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Absolut Gets Naked to Show That They Have Nothing to Hide

By
Luda Berdnyk
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When you go to buy booze at the supermarket, what do you normally look for? For most people, the distinguishing factor is usually the price, the brand, the flavors, or something else, but have you thought about what actually goes into your alcohol?

For Swedish-based vodka company Absolut, it’s absolutely important for you to know how they produce the world’s best vodka – in a humorous and quirky new advertisement.




Set in the idyllic town of Åhus, the video ad opens with an employee named Gunnar explaining what sets Absolut vodka apart from the rest. Thanks to a mix of only the best wheat from Åhus, the purest water from the nearby river, and the best employees, Absolut makes up to 600,000 bottles of their famous vodka a day. They’re even eco-friendly: all of the unusable hay goes to local pig farms!

Absolute’s VP of global marketing, Craig Johnson, notes, “Absolut has always believed in using its voice to promote change and we are proud to champion sustainability and transparency in our industry. We feel it’s now more important than ever to let our customers know, we have nothing to hide!”

Check out the clip below and let us know what you think!



Sweden Overtakes the United States as World Leader in Cashless Payments

By
Luda Berdnyk
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It’s fairly obvious that Sweden prefers their credit cards and mobile pay apps – just take a look at IKEA’s most recent project (or Sweden’s future cryptocurrency!)… so it comes as no surprise that Sweden is now the world leader of cashless payments.

In a recent report, Sweden has overtaken the United States when it comes to the amount of total cashless payments for the first time.




 

In 2016,  Swedes made an average of 461.5 digital transactions, which is a 13 percent increase in just one year, according to the annual World Payments Report. In the USA, the same number of non-cash payments was 459.6, with an increase of only 5.2 percent under the same period.

According to the authors of the report, Sweden is expected to hold on to its position as the world’s most cashless society. Likewise, Sweden is regarded as the poster child of cashless countries and is expected to become the world’s first cashless society by March 2023.



“This is the result of a trend which we’ve seen for a long time in Sweden. Us Swedes are tech savvy and today we can buy more or less anything using a card or a phone,” notes Pascal Olin, payment and e-commerce expert at Capgemini.

The growth in cashless payments is thanks to Sweden’s mix of technology, innovation, and an open mind to trying new things. The mobile payment app Swish was developed in Sweden and is used by over 6 million Swedes, among other apps.




“The banks are unusually good at cooperating in Sweden. Besides Swish, earlier examples are Bankomatbolaget, Bankgirot, and BankID. Very few other countries have these kinds of common solutions,” said Olin.

After Sweden and the United States, South Korea came in third, Finland in fourth, and Australia in fifth place.



Don’t You Worry Child — Swedish House Mafia Is Back

By
Elina Sundqvist
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The successful trio is making a comeback next summer.

“We felt like it was time,” they said at a press conference in Stockholm earlier this week.

First out is Tele 2 Arena in Stockholm on May 4, where the group will go on their first tour since 2012. “A lot of fans have been waiting for us, so we felt that it was time.” The trio also revealed that they’re working on new music, but gave no details about a possible release date.

 




Fans were happy, to say the least:







Tickets for the Stockholm gig go on sale on Saturday 27 October 12.00 PM (Swedish time) through Livenation.se.

 



 

 

Following Danske Bank, Nordea Finds Itself in the Middle of Money Laundering Scandal

By
Swedes in the States
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0



Nordea Bank, the largest financial institution in Scandinavia, has found itself in quite a pickle after being caught in a money laundering scandal following an investigation into foul-smelling money transfers from two banks in Lithuania and Estonia.

According to the Finnish publication, Yle, The Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten), received reports about the money laundering scandal which also seems to be closely related, if not entirely intertwined with the money laundering scandal at Danske Bank. A scandal that might, or might not, result in a 7 billion euro fine for the Danish bank. Although a large sum, it’s hard to compare to the 200 billion euros that are considered suspicious in the investigation against them.




Credit: Shutterstock

With Nordea now being investigated, reports from Swedish media outlets claim that more than 365 personal Nordea accounts received transfers of over 150 million euros, about $171 million, from shell companies suspected to have been running illegitimate businesses. On top of that, prominent Kremlin critics have publicly claimed that Russian tax frauds have been made through Nordea bank accounts. 

The scandals at Danske Bank and Nordea ironically comes shortly after both banks were known to advise clients and employees to avoid Bitcoin due to money laundering implications. Nordea also went so far as to strictly prohibit their employees from buying and trading cryptocurrencies because of it’s unregulated nature.



