Since 2010, we have supported the foundation Naturarvet, working to preserve Swedish old-growth forests. Besides donations, we also support Naturarvet with storytelling about their work and their mission – and why the old-growth forests are so important. A newly released film is our latest contribution.

Naturarvet raises money to purchase valued old-growth forest and protect biodiversity in Sweden. Over the years, the foundation has raised over 2.5 million Euro and has ensured protection of six unique forests for the future.

Altogether, we have helped protect roughly 13,000 square meters of forest over the years. In the nature reserve Iglekärr forest just north of Gothenburg, we have a dedicated area that is “our” contribution. Iglekärr is a beautiful mixed forest with plenty of pine, spruce, and oak, but also many other species – and it is completely free from any traces of the forestry industry.

Our latest contribution is a short film, where Naturarvet’s Operations Manager Lo Jarl is interviewed. The filming took place in one of the latest acquisitions: The forest Svartsundet on Gräsö in Roslagen’s archipelago north of Stockholm. This acquisition was made possible partly from large donations from the Swedish outdoor companies Naturkompaniet and Icebug.

Special thanks to film editor Emelie Otterbeck and photographer Morgan Ekner.

Watch the film here and learn more about Naturarvet.

 

From material insights to extending the lifespan of products in the great outdoors. NORR Agency has together with Fjällräven’s sustainability team co-produced an overview of the Swedish company’s achievements, projects and milestones in 2022. The Fjällräven CSR Review is based on the parent company Fenix Outdoor’s CSR Report 2022. Three key takeaways:

1 The G1000-family (except the stretch fabrics), made of recycled polyester and organic cotton, is an important step towards less carbon intense materials.

2 Fjällräven continues to be a pioneer in phasing out PFC’s within the outdoor industry, looking into details that many other companies don’t address yet, such as zippers.

3 The collaboration with The New Zeeland Merino Company and its ZQRX initiative helps regenerate the wool supply chain on many levels.

Learn more about Fjällräven’s sustainability approach here: https://www.fjallraven.com/uk/en-gb/about-fjallraven/sustainability

 

 

In December 2022, Primus and NORR Agency started an editorial collaboration that includes inspirational and educational texts in Swedish, English and German for the Primus Camp platform.

For 130 years, Primus has manufactured outdoor kitchens and accessories that have inspired people to spend time and cook in nature. A year ago, Primus Camp was launched – an editorial platform filled with recipes for outdoor cooking, inspiring stories and knowledge on how to best use your outdoor kitchen.

As of December 2022 and onwards, NORR Agency will help with knowledge-enhancing texts in Swedish, English and German. The texts will guide readers to choose the right kitchen, fuel and accessories, but also inspire them to go out and explore nature.

“That NORR Agency gets to work with such a strong and classic brand as Primus feels both fun and natural. We share their love for outdoor life and want to inspire more people to get out into nature,” says Andreas Björkman, project manager at NORR Agency.

Primus Camp is Sweden’s first platform that specifically focuses on recipes and knowledge about outdoor cooking. Lisa Löwenborg is the creative lead for Primus and believes that NORR Agency’s experience in outdoor life will come in handy:

“One of our ideas with Primus Camp is to lower the threshold for people to get out in nature, including through outdoor recipes and inspiring blog posts. Thanks to their knowledge of outdoor life and nature, we chose to work with NORR Agency as an editorial partner to create relevant content. We are very pleased with their deliveries and language skills,” says Lisa Löwenborg.

Foto: Helge Roeske

 

Our B2B magazine, Suston Magazine, have guided and inspired towards positive change within the outdoor community since 2017. Our newsletter Suston Monthly is our latest addition – remember to sign up!

Since the start, we have had this mission with Suston Magazine to push, guide and inspire the outdoor industry towards positive change. Over these years, we can see that so many good steps have been taken. Can this industry even become a leader, that others can follow? We think so – but at the same time, the journey has only just begun.

