What's UP? | Marketing blog by UP THERE EVERYWHERE

Wish You Were Here - The Branding of Stockholm and Destinations

Written by UP Blog Staff | March 8, 2011

8 March 2012

Compiling his experience working with a number of international destination brands, UP THERE, EVERYWHERE co-founder Julian Stubbs, has authored a colorful, example-filled book titled, “Wish You Were Here, The Branding of Stockholm and Destinations,” about what makes destination brands, and places themselves, worthy of their dot on the map.

Destined for Place Marketing

Having arrived in Stockholm for the first time in 1985, barely out of school and in the middle of a blizzard, Stubbs fell in love with the city immediately. Twenty-five years later, he was in the happy position of developing the new brand identity for the picturesque Swedish city, proclaiming it the “Capital of Scandinavia.”

Stubbs “coffee-table” brand-marketing book takes an in-depth and, at times, humorous, look at what makes destination brands tick. From New York City to Liverpool, he covers everything from brand messaging to iconic logos to which city songs are the best to the key elements that make a city great. It's an essential guide to Place Marketing and Destination Brandig.

What people are saying about it

“It took an immigrant Englishman, Julian Stubbs, for us Stockholmers to understand our own strengths and natural role as the leading city in Scandinavia…This book is a useful guide for anyone working with brands and the development of destination or city brands. In this book, Julian Stubbs shares his long and broad experience in brand development and management,” said Olof Zetterberg, CEO Stockholm Business Region.

“Julian Stubbs is one of the experts when it comes to Destination Branding. He helped us develop and implement the new Stockholm-Arlanda Airport brand and identity successfully, and in his new book, Wish You Were Here, he takes you through the key steps in branding a destination and passes on invaluable advice,” said Kerstin Lindberg Göransson, Managing Director of Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.

“I wrote this book because I have a passion for places and for branding,” said Stubbs. “There is a lot more to creating a successful brand than just having nice logo or slogan. Achieving the buy-in from all stake-holders and getting to the heart of the brand values are essential. But you’ll have to read the book to find out how we did it.”?

How to get the book

“Wish You Were Here," the essential guide to Place Marketing and Destination Branding, is available on Amazon at for $38 USD, as well as in Sweden at the online bookstore called Firmaboken for KR235,00 Swedish Kronor (excluding taxes).