The adoption of "Saaristo" as the brand name demonstrates how successful destination brands emerge from genuine cultural usage rather than influences.
The transformation of Finland's Turku Archipelago from an underutilised regional asset into a recognised destination brand represents a compelling case study in strategic destination development. Under the leadership of Olli Ylioja, Head of Digital at Visit Turku Archipelago, the region demonstrated how systematic brand infrastructure development can unlock dormant tourism potential through coordinated organisational restructuring, creative brand positioning and comprehensive product ecosystem development.
Turku Archipelago's 40,000 islands formed during post-Ice Age geological processes, with land masses continuing to emerge by several millimetres annually. Yet despite this unique geological heritage and the region's status as the world's largest archipelago, systematic tourism development remained elusive. Historically recognised for shipbuilding, the region possessed tourism potential that remained unrealised for decades. This disconnect between recognised opportunity and actual development underscores how natural assets alone cannot generate tourism success without appropriate organisational structures and strategic coordination, illustrating the complex challenges facing post-industrial regions seeking tourism diversification.
The catalyst for change emerged in 2023, when post-COVID recovery prompted regional leaders to address this longstanding implementation gap. Rather than continuing fragmented approaches, three major archipelago cities — led by Turku, the oldest city in Finland and the third most populous urban area — formed an unprecedented collaborative DMO structure. This organisational innovation enabled effective resource coordination, unified branding strategies and professional management capabilities that had previously been absent from the region's tourism development efforts.
The development of the "Saaristo" brand demonstrates an intricate understanding of cultural authenticity in destination branding. Rather than pursuing a generic international appeal, Visit Turku Archipelago leveraged existing cultural knowledge by adopting the Finnish term used to describe their region. This strategic choice reflects deeper insights into brand development, whereby successful destination brands often emerge from daily usage rather than externally imposed marketing constructs.
"The little, big revelations of Saaristo shape us for good" brand positioning strategy articulates a nuanced value proposition that transcends conventional destination marketing. By emphasising transformative experiences rooted in simplicity and authenticity, the brand addresses traveller desires for meaningful engagement whilst positioning the destination's perceived limitations as distinctive advantages. This approach demonstrates how strategic reframing can transform potential weaknesses into competitive differentiators.
This simplicity of the brand positioning extends into the destination's logo development process, integrating authentic local assets with contemporary design. By constructing the brand identity from actual island shapes, the design creates a literal connection between brand representation and geographical reality. This approach extends beyond aesthetic considerations to establish symbolic relationships between brand identity and place-based authenticity, a critical factor in building lasting destination brand equity.
Visit Turku Archipelago's approach to product development reveals an in-depth understanding of digital-physical integration in destination management. Rather than pursuing traditional marketing-first strategies, the DMO prioritised building comprehensive experience inventories that could support brand promises through actual delivery. This "brand with fulfilment" philosophy demonstrates strategic thinking about the relationship between promotional activities and operational capabilities.
The systematic collection of 100 domestic and 60 international experiences represents more than product aggregation for a truly digital tourism ecosystem, with an ambition to scale this highly curated collection of experiences tailored for the region's visitors to reach 300 products. By ensuring all experiences maintain online bookability through both domestic (Bookturku.fi) and international (Saaristo.fi) platforms, the organisation created integrated distribution systems that can scale with growing demand. This approach addresses the fundamental challenges of bridging the gap between local experience providers and international booking systems. Distribution through Online Travel Agencies is also a key ambition for widening the region's international exposure.
The development of the "Part of Saaristo" partner network illustrates a smart approach to regional identity building. The physical plaques displayed by participating businesses serve multiple strategic functions by creating a visible brand presence across the destination, establishing quality associations for visitors and generating pride and ownership amongst local stakeholders. This tangible representation of the brand demonstrates an understanding of how physical symbols can reinforce digital branding strategies.
Visit Turku Archipelago's focus on supporting SMEs is further expanded by the annual "Saaristo Shape Up" business development programme, representing systematic capacity building designed to bridge knowledge gaps between local providers and international market requirements. Implementing selective application processes with mandatory participation requirements ensures the DMO receives serious commitment from participating businesses, whilst maintaining quality standards across diverse stakeholders. By focusing on understanding visitors, pricing strategies and digital capabilities, the programme addresses fundamental barriers to tourism ecosystem development. In particular, emphasising communication repetition and amplifying local success stories reveals clear insights into how to effectively drive change management principles in distributed stakeholder networks.
With this focus on supporting business development and empowering entrepreneurship, Visit Turku Archipelago's approach demonstrates how DMOs can build upon their promotional remit to act as orchestrators of regional capability development. By structuring roles around specific brand delivery functions, including partnership management, product development and digital marketing, the DMO's team composition reflects the strategic alignment between brand objectives and operational capabilities. This organisational framework creates internal capabilities that ensure brand consistency across all touchpoints whilst maintaining operational efficiency within resource constraints.
Visit Turku Archipelago's approach reveals three core principles for effectively managing supply and demand. The emphasis on an "ambitious vision, thorough planning and ruthless execution" demonstrates how transformational change requires both strategic thinking and operational discipline that ensures marketing optimisation through data analytics. The focus on "working with the best and finding real passion" illustrates how resource limitations can be overcome through strategic partnership selection that highlights the region's unique propositions and authentic stakeholder engagement. Meanwhile, the commitment to "building winning teams" both within the DMO and across industry stakeholders reveals a clear understanding of tourism development as collaborative ecosystem building rather than individual organisational activity.
The DMO's communication strategy demonstrates how consistent messaging can build momentum beyond immediate stakeholder groups. By generating interest from government ministries and Finnish export companies, the brand development process created unexpected collaboration opportunities that extend the destination's reach into sectors beyond traditional tourism marketing. This demonstrates how effective destination branding can generate value across multiple economic sectors.
The international recognition received by the Saaristo brand, including being shortlisted at Cannes Lions and winning the Creative Review Annual Awards, provides external validation of the strategic approach's effectiveness. However, as Olli acknowledges, these accolades serve primarily as confidence indicators rather than success metrics. The real validation lies in market response and visitor engagement with actual destination experiences.
Alongside the prestige that comes from recognition within creative industry circles, other strategic advantages emerge from the resulting PR value. For destinations competing in increasingly crowded markets, distinctive creative positioning generates earned media coverage and industry attention that would otherwise require substantial promotional investment. The awards demonstrate how strategic design thinking can amplify limited marketing budgets through unlimited creative excellence.
Head of Digital
Visit Turku Archipelago
Created for destinations around the world, this programme will provide the insight to help you become a sustainability leader within your organisation.
Designed to teach you how to master must-have tools and acquire essential skills to succeed in managing your destination or organisation, be ready to challenge all of your assumptions.
Designed to teach you how to master must-have tools and acquire essential skills to succeed in managing your destination or organisation, be ready to challenge all of your assumptions.
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