What we also see is the rising interest for sustainability within the broader outdoor community – as well as their rising interest for Suston Magazine. Our online platform has doubled its numbers of visitors within the last year, and out Suston Monthly has an opening rate that doubles what is usually seen as best practice for newsletters.

This is our conviction: The outdoor industry and the outdoor enthusiasts who go skitouring, climbing, trekking, etc in many ways share the same visions and goals. Therefore, we will in 2023 reach out and include the outdoor community even more, both in our spring magazine and online. Our upgraded, bold vision: To be the leading voice for a sustainable outdoor community. We will share more in Suston Monthly, so make sure you have signed up.

Gabriel Arthur, Editor-in-chief Suston Magazine.

 

Since more than 15 years Impact Hub has been a catalyst for entrepreneurial action moving for a more just and sustainable society. NORR Agency have Impact Hub as basecamp since 2021 and share both office space and values.

– I have been attending engaging Impact Hub events from time to time over the years, and we at NORR Agency share the vision that entrepreneurs should act for positive impact in society and for the environment. It’s great that we now get the chance to have Impact Hub as our basecamp in Stockholm, says Gabriel Arthur, CEO of NORR Agency.

Today the co-working network includes over 100 Impact hubs and 16 900 members in more than 60 countries. Impact Hub Stockholm is climate-positive since 2020 and is compensating by offsetting 150 % or their carbon emissions. Environmentally-designed furniture, zero emission energy, bamboo toilet paper and smart lightning are just a few of many sustainable choices they’ve made.

– We believe a better world is possible through the collaborative efforts of everyday individuals, committed for a common purpose. That’s why we’ve focused on reducing our coworking space’s carbon footprint, by choosing to collaborate with sustainable and ethical suppliers. Meanwhile, we do what we can to support our community every step of the way. Together we’re prototyping the future of business and society, says Gabriela A. Rodriguez, CEO at Impact Hub Stockholm

2022 Impact Hub Stockholm was awarded Best Coworking Space in the Nordics by the Nordic Startup Awards. Congratulations and it feels great to be a part of such a meaningful network.

 

Werner Müller-Schell from NORR Agency’s magazine NORR Magazin was in the international jury for the Scnandinavian Outdoor Awards 2022. Testing overall prize winner Woolpower’s Zip Turtleneck 200 among other sustainable products.

There are many good outdoor products. But which ones stand out from the crowd? To find out, there are institutions like the Scandinavian Outdoor Award that regularly awards outdoor products from Scandinavian companies according to criteria such as functionality, quality, innovation, design and sustainability – and selects the winners in various categories.

The NORR editorial team have maintained a close connection to the organizer of the Scandinavian Outdoor Award for many years. Scandinavian Outdoor Group (SOG) is an association in which numerous Scandinavian outdoor and sporting goods manufacturers are organized. Among other things SOG has been presenting the Scandinavian Outdoor Award since 2005.

This time the jury meeting with a panel of outdoor experts, including NORR Agency editor Werner Müller-Schell, took place in the Zillertal glacier in Austria. The focus was not only on the function of the nominated products of next year, but above all (and in the spirit of NORR Magazin and NORR Agency) the topic of sustainability.

For this reason, after long discussions, the jury finally agreed that the overall victory this time should not go to a new product, but to a product that has made a name for itself over the last decade thanks to its durability: the Woolpower Zip Turtleneck 200. The Swedish company Hestra won the Sustainability Award for the most sustainable concept with the Alpine Pro Mono Wool gloves.

 

Other winners:

– Y MountainLine Wooltech Midlayer Jacket from Bergans of Norway.

– Constrictor Icegrip Warm GTX shoes from Viking Outdoor Footwear

– Kids’ Osteri down jacket from Finnish brand Reima.

