Costa Rica has been recognised as being one of the most sustainable countries in the world. But when the government set a ban prohibiting single-use plastic, the team at essential Costa Rica created a social media campaign to engage the community and push for faster change.

For the past 20 years, Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo’s reputation has been dictated by outsiders, with locals left saying, ‘that’s not us!’ The region needed to start proudly sharing what they were instead of what they weren’t, and so the team at Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo [FMWB] started on the region’s first attempt to proactively manage the region’s identity and reputation.

As the world went into collective pandemic lockdown, the last thing people stuck inside with their pent-up frustrations needed was a tourism campaign from somewhere they couldn’t go. But with Iceland’s tourism industry and much of the economy on the line, the team at Visit Iceland couldn’t afford to let that stop them. 

For Helsinki, one of the biggest challenges in attracting foreign talent has been rather low awareness of the city globally. To showcase the best of their city and to attract the talent they need, they launched a new values-driven campaign: 'Helsinki Freedom.'

Zuidoost is the youngest district of Amsterdam, and residents have roots all over the world. All those cultures together in one neighbourhood ensures Zuidoost has become its own city with its own stories - so any place brand design and strategy needed to be able to embrace the diverse character of the community.

In 2017, Courmayeur launched a new brand design identity to capture the spirit of the town and its history. Discover the process behind the wordmark here.

Over the years, we've been privileged to see some of the best and brightest of place branding and place marketing campaigns from around the world. As we gear up for the 2022 City Nation Place Awards, we wanted to revisit this list to share some of our personal favourites from the City Nation Place Awards archive and to update it with the campaigns from last year that we just can’t stop thinking about!

People didn't have a perception of Norwich at all, and that needed to change in order for the city to compete with other UK honeypot destinations. Enter Norwich's place brand strategy to be the City of Stories.

Emojis have revolutionized communications in a similar way that the text message did. Not forgetting that the text message was a Finnish invention – so why wouldn’t Finland be the first country to launch its own official emojis as well?

Pittsburgh's Oakland district is the focal point of innovation, and the city is collaborating with its key stakeholders to develop the district further. Mark Thomas, President of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, walks us through Oakland to show how they're strengthening the area

People are getting more savvy and are quick to call out organisations who aren’t walking the talk. However, if you can embed your sustainable values throughout your organisation and ensure that your strategy is reflective of your community, it’s possible to make real impact with your approach. Here are some top examples of how cities and nations around the world are making sure that they’re living their sustainable values to lay the path for a more resilient future.

Greater Copenhagen wanted to showcase the region as an attractive career destination for international talent from the LGBT+ community. And they came up with... a (fictional) dating app!