The City of Helsinki took home our 2020 Award for Best Citizen Engagement for their creative approach that invited citizens to enjoy the May Day celebrations from home by joining a virtual concert. A year on - and with another virtual concert planned for this year's May Day celebrations - we wanted to throw back to the original campaign that wowed our judges last November.

Creating a nation branding strategy is no small challenge. To be successful, it needs to be grounded in the everyday reality of that country, and to achieve that, you need data. Eglė Kudzmanienė, Chief Advisor at Brand Lithuania Unit, detailed how the nation created a data-centric approach to country branding that allowed them to react rapidly to changing perceptions of Lithuania.

Strong brands are more resilient during hard times and bounce back more quickly. In an ever-changing world, what are the three critical factors that will define success for destination brands as we look to the future?

Nation Branding architects face great adversity in getting the ball rolling and even more so as they fight an uphill battle. It is our hope that this guide will be used as a supportive reference for brand builders throughout the long and arduous process of strategizing a resilient nation brand.

What does digital transformation actually look like in the destination marketing and investment promotion space? Emma Håkansson, Head of Destination Development for the City of Helsingborg, Sweden, explained how they transitioned from tourist information centres to a digital-first approach.

COVID-19 has accelerated the need for robust digital transformation, and investment promotion agencies around the world have been re-evaluating their strategies to ensure they’re still able to reach their investors – even if they’re still halfway around the world. We reached out to Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli, CEO at Invest Kuala Lumpur, to understand how the digital strategies they’d implemented have continued to adapt and evolve to meet the needs of this new pandemic world.

COVID-19 has encouraged us all to find new ways of working, but can we ever lose the personal touch in investment promotion? Sirpa Tsimal, Director of Investment Promotion at Switzerland Global Enterprise, shares her insights on the digital vs the human approach to investment attraction.

How can destinations begin their recovery? With the summer season looming for many destinations, and business-almost-as-usual resuming, we reached out to our panel of place branding experts to understand what the next steps should be for places looking to restart their economies.

The marketing benefits of digital and social media channels are a fact at this point. You’re not the only one telling your story though. Anyone with their own Twitter, LinkedIn or TripAdvisor account is sharing your story too – and it might not be a story you're proud of. So how do you manage your digital place reputation?

What does it mean to be a destination when visitors can no longer travel? Far from obstacle or paralysis, COVID-19 should be a call-out for innovators to create new and timely solutions. How can you utilise this time to make your destination seem so desirable that it's the first place people want to visit when the travel restrictions are lifted?

5G has been in the pipeline since as early as 2008. Today, 5G is nearly in our grasp and 2020 will see the first roll out of commercially viable 5G in consumer devices. But what does it really mean for cities? For businesses? Will 5G herald the next wave of digital transformation or will we just be living in a faster version of our current society?