Jury: Frank Wacker (Outdoor Magazine), Gijs Loning (Outdoorguru.com), Piotr Drożdż (Góry Magazine), Joel Svedlund (Peak 63 – Outdoor Lab), Marie Kjellnäs, Sophie Lantto (Utemagasinet), Harald Angerer (Auffimuasi), Werner Müller-Schell (NORR Magazine, NORR Agency)

 

NORR Agency is very happy to announce that we now have a representative in Östersund, Sweden: Henrika Lavonius-Wike. As a copywriter, Henrika has been writing for brands like Fjällräven, Elevenate and Jämtkraft. Over the last few years, she has been working at the communication agency Trampolin PR in Östersund, where Henrika lives  with her family.

With a passion for the great outdoors and sustainability and her long experience of writing, NORR Agency CEO Gabriel Arthur thinks Henrika is a perfect match:

– We have had the privilege of working with Henrika from time to time for over a decade. She has that special feeling for text, flow and storytelling that we are looking for.

– Also, it will be very good for us to have a representative in Östersund, since the Jämtland region is a Swedish hub for outdoor – home to many outdoor companies and enthusiasts drawn to its fantastic mountains.

Henrika’s first assignment for NORR Agency has been to establish a new format and workflow for product texts for Hestra – and to write the texts for some 400+ glove models.

– While being hands-on, product information is an integral part of brand  communication and it has been very inspiring to work with Hestra, which is one  of Sweden’s finest outdoor brands. Also, it feels fantastic to join the team at NORR Agency, says Henrika.

 

After more than ten years, NORR has left Google Analytics for measuring traffic on norrmagazin.de, its digital platform about sustainable outdoor and travelling in Scandinavia (ca. 30,000 visitors/month).

Instead, the company is now using the web analysis tool Plausible, which is based on a lightweight open-source code promising higher page speed and much better data integrity. Plausible collects information anonymously, gives the site owner control over the data and makes sure that it doesn’t leave the borders of the EU. No disturbing “cookie banners” are needed any more.

“The new tool gives us actionable and valuable insights for improving our content – but without touching the privacy of our readers”, says NORR’s editorial manager Philipp Olsmeyer. “At the same time, the script is 45 times smaller than Google Analytics which cuts down loading times and even the carbon footprint of the page.”

According to Philipp Olsmeyer, NORR’s switch to Plausible is another step to more sustainable digital publishing. Since the re-launch of norrmagazin.de in 2020, all servers, hosting services and analyzing tools are powered with renewable energies. The site is running on Oktavilla’s innovative publishing platform Arto which includes Plausible as an analyzing tool.

 

On World Ocean Day, the 8th of June, people all over the globe can unite and take action for the blue planet. NORR Agency joins the initiative each year – changing office chairs with kayaks and paddling to places near Stockholm that urgently need a clean-up.

In 2022, our destination was Rotholmen. The tiny islet is located vis-á-vis a popular bathing place and passed by many boats on their route from the city center out to the Mälaren lake. A beautiful piece of nature that unfortunately gets quite messy under the summer season – with non-degradable leftovers from its visitors and floating urban trash accumulating  along its shores.

We started from Långholmen in central Stockholm and returned 5 hours later with 6 full garbage bags including plastic packages, bottles, cans, single-use grills and special discoveries like mattress and a half-filled yellow paint-bucket. Of course we also found time for a coffee by the sea, a jump into the water and a good talk with all colleagues, partners, and freelancers that joined the trip.

The concept of a World Ocean Day was proposed by Canada on the Earth Summit in Rio 1992 – with the mission to protect and restore our shared ocean and climate by working together.

 

Accounting for 2-4% of the greenhouse gas emissions, information and communication technologies (ICT) have a bigger impact on global warming than the entire aviation industry. And with the ongoing digitalization numbers are constantly rising.

When launching our new digital platform norrmagazin.de we therefore did not only want to improve design, functionality and content but also the carbon footprint of our own online magazine: Our main servers (Cloudnet), hosting services (Linode/Equinix datacenter) and analyzing tools (Plausible) are now completely running on renewable energies. An important  milestone on our way to Swedens first climate-neutral agency.

The editorial website was developed together with our partner Oktavilla and runs on the innovative publication platform Arto.