Faces and Markets of PRGN is a new series of blog posts in 2024 that puts PRGN member agencies and their markets in the spotlight.
Each week, expect to read about a market from an economic, business and communications point of view, brought to you by the very people living and working on the ground in that country, state or region.
The blog pieces illustrate the vast amount of in-depth knowledge of business, media, communications and marketing PRGN brings together having presence in more than 40 countries and 70 cities on six continents through its member agencies globally.
In this week’s blog post, Martin Lucander, Partner at Aspekta AB, describes the business and communications environment in Sweden and offers advice to businesses navigating his home market.
Business environment in Sweden
Sweden is an EU member state and benefits greatly from the free movement of goods, services, people, and capital. Located in the middle of the Nordic region, Sweden has historically also cultivated strong trade relations and close cooperation with its neighbouring Nordic countries. Other main trade and export partners are Germany, the USA, and the UK.
Malmö, Sweden | Photo: Max Nordanåker/Clarion Hotel (https://visitsweden.com)
The Swedish economy is highly developed, competitive, open, diverse, and export-oriented and dependent on free international trade. The economy is characterised by a strong entrepreneurial tradition, innovation-driven businesses, and the development of many novel technical solutions across several business sectors, such as engineering, manufacturing & industrials, IT & telecom, and life sciences. Moreover, Sweden’s stable political environment, a society with strong democratic institutions, a highly educated labour force, well-functioning legal system, and modern communication infrastructure creates an attractive investment climate.
Communications, media and PR market in Sweden
Sweden is considered to be one of the most digitalised countries in the world. A recent study showed that internet usage is at 96% and almost half (45%) of Swedes use social media as a news source. The media sector has undergone a far-reaching digitalisation over the past decade, and while print newspapers remain relevant, they play a subordinate role in the overall media landscape. Given the country’s modest size of population (10.5 million), there are accordingly fewer media outlets compared to bigger European media markets. The media landscape is characterised by a few major media groups, i.e. the commercial companies ‘Bonnier Group’ and ‘Schibsted’, as well as the public service organisations ‘Swedish Radio and Television’ (SVT) and ‘Swedish Broadcasting Corporation’ (SR). Main media outlets are Dagens Nyheter (news), Dagens Industri (business), Svenska Dagbladet (news), and Sydsvenskan (news).
Key expertise of Aspekta
1. Financial Communications – Over the years, Aspekta has specialised in supporting listed clients in the field of financial communications covering strategic financial reporting, IPOs, investor relations support, and building financial brands.
2. Sustainability Communications – With the growing prominence of ESG and associated legislation Aspekta has been driving the development of sustainability communication and reporting in Sweden and has several sustainability specialists advising clients on handling new expectations and demands.
3. Brand-building – Aspekta has a long track record of helping clients in the development of communications strategies and campaigns as well as stakeholder analyses to ensure that the right target groups are reached with the right messages in the right channels.
4. Crisis Communications – Aspekta offers a comprehensive approach to crisis preparation and senior management training as well as providing immediate support during ongoing crises.
Top 3 advice for foreign companies to navigate the media and communications environment in Sweden
1. Be succinct: When pitching to Swedish journalists, refrain from over-detailed descriptions and superlative language. Describe your story briefly and succinctly, emphasising what it is about and its news-worthiness. If possible, define the unique aspects already in the mail subject, include contact information, and attach additional information (e.g. press release) to the e-mail.
2. Use Swedish: Unless directed to a Swedish-based English media outlet, communicate in Swedish during pitch e-mails and ensure that attached materials are translated. The additional task of translating your story will undoubtedly hamper journalists’ interest. Working through an intermediary – such as an agency – could therefore be helpful.
3. Don’t oversell: In general, Swedes are rather suspicious towards hyperbolic language about an event, product, corporate initiative, etc. and may instead come to doubt the truthfulness of a message. Temper the language of information, provide a moderately positive tone, and focus on receiver value.
