The world's most curious man contemplates writing, branding and travelling with an insane degree of nuance.

jeremy@jeremyhildreth.com

Tourist Friendliness 101

The restored Königsberg Cathedral

One hundred and fifty euros for a Russian visa. Nearly six hours waiting to cross the border at Sovetsk/Tilsit. And 134km from there to the city of Kaliningrad/Königsberg.

Königsberg Cathedral is the jewel of what precious little is left here of German architecture — the site the official tourist brochure says to visit first and foremost.

When we got there, at 1pm on a summer Sunday, it was closed of course.

Because it was the weekend.

Lesson: if you want to keep your customers, you MIGHT consider keeping your customers’ hours.

That said, we are really enjoying walking around this one-of-a-kind city, nourished by good, cheap beer (and no open container laws) and the legendary Belomorkanal pinch-filter cigarettes at 6 rubles (that’s almost 11 whole English pence) a pack.

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New destination

The WhereBrands place branding blog is the new soapbox for my strong opinions and invaluable wisdom about place-related marketing.

You’ve found me!

Not always easy. As an international brand copywriter, Wall Street Journal arts page contributor and near-nomad, the road is my home.

The constant stimulation of an ever-changing confluence of people, place and moment has shown itself to be the ideal salve for my painful curiosity about this astounding phenomenon we call human conscious life.

So I travel.

Meanwhile, I tell my stories and I help others tell theirs, doing my bit make the world safe for good writing and good marketing. I've had an eventful career so far (read the full "about me" stuff here; for better or worse, it's almost all true).

At present, I am creative director of WhereBrands, a company I founded to coach cities, countries and companies on how to make the most of [a] place. WhereBrands' site is devoted wholly to place-related marketing, branding and communications, as is the WhereBrands place branding blog.

The rest of my brilliant insights about marketing, writing and travelling you'll find right here (along with the lousy ones). I encourage you to leave comments, or, if you feel yourself a kindred spirit, drop me a line; I'm always glad to hear from clever, exotic people like you.

Speaking on YouTube

Speaking on YouTube

A string of funny and insightful anecdotes about the way countries regard (or loathe) themselves, and how that affects outsiders' perceptions (clip: 2 mins).

In the news: Branding the hard way

In the news: Branding the hard way

Jeremy tells CNN/Fortune that Estonia getting the Euro is an 'unfakeable' positive signal for the country. "It's something that they've earned from scratch."

In the news: Jeremy’s new book is out

In the news: My new book is out

Brand America (2nd edition): the making, unmaking and remaking of the greatest national image of all time. Co-authored with Simon Anholt.

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