A couple of month before LeWeb Annika Lidne, Social Media superwoman from Sweden approached me and asked if I wanted to be a part of the Swedish Trade Council Initiative at LeWeb. Once I said “hell yes” she also asked if I would consider developing a communication concept for the event. “Hell yes! once again”. The challenge with this project was the fact that it wasn’t only JAJDO and Annikas company presenting themselves at LeWeb in Paris. The trade federation had actually gathered 29! swedish start ups looking to network and create impact in France. The secondary challenge was that this initiative wasn’t only about us startups. The Swedish Trade Federation was also looking to communicate that Sweden is at the forefront within this are.
The idea – Talk to me, Talk to Sweden.
Sometime in october I presented my solution. The idea was to move beyond companies and focus on the individual. I firmly believe people want to talk to people first, not faceless companies. I also think logos are overrated at events. Logos doesn’t make curious. Logos gives people prejudices. So, the solution to the problem was; Focus on people, not companies. I called the concept “Talk to me. Talk to Sweden”. I briefed my friend and photographer Andreas Lübeck to shoot the portraits. Then I created a design platform that was also implemented online. We also got all entrepreneurs to wear badges that promoted both their own company as well as the ‘Talk to Sweden’ concept. This benefited all of us.
The concept was a great success. The Swedish booth was the most visited one in the hall we we’re placed in. People kept approaching us all over the LeWeb to ask what ‘Talk to me, talk to Sweden’ was all about. It also brought all the Swedish exhibitors together as one team rather than a group made up by individuals and it kickstarted a lot of conversations on site. On top of this several TV stations visited the booth and asked the Swedish trade council questions about the concept. I was also approached by three other countries wanting to know more about the concept behind the Swedish contribution to LeWeb 2012.
Here’s a couple of images showing you what it looked like.
The website developed by Snowfire.
Visitors got booklets with short descriptions of all start ups.
Jin Moen showing TV5Monde her startup Oriboo
The #ttSweden2012 booth at LeWeb
And finally here’s a nice report by Annika Lidne and SwedishStartupSessions on how the Swedish Trade Council market Swedish entrepreneurs. Note the badges worn .