The branding consultant Martin Roll says that Danish companies can use their “Danishness” to their advantage. In an interview with the Danish business newspaper Børsen, he advises Danish companies to stand up for their Danish values.

Denmark has many great values that can be relevant to people outside of Denmark. The challenge as I see it is communicating them in a way that the rest of the world can understand.

It’s not about imposing these values on others, but more about putting them in the context of what is important. Companies are experiencing that, yes, they can use Danish values - but they just shouldn’t call them “Danish values”. Instead, these Danish values need to be described specifically and in context using clear, concise language. This is the big challenge facing many Danish companies.

According to a recent article in Markedsføring, tourists are turning their backs on Denmark. And Denmark’s marketeers are blaming the porcelain-obsessed marketing that pushes Denmark as a fairytale land. Instead, the marketeers would like to see greater focus on Christiania, the gay scene and Denmark’s free-mindedness. This seems like a good idea to me.

Look at one of Denmark’s neighbours and biggest tourist competitors, Norway. Even Norway has a porcelain factory that pumps out exquisite, and expensive, porcelain. And while fairytales may be good for kids, Norway has fjords, mountains and polar bears (not in the streets!).

So the key would be to find Denmark’s unique selling points (USPs) and push these to the hilt. So what are they? As the marketeers say, Christiania is a good one - and regularly comes high on lists of Denmark’s top tourist attractions. But it’s been watered down in recent years.

So what else is there? While Denmark’s gay scene and free-mindedness may not be unique, they certainly appeal to the country’s closest neighbours. And they could be harnessed until Denmark becomes known as Northern Europe’s most open-minded nation. That would have some appeal to certain tourist profiles.

Whatever happens, as the marketeers point out, it has to overcome Denmark’s recent bad international publicity. Take a look at CCN’s Danish section and you’ll see why. It’s all Salmonella and Islamic ire. But according to CNN, Denmark still ranks highest as the happiest place on Earth. Perhaps it’s about time people outside Denmark began to see why - and when they did, they might also discover Denmark’s USP.

At Eye for Image, we see spelling mistakes every day. Some make us cringe, others make us laugh. We cringed and laughed when we saw the job title “Pubic Sector Analyst.” Ooops. Even spellcheck wouldn’t help with that one.

But can you just imagine you are a Public Sector Analyst? You’re at a meeting. You’ve just given out your business cards to each of the 10 people at the table. Then you notice the missing letter ‘l’ in your job title. How on earth do you recover from that one???

Spelling. For some, it’s a cinch. For others, it’s a minefield. It’s one of the very first things we begin to learn at school, and we keep on learning as long as we are reading and writing. Oh, how spellcheck programs have simplified our lives! But those pesky misspellings show up anyway.

Our recent WordSpin article on misspellings in English lists 16 common ones. Check it out and see if you learn something new.

Got a memorable spelling mistake yourself? Post a comment on this blog entry and let us know what it was. We promise to laugh with you, not at you!

This car advert caught my eye on a recent trip to Poland. But something in the number plate put me off buying one.