| Summary: | The neighboring towns of Haparanda and Tornio are divided by the border between Finland and Sweden in the southern part of the Torne River. The two cities have worked closely together for the past decades and have in recent times virtually “grown together”. In recent years the cities have arranged a joint new year’s celebration called Happy New Twice. The purpose of this thesis is to study potential challenges that arose during the planning and execution of Happy New Twice 2019; and if intercultural challenges can have an effect on the interaction across the border. The empirical material is based on three semi-structured interviews that later were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. To examine the participants’ experiences working with Happy New Twice, the theoretical framework of this thesis is drawn from the approach of Nederveen Pieterse’s theory Globalization as Hybridization, Iben Jensen’s analytical tools for intercultural communication, Jarosław Jańczak’s studies on town twinning in Europe and Philip Kotler’s marketing theory place branding. The results show that while the interaction across borders is working fine between the two cities, there are still challenges with joint events, such as Happy New Twice. Even though Happy New Twice is a popular event, it can be difficult to make the event feel mutually acknowledging of both cities. There are also external factors such as the time difference and the covid-19 pandemic that can affect events like Happy New Twice in the future. Despite these challenges, HaparandaTornio has used the multiculturalism of the area in a positive aspect and the cities have been able to use it as part of their place branding.
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