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Sigtuna. From oldest to first
The small and pretty town of Sigtuna is set on the shores of lake Mälaren in Sweden around 50 kilometers north of Stockholm.

It’s a special place not just because it’s picturesque and a successful tourist destination already, but because over a thousand years ago the Viking King Erik Segersäll founded Sigtuna to become the country’s first capital.

Sigtuna is well known for its history and heritage and had always focused its promotion and marketing on such historical elements.

However, the town also wanted to be more forward looking and attract new residents, new business and develop a dynamic strategy for growth. In 2009, I was asked to join the board of the local tourism authority, to consider options for Sigtuna’s future brand and marketing. It was an interesting challenge, partly because it was a smaller destination than I had worked with before and that it was already very successful in what it was doing.

Sigtuna has an incredible heritage and communications had been focused around this. When asked what came to mind when we said Sigtuna, people’s typical replies centred around characters from the stories of Elsa Beskow, kanelbullar, (cinnamon buns) and vikings. Our task was to find a new centre point for the destination. Starting there would help us develop an identity that was appropriate.

Obviously logotypes and identity can have a powerful impact on how a destination is perceived. But this all comes back to the brief and goals for a destination, and carefully matching these up – after a position has been defined.

After nearly twelve months of working with, and meeting key local stakeholders representing business, schools, and the local community, as well as interacting closely with local politicians, a new brand strategy and identity was developed. It was important that this was supported by all the community’s key stakeholders. Alongside this, a new vision was created that focused on a simple new proposition, a refinement actually of the existing positioning as Sweden’s first town. We decided to simplify the statement down to focus on just that one important word – first.

It was obviously based in the historical reference to Sigtuna’s past and being the first town of Sweden, the place where the first coins were minted and the first bricks made. But we saw the word first in a much bigger perspective. We tried to imagine that first Swedish king and what he was trying to achieve. We saw him as an entrepreneur and someone willing to take a risk. We wanted to get back that spirit of innovation and being brave in what the community could strive to achieve. We saw first as a challenge for Sigtuna to become more ambitious and lead the way in key aspects of how it approaches its development. First speaks to the destination’s vision of being brave enough to be innovative and in delivering the highest standards in what it does. It also helps set the goals Sigtuna wishes to achieve as well as define some of the core values that guide them as a growing vibrant destination.

Often the best solution for a Destination Brand, or indeed any brand for that matter, can be found in simplification.

The Sigtuna Vision was developed based on the ‘first’ concept.

Sigtuna: the first choice in Sweden as a place to work, to meet, to learn, to enjoy, to discover, to grow. The first choice to live.