Swedish Design Movement – Leading the Way

The initiative Swedish Design Movement brings together players in Swedish design, fashion and architecture who are spearheading the transition to sustainability. This is a toolkit with materials you can use to put Sweden on the international design map and raise the profile of sustainable Swedish business in connection with international design events.

The toolkit consists of a virtual exhibition titled “Swedish Design Movement — Leading the way”, instructions and inspiration on how to activate the exhibition, a press kit and social media units to use when promoting the exhibition.

About the exhibition

The exhibition “Swedish Design Movement — Leading the way” presents the work of leading, sustainable Swedish innovators in design, architecture and fashion. Visitors can navigate around a hyper-realistic digital version of Sara kulturhus, one of the world’s tallest timber structures in Skellefteå, Sweden.

Inside the building, projects by eighteen Swedish companies working in furniture, product design, fashion, and architecture are exhibited as 3D models. The exhibition also includes a selection of films. You can click your way through images, texts and videos to learn more about the projects and companies.

Purpose and goals

Swedish Design Movement is part of the government’s export and investment strategy. The purpose of this toolkit is to raise Sweden’s profile as a design nation and showcase innovative, pioneering and sustainability-driven companies and actors from different design sectors and parts of the country. The goal is to accelerate demand for sustainable goods and services from Sweden.

Main target groups

The main target groups for this toolkit are:
Buyers
Architects
Journalists within the field of design, architecture, and fashion
Design professionals

Instructions

This toolkit can be used to present and promote the virtual exhibition “Swedish Design Movement — Leading the way” at international events within design, fashion, and architecture. The exhibition is virtual and can be visited around the clock at the domain https://swedishdesignmovement.com/.

Since the exhibition is virtual and has no physical space, you need to establish partnerships with event organisers and magazines through which visitors can be guided to the exhibition. In addition, we suggest that you also promote the exhibition through a PR agency and your own channels. Below are instructions on how the exhibition can be presented and promoted.

When using this toolkit kindly communicate that the exhibition is designed by digital design store and gallery Adorno and is a co-production between Svensk Form (the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design) and the Swedish Institute.

Partnerships

As part of a partnership with for example your local design, architecture or fashion week, you may discuss a promotional package, which can include:

• Listings on website
• Articles
• Coverage in newsletters
• Social media promotion

Event’s website

The exhibition can be presented on an event’s website. The first option would be to have the exhibition presented on the front page of the event’s website. Another option would be to have the exhibition presented on a page, as close to front page as possible. The goal is to ensure as much exposure of the exhibition as possible. In some cases, the exhibition can be embedded onto the website. This will enable the audience to access the exhibition directly from the website. In other cases, it will only be possible to present the exhibition with images, videos, and texts alongside a direct link to the exhibition.

When deciding on a listing and the value of this type of promotion, it is important to get information on the number of visitors the website receives per month or per year.

Article in magazine

Websites of larger magazines often function as the main go-to place to discover the program of design events. Through a partnership with a magazine, an article and event listing can be produced and published on the magazine’s website. The exhibition and press material can also be embedded and presented with the article. It is important that a direct link to the exhibition is included in the article.

When deciding on this promotion, it is important to get information on the number of visitors the website receives per month or per year.

Newsletter

The exhibition can also be presented in a newsletter to the subscribers of the event or magazine. The greater the newsletter’s focus is on the exhibition, the better. The optimal option is to have a newsletter dedicated to the exhibition. It is crucial that subscribers are presented with one or more direct links to the virtual exhibition.

When deciding on investing in newsletter promotion, it is important to consider how many subscribers the newsletter has.

Social media

Partnership packages with an event or magazine generally include promotion on their social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes third-party social media accounts have more followers than the official account of the event, like Designboom’s “milan.design.week” account. You can reach out to these accounts and ask for promotion pricing.

In assessing the value of promotion on social media, the number of posts and stories offered as well as the engagement rate and number of followers are critical criteria.

Your own channels

In addition to partnering with events, magazines or other partners you will also want to promote the exhibition in your own channels. You can translate and share the press material via press releases and newsletters. Promote the exhibition on social media. Add an article or embed the exhibition to your website or blog.

You may also arrange own events in connection with the official partner event. Seminars/webinars or talks with participating companies/designers or other well proven activities are often easy to arrange, however sometimes costly. The exhibition can also be connected to relevant physical exhibitions.

Please note that these and similar activities require separate funding, the toolkit budget is not applicable.

Support

The design agency ADORNO is the producer of the exhibition and may be hired to assist you in finding media partners, negotiating a partnership agreement, or organizing the presentation and promotion of the exhibition. The consultancy fees are to be discussed directly with ADORNO. Toolkit budget can be used for this service.

Contact at ADORNO:
Kristian Snorre Andersen: kristian@adorno.dk +45 3042 862

Building blocks

1.The exhibition

The exhibition is virtual and can be visited at its domain from any smartphone or computer with internet access at any time. The exhibition will be open at least until May 31, 2023. Direct link to the exhibition: https://swedishdesignmovement.com/

Just like a YouTube video, you can embed the exhibition on any website with an iframe code. This will enable the visitors to access the exhibition directly from the website where it is embedded.

