These are the most valuable brands in Sweden

IKEA today opens up its first India store in Hyderabad City. The Swedish furniture retail giant continues to be ranked the most valuable Swedish brand according to an annual survey by the brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance. In a new report listing the top 50 brands in Sweden, IKEA holds the number 1 position in terms of brand value, followed by H&M and Nordea.

“IKEA’s brand value dropped 5% over the last year to SEK197.1 billion, as the brand faces many of the same issues as other conventional retailers, especially increasing global competition from online-only sellers and digital home-improvement offerings.”

The top 10 list remains intact from 2017 but there are significant changes in value among the leading brands. For example, Nordea is the only brand among the top 6 that actually sees an increase in value, up 7% according to the metrics used in the report.

Top 10 most valuable Swedish brands:

  1. IKEA (-5%)
  2. H&M (-7%)
  3. Nordea (+7%)
  4. Ericsson (-15%)
  5. Telia Company (-12%)
  6. Volvo (-7%)
  7. Swedbank (+7%)
  8. Handelsbanken (+3%)
  9. SEB (+6%)
  10. Skanska (+7%)

Among the losers on the list is for example forestry and paper giant SCA which drops from number 18 to 38, with an estimated drop in brand value of 86%. The highest new entry on top 50 is hygiene and health company Essity which enters the list at number 20. The explanation for this dramatic shift (which the report fails to mention) is of course that SCA in 2017 split its business into two different brands: SCA and Essity.

The fastest growing brand is the e-casino B2B provider Evolution Gaming which increased its value by 82%.

See the entire list here.

Press photo: IKEA.

For travel tips about Sweden, check out my travel blog.

Sweden beats Nordic rivals in social media Olympics

The Olympic games in Rio 2016 are engaging large audiences in social media. However, some reports suggest that the volume of interactions in social channels are lower than expected. A survey of US viewers shows that fewer people are following the Olympic Games via social networks than had said they expected to.

But many people are commenting and sharing views on Twitter for example. According to statistics from Socialbakers, the US and Brazil are the countries that most people are tweeting about, followed by India.

Most interactions about Sweden
If we look at Twitter conversations about the Nordic countries, Sweden is clearly in the lead before Denmark (Aug 5 – Aug 16). Almost 100,000 tweets about Sweden and 57,000 about Denmark. There are significantly fewer comments about Norway and Finland. The peak for Sweden came after the women’s football team beat USA in the quarter finals on penalties.

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(click for larger image)

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More statistics on social media at the Olympics can be found here.

Best social media responses to arrogant Layvin Kurzawa celebration

Last night, Sweden and France played the second leg of the play offs for the U21 European Championship in football. France had won the first leg 2-0 but now Sweden were heading towards the 2015 championships as they were up 3-0 at home. But in the last few minutes of the game, France scored the crucial 3-1 goal that would take them through. The goal scorer Layvin Kurzawa decided to celebrate the goal in the worst possible manner, running up the Swedish players like striker John Guidetti and mocking them with a gesture that said “see you later boys”.

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But justice was served just a minute later when Sweden scored 4-1 on a corner, sending the Swedes to the UEFA Euro U-21s at the expence of the French team. Rarely has a footballer had to eat his own words sooner and the Swedes celebrated by getting back at Kurzawa with his own medicine.

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Througout most of the day, Twitter and other social media sites have been mocking Kurzawa for his bad behaviour and in particular for celebrating too soon.

In France, the hashtag #Kurzawa was even the number one trending topic today.

Here are a few of the best responses so far.

Class / no class:

Today is Didier Deschamps’ birthday. L’epique offers him a Layvin Kurzawa cap:

Laddar

#Bleuets#Kurzawa#football#Espoirs#Equipedefrance#Thauvin#Bahebeck#Euro2015#Qualifications#Psg#Om#Benzema#Chelsea

Visa på Instagram

And finally this one which is definitely NSFW: https://twitter.com/fc1932/status/522323254686797824

10 really awesome Airbnb places to rent in trendy Stockholm

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Stockholm, once named “the most photogenic city in Scandinavia” by CNN, has long been a popular tourist destination. The fact that Vogue recently crowned Södermalm in Stockholm the third coolest neigbourhood in the world shows that Stockholm hasn’t lost it’s cool. With the rise of sites like Airbnb, there are now also a rich selection of cool places to rent in Stockholm.