 

Yeehaw — A Swedish Western Ranch Is Up For Sale

By
Elina Sundqvist
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A saloon, a stable, a native American village, a hotel with 14 rooms and a dwelling house. This Western Ranch is a cowboy’s dream come true.

This unique property is located in Markaryd, Småland, Sweden and is 114,000 square meters big. The saloon comes with its own restaurant, bar, and outdoor patio, and of course, it also comes with a barbeque grill.

Photo credit: ERA Real Estate




Photo credit: ERA Real Estate






No ranch is complete without a stable, and this one could make anyone weak in the knees!

Photo credit: ERA Real Estate




Is this Sweden, or Wild West? Who knows.

Photo credit: ERA Real Estate







The hotel section of the ranch (located on top of the stable) comes with 14 unique rooms, with names such as “Mexico”, “Longhorn” or “Cowgirl”.

Photo credit: ERA Real Estate




Photo credit: ERA Real Estate

The dwelling house where the lucky new owners can reside in what is heavily inspired by the American Southern style. The house is 200 square meters large and has 5 bedroom

And now you’re probably wondering about the price for this amazing piece of property. It’s listed at just below 9 million SEK (around 1 million USD). A total bargain, if you ask us!

 



 

It’s Heating up! Southern Sweden Has Hottest Day on Record

By
Luda Berdnyk
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0



Red and orange leaves, chilly weather, and the return of Pumpkin Spice Lattes – it may feel like autumn is in full swing for most of us… but not for the residents of southern Sweden.

Last Thursday was the hottest October day in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg, as temperatures peaked at a high of 21.1C. The previous record of 20.8C was set way back in 1874 and was the uncontested champion until this year.




Thanks to a phenomenon called Brittsommar (literally translated as British Summer), other parts of Sweden also experienced a heat wave last week, such as Väderö, where temperatures hit 21C.

According to Lasse Rydqvist, a meteorologist at Sweden’s Storm Weather, “A low pressure from the Norwegian Sea makes the warm air coming from Germany and France [into Southern Sweden].”




This doesn’t come as a surprise to Swedes, which have been battling the elements for the majority of this year: from having the hottest summer on record to holding an underground pool party after torrential floods, these guys can handle it all. There’s even a popular Swedish saying — “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.”

 



New Numbers Show: More Swedes Are Approving Of Trump

By
Elina Sundqvist
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Only 1 out of 4 people outside of the US have a positive opinion about Donald Trump, and 7 out of 10 completely lack confidence in him, according to the American Pew Research Center. 

Despite the gloomy statistics, Trump’s popularity among the Swedes lies at 17%, which is an improvement comparing to last years 10%, an all-time low for an American president. These numbers are, for example, far from Barack Obama, who 93% of the Swedes supported.




The numbers suggest that Trump is even less popular than Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, who have an approval percentage of 18% and 29% among the Swedes.

But what can the main reason for Trump’s improved popularity be? Perhaps his similarities with what turned out to be the 3rd biggest party in Sweden, the Sweden Democrats?

Looking at voters from different parties, Trump is most popular among Sweden Democrats (SD) supporters. “This is not strange. There are some similarities between the two, but there are also large differences, and not all SD-supporters have positive opinions about Trump,” says Niklas Bolin, lector in political science at Mittuniversitetet, to NT.




Bolin also doesn’t believe that Trump would be successful in Sweden. “Trump is so unique, his style wouldn’t work very well in Sweden. It wouldn’t work for Jimmie Åkesson to act like Trump. It would have the opposite effect.”

Previously reported here: https://nt.se/nyheter/sverige-och-varlden-ger-tummen-ner-for-trump-om5492366.aspx

 



Swedish McDonald’s Raises Awareness for Dyslexia with Unique Ads

By
Luda Berdnyk
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If you were visiting any of Sweden’s major cities and looking at a McDonald’s billboard or menu, you might notice something very odd: the letters would start moving and rearranging themselves! 

No, this isn’t a magic trick or technical glitch: it’s actually McDonald’s Sweden raising awareness for World Dyslexia Day, which was held on October 4 this year. This learning disability affects up to 20 percent of people around the world and makes it difficult to read accurately. These advertisements were a creative collaboration with Nord DDB, one of the most popular ad agencies in Scandinavia. To see how they work, check out the video below:



“McDonald’s is big enough to make a difference,” noted Christoffer Rönnblad, the Marketing Director for McDonald’s Sweden. “It feels good to be able to use our scale and our voice in society to visualize an invisible problem that many suffer from.”

