Estonia’s secret to nation branding success
For a country of less than 1.5 million, Estonia punches well above its weight with its nation branding initiatives. From developing innovative data tools that are widely adopted to finding fresh new angles to share their place narrative, Enterprise Estonia blew away the CNP Awards jury this year with their creative approach. We caught up with Kata Varblane, Estonia’s Director of Country Promotion, to understand what underpins Estonia’s winning formula, and what advice she has for other nation brand leaders.
Congratulations on winning not one but two City Nation Place Awards in the same year! How does it feel to have been the first organisation to have managed that feat in eleven years of running the Awards?
It feels genuinely special and a little surreal, to be the first organisation to achieve this in eleven years of the CNP Awards. We’re proud, of course, but more than anything, we feel grateful: to everyone who believed in the work, contributed to it, and helped bring Estonia’s story to life in a way that resonated internationally.
For us, recognition like this really matters. Estonia has always had to “punch above its weight”, and we embrace that. International awards aren’t just a trophy on the shelf, they give us visibility we couldn’t buy, open doors for new conversations, and create that invaluable “free PR” that helps our message travel further and faster.
And on a human level, it’s a wonderful affirmation. It tells our team, and our wider community, that the care, creativity and strategic effort we put into building and sharing the Estonia brand is being noticed. That’s incredibly motivating, and it makes us even more determined to keep raising the bar.
One of the biggest challenges we hear from place brand leaders is how to make data accessible – for the team to use, but also to help external partners understand your work. Can you explain how you’ve tackled this challenge in Estonia?
In Estonia, we tackled this challenge in a very practical, step-by-step way — because if data isn’t usable, it’s just noise.
First, you need to have the data and you need to build the internal knowledge to really understand it. We invest time in making sure our team can interpret the insights behind our image surveys, reputation tracking, and message testing — not just collect the numbers.
Second, you need to communicate it in a way that makes sense to real people. Different partners need different levels of depth, so we translate insights into clear takeaways: what’s changing, what it means for Estonia’s story, and what to do with it.
Third — and this is crucial for us — you need tools that scale. We’re a small team, and we simply can’t reach everyone in person. So, we’ve focused on building practical resources that help others use the data confidently: guidance around brand messages, easy-to-adopt materials, and tools that make insights accessible without requiring a branding background.
We also test and pilot quickly. We try things, see what people actually use, gather fast feedback, and improve. That loop is what turns “data access” into real adoption — internally and across our partner network.
Now that you’ve got those tools to make sure stakeholders have the right data at their fingertips, what’s been the biggest impact that you’ve seen?
The biggest impact has been engagement, and that’s exactly what we were aiming for.
One of our key roles is to inspire everyone who is telling Estonia’s story, whether they work in the public sector, business, culture, education, tourism, or diplomacy. When we started developing new tools and presenting our materials in a more usable, intuitive way, we saw a clear shift: people didn’t just receive the content — they started actively using it.
We’ve also noticed something really encouraging at a broader level. The general understanding of Estonia’s country image has grown, and the “why it matters” message is landing more strongly. Especially the link between reputation, security, and economic success. That’s a big step, because once people see country image as a strategic asset (not just a communications topic), they’re much more willing to act on it.
And we can measure that momentum in a simple way: we’re getting more and more requests to come and speak, share the data, and help others apply it in their own context. For us, that’s the clearest sign the approach is working. The tools are not sitting on a shelf; they’re sparking conversations and shaping decisions.
It’s fitting that we’ve been talking about data and technology, because your other award win was for a communication campaign about Estonia’s prowess as a digital-first nation. How did you validate that this was still a relevant message for your key audiences?
We were confident the story of Estonia as a digital-first nation is still relevant, but we didn’t want to rely on confidence alone. We validated it by looking closely at what our key audiences respond to today and how their expectations have evolved.
What we found was clear: the digital message still lands, but the framing needs to shift. We’ve moved away from talking about technology for technology’s sake. Instead, we focus on outcomes – what a digital society actually does for people’s lives and for businesses. It’s about ease, speed, and trust: fewer steps, less bureaucracy, and more time for the things that really matter.
And that value is universal. No one, anywhere, wants bureaucracy in their life, whether you’re a parent, an entrepreneur, an investor, or a public leader. So, we’ve made the message more human and more practical. Estonia’s digital strength isn’t a “tech story”; it’s a quality-of-life and competitiveness story. That’s what keeps it relevant, and that’s what helped the campaign resonate.
The campaign hinged on the fact that with the digitisation of divorce, all government services were now online. The light-hearted approach to what is quite a serious topic has been very successful – do you have any advice for other nations or cities who are looking to use the humour to stand out from the crowd?
Humour can be a really powerful way to stand out – especially in place branding, where messages can start to sound very similar. If you can find a human, slightly unexpected angle to talk about a serious topic, it feels refreshing. It lowers people’s guard, earns attention, and makes the message more memorable.
Our main advice is to use humour with care and purpose. We did explore some much “crazier” creative routes, but we also knew we had to find the right balance between bold and appropriate. At the end of the day, we’re a public agency. Trust matters, and the tone still needs to feel respectful.
A few practical lessons from our experience:
- Let the humour serve the insight, not the other way around. The joke should underline the point, not distract from it.
- Test the tone early. What feels funny inside a team can land very differently with real audiences.
- When you get that balance right, humour doesn’t make your message less serious, it makes it more relatable.
If you had an unlimited budget, what campaign, tool, or initiative would you develop first?
First, I would invest in a few additional full-time people. My top priority would be building a slightly larger full-time team so we can offer stronger day-to-day support and deeper know-how to all the different organisations shaping Estonia’s story and help them use the data, materials and Brand Estonia design system confidently and consistently. Growing from a team of 3 to 5 would be superb. To develop and manage effective tools, you first need enough manpower. We have already seen what difference we can make with having 3 people instead of 1.5. A proper expert team that can conduct analysis, coach, advise, and problem-solve with partners - it makes a brand flourish.
In terms of a new initiative, I’d develop a clear, credible “Estonian made” product/service label that companies could use to reference their country of origin in a consistent way. It would be practical for businesses, easy to adopt, and powerful in aggregate: when many companies use the same trusted marker, it strengthens recognition and builds the overall image of Estonia through everyday touchpoints.
That said, there’s also something very Estonian about this question. We don’t automatically believe that more money solves anything. Our instinct is usually: if there’s a will, there’s a way. Budget helps you scale, but the real driver is ambition, vision, and the ability to keep moving fast while staying true to what makes Estonia, Estonia.
Very true! Thank you for sharing that with us, Kata.