Instructions on how to embed the exhibition: PDF “How to embed the virtual exhibition”

2. Press kit

The press kit includes a draft of a press release in English, hi-res images and videos of the exhibition, and social media material. You can send the press kit link below to journalists or make your own selection.

Download the draft for the press release here: “Press release ENG, Word”

Find the press kit here: Press kit

Examples of images from the press kit:

 

3. Social media for embassies and consulates

Here you will find material and instructions on how to promote the exhibition on your own social media. The social media posts can be used to highlight the exhibition as a whole or highlight the areas of design, architecture or fashion, depending on the context. Feel free to also use the material from the press kit to create your own posts.

Don’t forget to use #SwedishDesignMovement and @SwedishDesignMovement in all posts about the exhibition.

Below are instructions for social media posts with focus on:

The exhibition in general: PDF “Overview General”

Design: PDF “Overview Design”

Architecture: PDF “Overview Architecture”

Fashion: PDF “Overview Fashion”

Download the material for the social media posts: Social media materials for embassies

4. Events

Like any other toolkit, activations of the exhibition can be combined with other events; digital or physical. Some of the examples can be webinars, seminars, sofa talks or other networking or knowledge events, possibly in collaboration with some of the participating companies.

Combining the exhibition with analogue manifestations, such as a physical design exhibition can also work very well, but please note that this toolkit does not offer physical add-ons, and the toolkit funding may not be used to cover such productions or events.

When arranging an event you can screen films on the topic of sustainable design. You can also use the films in social media. These films feature a few of the design companies who are part of the Swedish Design Movement. The companies are located in different parts of Sweden.

The films on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlistlist=PLIbfL4hlcjreN8lDEKDHlpImleEeuOatC

The films with audio descriptions on Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlistlist=PLIbfL4hlcjrc6nAPil2qFegwC8m5e52Kb

Download the films here (click on the blue button in the upper right corner to download the zip-file.)

Contact Jenny Bergström Bonmot to download the films with audio descriptions or if you would like to discuss or receive input on program ideas!

5. The Swedish Design Movement Instagram account

On the official Instagram account of Swedish Design Movement the target groups can learn more about sustainable Swedish design, the exhibition and follow the movement of events around the world. Use this account for inspiration and encourage the target group to follow the account and share its content.

Name of the account on Instagram: @SwedishDesignMovement

Find the account here: https://www.instagram.com/swedishdesignmovement/

Inspirational stories

For the launch of the exhibition at Milan Design Week 2022 (6-12 June) the Swedish institute and our collaborating partners, Swedish Society of Crafts and Design (Svensk Form) and ADORNO, entered paid partnerships with www.dezeen.com and www.fuorisalone.it.

Fuorisalone

The partnership with Fuorisalone allowed digital participation at Milan Design Week and did not include a promotion package. The price for this was 1.000 EURO and allowed the exhibition to be embedded on the website of the event.

Event guide: https://www.fuorisalone.it/en/2022/events/2380/Swedish-Design-Movement-Leading-the-way

Dezeen

The partnership package with Dezeen included a promotional editorial presented on the first page of their webpage and a spot in the newsletter, sent to 180.000 subscribers. The price for this partnership package was 4.500 GBP. It also included a geo-targeted Dezeen Instagram ad, running from the 7-12 June during Milan Design Week, targeting audiences in Western Europe. The price for this geo-targeted ad was 2.000 GBP.

The promotional editorial: https://www.dezeen.com/2022/06/06/swedish-design-movement-virtual-exhibition-milan-design-week/

For the geo-targeted Instagram ad we used the 15 second trailer available in the social media building block.

Read the full report about the launch here: PDF “Traffic report & Recommendations for SDM launch Milan”

Financial support

Applications for projects in April to December 2023

Due to the extraordinarily high number of toolkit applications, and a limited budget, we are unable to grant any further financial support for toolkits in 2023 with the exception of toolkit applications with following purposes:

– Higher education promotion
– Sweden alumni relations
– Sweden 500 celebrations (maximum of 5 000 SEK)
– The Nobel Prize (a limited numer of applications)
You can of course also use all material on sharingsweden.se but without funding from us.

Swedish embassies and consulates may apply for financial support of maximum SEK 40,000 for promoting the exhibition through partnerships and own channels.

How to apply

To apply, please fill out the application form.

The application must be sent in at least two months before the event. Resources are limited and financial support may not be available at the end of the year. Limits may apply.

How to report

After completed event, fill out the project report for toolkits.

Repayments
If more than 10 per cent of the total grant has not been used, then the full amount of unused funds must be repaid to SI. Repayment shall be via UD EKO. When repaying, enter the project’s registration number (available in the agreement) and the name of your organisation in the notification field and notify the project manager in question.

Contact at the Swedish Institute

For more information, please contact Jenny Bergström Bonmot