Along with the ads, each Happy Meal came with a free book that details a young boy’s struggles with dyslexia and about his everyday life.




What do you think about the ad? Would you be surprised to see a menu move on screen? Let us know in the comments!



[L.A] Nordic Nights with David Heinemeier Hansson: “Americans have terrible work-life balance”

By
Swedes in the States
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0
Ida Bo Frazier, David Heinemeier Hansson, Creator of Ruby on Rails, and Swedes in the States founder, Natalie de Silva Söderberg.



Nordic Nights proves to be a continued success with the latest event, featuring keynote speaker, David Heinemeier Hansson, was sold out days in advance. 

Nordic Nights is the monthly event hosted by Nordic.LA at their office located on 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles (same office as Swedes in the States!). The idea behind the networking event is to give American and Nordic creatives a chance to listen, mingle and be inspired by relevant, exciting and experienced keynote speakers.




Last week, David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of the popular Ruby on Rails, a web-application framework, and partner of the web-based software development firm, Basecamp, was the keynote speaker. The young Danish author, programmer, and mogul had quite a bit to share about his view on entrepreneurship, his own experiences being an entrepreneur in the United States and, low and behold, the terrible work-life balance that he says most Americans have.

Long hours, an excessive workload, and a lack of sleep have become a badge of honor for working professionals in the U.S. whereas David means that this instead is a sign of stupidity. “I didn’t get 100% more done when I started working full-time from part-time. I got a little bit more done but it wasn’t like I automatically doubled in efficiency”




Other takeaways from David speech was the importance of spending your time wisely and in order to do so, saying no to things that just aren’t important enough or won’t benefit you. So that FOMO- feeling that you might have sometimes? Get rid of it.

This Nordic risktaker who co-wrote the book: “It doesn’t have to be crazy at work”, kept coming back to the importance of a healthy work-life balance, which is clearly inspired by his Danish upbringing. Thanks to that, he said: “I can enjoy a grateful, humble, enjoyable life.”



A sold out Nordic Nights event.
Heidi Luukkonen from the Finnish Consulate in Los Angeles.




Ida Bo Frazier, David Heinemeier Hansson, Creator of Ruby on Rails, and Swedes in the States founder, Natalie de Silva Söderberg.
Ida Bo Frazier, David Heinemeier Hansson, Creator of Ruby on Rails, and Swedes in the States founder, Natalie de Silva Söderberg.




Ida Bo Frazier, Sidsel Nyholm and David Heinemeier Hansson.



3 Swedish companies that are going to help Sweden become more climate positive

By
Ida Eriksson
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0



Being climate positive is now more important than ever. These three Swedish consumer brands are leading the way towards a better planet.

H&M

H&M’s goal is to be completely climate positive by 2040.

This is a commitment that they’re striving to uphold by focusing on energy efficient measures and renewable energy. Their goal is to minimize the emissions from their own operations as much as they can and furthermore help strengthening the planet’s ability to recover and resist climate change. H&M states on their website: “Becoming climate positive throughout our value chain means reducing more greenhouse gas emissions than what our value chain emits.”

IKEA



According to a recent press release, part of IKEA’s strategy to contribute to a better planet is by planting trees. Their goal is to see a positive change by 2030, and in order to have a positive impact on the climate, IKEA is working toward capturing and storing carbon dioxide both through own contractors as well as their forest resources.

“Our aim is to use more renewable and recycled materials, eliminate waste in our operations and change the way we design products and the services we offer customers to prolong the life of products and see products as resources for the future,” IKEA states in the press release.

MAX Burgers




MAX Burgers has worked consciously for a long time with its impact on the environment.  So much so that recently, the fast food chain created the world’s first climate positive menu. Read our article about it here.

Their new menu includes everything you would want in a good burger menu, but with more vegan and vegetarian options. Furthermore, MAX is also taking measures such as relying on wind power and recycling frying oil.




MAX not only compensates for 100 percent of their restaurants’ emissions, but they also contribute an additional 10 percent by planting trees which absorbs carbon dioxide.
“We add new approaches and solutions all the time, and will continue to do so in the future,” Max Burgers states on their website.



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Swedes in the States is a community created by Swedes living in the States for Swedes living in the States, and everyone else who is interested in Scandinavian culture, businesses and projects. All our editors and contributors are strongly connected to Scandinavia while living their dream in the United States. The parallels between our countries are astonishing and exciting, and you are invited to read all about it is politics, fashion, design or food. Välkommen!
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