Most influential media for consumer communication in Sweden
Aftonbladet is a top-tier tabloid focusing on bringing entertainment alongside daily news updates. The tabloid has one of the largest readerships in Sweden and is part of the Schibsted Media Group.
Expressen is another top-tier tabloid featuring entertainment as well as news, debate articles and investigative journalism. Part of the Bonnier Group.
TV4 is the leading commercial TV channel in Sweden incorporating a diverse broadcasting coverage of both news reporting as well as entertainment.
Most influential media for corporate communications in Sweden
TT is the main news agency in Sweden and provides media outlets across Sweden with content and news articles. Coverage in TT usually results in wide media coverage and high impact.
SVT is the Swedish national public service TV broadcaster and is one of the main dominating media outlets in terms of reach and influence. SVT brings daily news reports and is among the media companies that are the most trusted by Swedes.
Dagens Industri is Sweden’s main business and industry newspaper covering both domestic and international corporate news of companies, industries, financial markets, and the economy. Target audiences are senior management, investors, public policy-makers, and industry.
Dagens Nyheter as well as Svenska Dagbladet are two of the leading daily newspapers in Sweden covering both international and national news stories as well as being strong platforms for publishing opinion and debate articles.
Most popular social media channels in Sweden
YouTube: 8.7 million users. Youtube is the most used social media platform in Sweden.
Facebook: 5.65 million users. It is one of the most popular media platforms and its Swedish audience is mainly Millennials and Generation Z.
Instagram: 5.5 million users. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in Sweden and particularly popular among young women.
LinkedIn: 4.76 million users. LinkedIn is most popular among men born in the 60s and 70s (Gen-X).
Snapchat: 4 million users. People born in the ’00s and ’90s are at the top in terms of the percentage of Swedish users of Snapchat.
TikTok: 3.39 million users. TikTok was pointed out being the fastest growing social media platform among Swedes in 2023
X: 2.6 million users. X is a popular platform among Swedish men as the proportion of men who use X is greater than the number of female users.
Most important international events in Sweden in 2024
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 – This international songwriting competition is the world’s largest live music event and will this year take place in Malmö, Sweden. The Eurovision Song Context gathers approx. 160 million viewers globally and is an important cultural event that brings together European nations every year. https://eurovision.tv/event/malmo-2024
Almedalsveckan – Almedalen week is an annual democratic and political meeting point that takes place for several days at the end of June on the Swedish island of Gotland. Here, policymakers, NGOs, lobbyists, consultants and people from various industries and backgrounds get together and debate, network, and have meetings on different societal, corporate, and social issues. https://www.almedalsveckan.info/english
The European Parliamentarian Election – Between June 6 and 9, Swedes as well as other EU member-states, are going to the polls to elect the members of the EU Parliament that will drive EU legislation for the next five years. https://elections.europa.eu/en/
Sweden by the Numbers*
Population
10.5 million
Languages spoken
Swedish
Religions (% of population)
Protestant (63.9%), other Christian (4.1%), Muslim (2.5%), not religious (26.8%)
GDP per capita
$56,785 (2023)
(Real) GDP growth rate
-0.2% (2023)
Inflation rate
2.5% (Feb. 2024)
Unemployment rate
8.5% (Feb. 2024)
Key sectors and industries (% of GDP)
Services (63.62%), industry (23.95%), agriculture (1.46%), other (10.97%) – 2022
Mobile penetration (X per 100 people)
97 (2023)
Internet users (% of population)
96% (2023 – over age 16)
Corporate profit tax:
20.6 (2023)
Rate of consumer tax or VAT:
25% (2024)
* Statistical data from Ekonomifakta.se, Swedish Foreign Ministry and the Swedish Statistical Central Database (SCB).
Martin Lucander is a partner and senior advisor in sustainability and corporate communication. He leads Aspekta’s offerings within sustainability communication and provides strategic advice and leads development processes for both global and national listed and non-listed clients. Martin works cross-functionally within Aspekta’s branding, crisis, and financial communications offerings and is also an avid blog poster and recurrent guest lecturer at the universities of Malmö and Lund.
