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Branding and design lectures and workshops in Moscow

I was invited to Moscow by the bighearted people of Identity Magazine¹ to give a lecture and a workshop together with Mr. Tony Spaeth of Identityworks, one of the most prominent branding experts alive. Our lectures were part of the 13th edition of Design and Advertising exhibition, the largest Russian event of the trade — where Identity Magazine's booth presented all Best of the Best 2007 entries (competition for which Tony and I were members of the jury).

Identity Magazine's booth at the 13th edition of Design and Advertising exhibition in Moscow.

Tony promoted in both the lecture and the workshop his corporate rebranding analysis tool, the Corporate Brand Matrix.

Hands-on session with Tony Spaeth's Corporate Brand Matrix at British Higher School of Art and Design (BHSAD).

Tony's lecture "Corporate Branding — Towards a unified theory" on Corporate Brand Matrix at Design and Advertising exhibition.

My lecture named "Design: a business escalator" was about using design as a business tool able to leverage the power of challenger companies attacking difficult markets.

My lecture "Design: a business escalator" at Design and Advertising exhibition.

I found dealing with consecutive translation (the were far too many people for simultaneous translation) a bit tricky, but — with the help of a very acknowledged translator — I managed to pull it off without losing the contact with my public. Their applause warmed my heart and the Q&A session went on and on, revealing a mighty interested and motivated audience.

My workshop "Brand idea: a designer's Swiss army knife", took place at the [British Higher School of Art and Design (BHSAD)] in Moscow — one of the most important centers of design education in Russia, run by young people.

My workshop "Brand idea: a designer's Swiss army knife" at British Higher School of Art and Design (BHSAD).

The workshop was about design strategy — using brand idea techniques for developing vast and complex identity programs — for an audience comprising of designers and identity professionals. I had simultaneous translation this time and the show went on exactly as planned.

A part of the audience — "Best of the Best" organizers and British Higher School of Art and Design students.

There were two hours of workshop followed by almost two hours of Q&A with a wonderful audience — it felt really good to see the young Russian designers so interested and smart. A terrific evening — absolutely exhausting, but great nevertheless.

¹ Identity is the only high-profile printed magazine focused on corporate and product identity I have knowledge of. Unfortunately, until now its content was in Russian making it difficult to be globally accepted. All this will change, and from the next issue — its editors promises — it will be bilingual (Russian and English).

Aneta Bogdan - Managing Partner Brandient, Lucian Georgescu - Managing Partner GAV Scholz & Friends and Bogdan Naumovici - Regional Creative Director Leo Burnett, as guests in Catalin Stefanescu's 100% Guaranteed TV show — an edition about Fabulospirit advertising framework.

Branding Romania: expect no nation-wide consensus about this one, there will be no such thing. Branding has to be approached from a business perspective — not a humanist one — and analyzed with business acumen. The process should be transparent yet uninfluenced by non-players and people with no expertise. Bottom line: in spite of all media noise experts should — and will — carry on with the job.

Mirror mirror on the wall...

While there are tens of companies claiming “branding” expertise in their portfolio of services, customers vote with their wallet. A quick look through the newly released official 2005 turnover figures suggests the following Top 3:

1. FutureBrand/BrandTailors/McCann-Erickson – 574k USD (based mainly on McCann-Erickson's clients),
2. Brandient – 470k USD,
3. Chrysopeea – 405k USD (a good design company from Cluj-Napoca that talks little but does much).

Further down the pyramid — under 350k USD turnover — there are many design, web-design, events and production companies (e.g. Grapefruit, Brânzaș Design, Synopsismedia etc) and freelance designers that cover parts of the branding jobs.

On a side note

Some of the also-runners are over-vocal for their size and portfolio, which is okay as long as it's a Darwinian “survival of the noisest” attempt. Nevertheless, it is outright goofy when a contender (respectable otherwise) that didn't even make it to the Top 3 is self-proclaimed “the largest Romanian branding and design consultancy”.¹ In branding, bluffing is the worst strategy. In business, it can stain not only the bluffer's reputation, but the credibility of the whole industry.

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¹ See capture. Website was modified since.