Norwegians Turn to Stockholm’s Branding Man for MIPIM

The city of Oslo has turned to Julian Stubbs, the man who devised the branding of Stockholm as The Capital of Scandinavia, for their own branding. Stubbs will give a presentation at MIPIM, the world’s leading real estate summit, in Cannes France today with Oslo’s governing Mayor Stian Berger Røsland. The presentation is at 15.00 and will be held on the Oslo stand number 13.24/15.23 at MIPIM.  

Stubbs has been working with the city of Oslo for five months already and is developing their new brand strategy. The work has attracted a high degree of media attention in Norway and been a feature covered by both press and radio. 

Julian Stubbs said 'Oslo is a fascinating city with very much its own pulse. It's a place going through rapid change and is now examining its identity. Like all places it needs to find its own positioning and that is what we've been asked to look at. It's not about slogans - it's about developing a long term strategy and process that builds a strong positioning.' Stubbs continued 'We're obviously delighted to be asked to be involved in this work - we love place marketing. I think the media coverage shows the strength of the interest locally.'

Stubbs, who is English, is an international brand strategist and apart from his work for Stockholm and other destinations, he has worked with marketing and identity projects for clients such as Technicolor, the Hollywood movie company, and the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which is held annually every December in Oslo. His book, published in 2011, on destination branding called Wish You Were Here examines the issues in building a strong place brand and focuses on his work in developing the Stockholm brand. 

Stubbs is also one of the founders of *UP There, Everywhere, a global brand and communications consulting group with 130 people.