create an impactful place brand strategy that is engaging residents, businesses, and government alike in celebrating their proud history.

#WhatWeAreFightingFor showed the world over 600,000 reasons to fight, presenting each region of Ukraine to the world and explaining why each square kilometre of their land is essential.

Learn about Ukraine's Award entry for Best Communication Strategy: Place Brand

After lockdown, Madeira Promotion Bureau took the opportunity to rethink their strategy and adapt their offer to the new and constantly evolving demands of a post-pandemic world. Discover how their place brand provided the foundation for the success of their strategy.

The rapid development of new technologies like generative AI and virtual reality are fundamentally altering the ways that we live, work, and play. But what role do they play in the future of place branding and place marketing?

New York has its ‘Empire State of Mind’ – what is the Eindhoven equivalent? So in 2021, Eindhoven went in search of a musical tribute to the city through a community project to give local music makers a prominent stage.

In June 2023, Brussels launched their new international city brand to address the fragmentation of their international reputation. visit.brussels' Annemie Verschueren explains how they developed and launched a place brand that shows Brussels as perfectly imperfect and how they’re working with residents and stakeholders to tell the story of Brussels with one voice.

If you want to use an event to create a longer-lasting legacy, you have to be strategic. Tampere's Iina Ojala explores how they built on being named hosts of the 2022 IIHG Ice Hockey World Championship to build civic pride and engage the community in their place marketing and branding.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova saw thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing across their border. As a former Soviet republic, the country was facing a communication crisis. Invest Moldova's Irina Tolstousov explains how they launched the 'Moldova for Peace' campaign and what this means for their citizen engagement and soft power one year on.

Finland is recognised worldwide as a leader in education, equality, and democratic freedoms. But what factors contribute to the international renown of Finland's nation brand? And what can other nation brands learn from Finland's success?

By engaging with stakeholders from the local private sector, investment promotion efforts can orchestrate success and compose a prosperous future for the region. Switzerland Global Enterprise's Sirpa Tsimal shares what makes Switzerland's collaboration with their private sector so successful.