Also read: “The best time to visit Stockholm”

Here’s a list of a few of the best Airbnb listings in Stockholm, Sweden.

1. Renovated veteran bus (no longer available)

A fully renovated 1976 bus situated in Bromma outside of Stockholm, with forest surroundings and a lake nearby. Pretty cool!

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2. Unique residence floating in water

Rather stay next to water? Well, you can’t come much closer than this. A stone’s throw from the center of Stockholm lies this unique accommodation floating in the water. Take a swim or a walk along the water.

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3. Luxury apartement in the city centre (no longer available)

Stay in style. This luxurious apartement hosting up to six people is situated in Norrmalm in the Stockholm city centre.

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4. Unique, open-plan loft apartment (no longer available)

A stunning 120 m2, 3 bedroom loft apartment in the trendy Södermalm, Stockholm with large open-plan living area and a rooftop terrace.

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5. Tiny house by the sea

Rent your own little house by the sea, just 20 minutes outside of Stockholm. Includes your own jetty, boule court and a stunning view of the sunset and the huge ferries that pass by.

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6. Stockholm Writers Cabin

Sleep in a tent on a trampoline, or just stay in the 15 m2 cabin, located on Lidingö in what is said to be Sweden’s oldest community of summerhouses.

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7. Loft apartment at Mariaberget (no longer available)

How about this bedroom view of the rooftops of Södermalm? This open flat at Mariaberget in Stockholm comes with a small terrace to the west.

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8. House boat with large terrace

If you would love to stay on a boat but one room is too little, why not rent an entire boat? This 140 m2 boat comes with a large terrace and a great location near the city centre.

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9. Exclusive apartment in Östermalm (no longer available)

With only a few minutes walk to the island of Djurgården, the Wasa museum, the Skansen open air museum, shopping and much more, this exclusive apartment has the perfect location in the most fashionable parts of Stockholm.

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10. Stunning view in the Old Town (no longer available)

Located in the charming Old Town, you could not ask for a better view than this. This apartment has a roof terrace with a wonderful view of the central parts of Stockholm.

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Get a $35 discount on your next stay with Airbnb

If you want to rent a place on Airbnb you can get a discount by just clicking the image below. The affiliate link will give you a $35 credit on your next stay with Airbnb if you register a new free account.

Click to get a USD 35 credit on Airbnb

Follow my travel blog at hanskullin.se.

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14 percent of Swedish teens use Vine

Twitter’s video sharing service Vine recently announced that it has 100 million monthly active users. Until now we have not had any statistics about how many local Vine users there are in Sweden, but according to a new survey by GlobalWebIndex, at least 3% of Swedish mobile internet users age 16-64 use Vine on a montly basis. Among teens (age 16-19) the penetration is much higher as 14% say they have used Vine last month.

The highest penetration among teens in the surveyed countries can be found in USA and Canada (25% and 22%).

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There are no further details about how the survey was conducted.

Top Swedish Facebook pages in May 2014

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I have received a sneak preview of the latest results from Socialbakers, regarding the results of the top brand Facebook pages in Sweden for May 2014. It also includes statistics for Youtube and Twitter channels. The Swedish beer brand Norrlands Guld has the page with the highest average post engagement rate.

Coop posted two of the three most popular posts in May
I am also happy to see that a campaign I have been working on at my job for Coop has two of the three most popular post on Facebook last month. The campaign called #ekolöftet challenged the 8 parties of the Swedish Parliament to reveal how they intend to support the growth of organic farming in Sweden. More on that in Swedish here: http://ekoloftet.coop.se/

This report will be published later today by Socialbakers.

 

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Image credit: Flickr mkhmarketing