A collaborative project aims to increase the stature of the entire Baltic Sea Region and attract new visitors and partners to the area.
In today’s world of globalisation it is becoming ever more important, yet ever more difficult, to differentiate and promote oneself to a worldwide audience. One key is collaboration, which is exactly the strategy that was taken by the BaltMet Promo project.
BaltMet Promo created promotional Baltic Sea Region (BSR) products for tourists, talents and investors in the global market. Over a two-year time frame, it established a collaborative action plan for the area to promote itself. The project involved municipalities and organisations around the entire sea, including Helsinki, Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw and Berlin.
“The BaltMet Promo project aims to join forces in promoting the Baltic Sea Region on a global scale,” explains Mika Lappalainen, Communications Manager with the City of Helsinki. “The project wants to attract tourists from other continents, talents from the creative sector as well as major international investment projects to the Baltic Sea Region.”
Cooperation important
“The Baltic Sea Region is the most natural focus of the City of Helsinki’s international activities and working together with other cities of the region is important,” says Lappalainen. “Working with other cities gives Helsinki more added value. In marketing the region together, Helsinki gained more added value that we would get doing it alone, using less money and receiving more visibility.”
With the proliferation of easy travel and instant electronic sharing of information, it has become more and more important to stand out from the crowd. One way to help in this endeavour is to partner with like-minded entities. The further abroad the Helsinki metropolitan area looks, the more important it becomes to be part of a larger entity.
“In view of today’s globalised world it seems clear that joint marketing efforts between the major cities provide significant added value and a win-win scenario for us all,” explains Lappalainen.
The future
BaltMet Promo is based upon the cooperation of the Baltic Metropoles Network – made up of 11 major cities around the Baltic Sea – and the Baltic Development Forum, which is a non-profit networking organisation with large companies, cities, investors and associations around the area. It has a budget of 2.8 million euros, partly funded by the European Union Regional Development Fund.
The final event for this stage of the project is set for 24 November in Warsaw. It will include talks by Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Mayor of Warsaw, and Matti Ollinkari, Head of International Relations with the City of Helsinki. However, the participants hope that similar cooperation can continue in the future.
“Branding and identity-building started in the two-year project and the work done in BaltMet Promo would need continuity,” says Lappalainen.
Text: DAVID J. CORD, Helsinki Times
See also:
- BaltMet promo project website: www.baltmetpromo.net
- Baltic Development Forum: www.bdforum.org
- Baltic Metropoles Network: www.baltmet.org
- Baltic Sea Region – Investor’s guide (pdf)
Did you know?
– The Baltic region contains a population of 110 million and a GDP of EUR 400 billion.
– Investment Drivers for the Baltic Sea Region:
- The region is politically stable and business-friendly.
- Europe’s fastest growing area is the BSR.
- There is a tangible innovation culture in the region.
- It has a large, highly-skilled and competitively-priced workforce.
- The Baltic Sea Region is internationally connected and has an excellent infrastructure.
- It has competitive personal and corporate tax rates.
- The BSR is safe, clean and family-friendly.
