Visit Sweden - "Visit the Original Sweden"

In 2024, “dupes” has been a trending topic. But while fashion brands can protect their names through trademarking, countries can’t. Something that Sweden now wants to change.

This is not the first time Visit Sweden has taken a playful approach to clear up international confusion. Following the success of past campaigns – like their humorous plea to Switzerland to finally settle the "Sweden or Switzerland" mix-up – Visit Sweden once again attempts to clear up a potential mix-up.

“This campaign is our latest step in presenting Sweden as a truly unique destination under the concept ‘A destination of a different nature.’ It’s flattering to see Sweden’s name used globally – it speaks to the strength of our brand. But with every ‘Sweden’ out there, it gets a little tougher for travelers to find the real one. With this campaign, we hope to make it easier for the world to recognize the original,” said Nils Persson, Chief Marketing Officer at Visit Sweden.

The trademark application addresses a common problem travellers face with name-alike locations – with eight places around the world called "Sweden", multiple Germanys, dozens of Americas, and 34 Londons globally, it’s not hard to see why a little brand clarity might be in order.

If successful, Sweden’s trademark could lead to clearer travel planning and fewer mix-ups in the future. With the online petition now live, Visit Sweden is calling on everyone’s support to help create travel harmony.

The campaign is developed together with the creative collective Forsman & Bodenfors and will be launched globally.

“We hope that this initiative will solve two issues in one blow: getting more people interested in visiting our country – and preventing further use of the name Sweden. With the current legislation, we could end up in a world where all countries are called Sweden, and that would be extremely confusing,” said Agnes Stenberg-Schentz and Marcus Hägglöf, creatives at Forsman & Bodenfors.

The application reflects recent trends in protecting brand authenticity as people become more alert to “dupes” in fashion, products – and now, destinations.