For many Swedes, Halmstad is synonymous with Tylösand and Per Gessle. Now, Halmstad Municipality is developing a place brand for the first time, which positions Halmstad in a new way. The new brand will begin to be rolled out in June.

By strengthening Halmstad's position as a regional capital in combination with the coastal lifestyle, Halmstad is now highlighting what makes the place unique in relation to other comparable cities.

– The place brand conveys energy and a forward direction and is something that we see that many people can rally around. Halmstad is so much more than a holiday resort and we need to take a step forward and show that, says Susanne Ståhl, communications strategist at Halmstad Municipality.

New location brand creates direction and takes position

The design of the new place brand is based on showing the breadth of Halmstad as a place. That Halmstad is a growth municipality and regional capital with a growing business community where the coastal lifestyle is always present.

Halmstad will continue to be associated with sun and swimming, but the good opportunities for education, running and establishing businesses, developing and growing should be highlighted more clearly.

A tool for describing the place Halmstad

It is Halmstad's first place brand and the work has been carried out by an in-house team, supplemented with cutting-edge expertise from place brand specialist Tendensor and the municipality's procured communications agency Consid.

The new place brand consists of a completely new graphic profile, designed by Consid. It will be used by the municipal destination company Destination Halmstad AB, among others, but there will also be material for free use by other actors in Halmstad.

– Developing place brands is a bit of a 10-man game. It's about capturing the local, but also showing the way. We have worked with several parts of the municipality – and in several steps to succeed with the goal: easy to like, easy to work with, says Magnus Arvidsson, planner at Consid.