Anaezi Modu — founder of ReBrand competition — pings me via e-mail:

I would appreciate it if you could spread the word about the upcoming deadline for the 2008 ReBrand 100 through your blog or whatever network you think makes sense there. Our time is short before September 26, so all the help offered is greatly welcome!

If you have case studies to send, better hurry up. Spread the word, too.

For those who are not familiar with this competition, “ReBrand 100 Global Awards, juried by an esteemed panel of international business leaders, is the highest recognition for brand rebuilding and redesign in the business arena.”

Brandient won until now 5 awards in this global competition: 2 Distinction Awards in 2007 with Domo and Savana and 3 Merit Awards in 2005 with Romanian Public Television, Europharm and Smartree. This means it’s totally doable.

Furthermore, in 2006 Brandient’s Managing Partner Aneta Bogdan was part of the high-profile international jury that gathered in Providence, Rhode Island, along with Steve Frykholm – Vice President and Creative Director of Herman Miller, Bill Hill – Chairman & Founder of MetaDesign San Francisco, Ed Lussier – Senior Vice President and Creative Director with Reebok and Po Cheung – Managing Director at FutureBrand China, to name only a few.

Click for the entry form — and good luck!

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 alongside Mr. Tony Spaeth of Identityworks, one of the most prominent branding experts nowadays. 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).

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.

¹ See capture. Website was modified since.