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Russia has a new tourism brand

On Thursday, November 29, the Public Council of Rostourism discussed the final version of Russia's tourism brand. The Public Council approved the sign, the motto of which is "Russia is the whole world." The press service of the organization reported this to the TRN portal

 

 

As the head of Rostourism Oleg Safonov emphasized during the meeting, the project to create a Russian brand has been underway for several years. "Every country that actively develops and promotes tourism in the world has a brand. 144 countries in the world have such brands and slogans. We do not, and this is a serious omission. It is important for us to promote our tourism both domestically and abroad," he noted.

At the first stage, it was decided to work with citizens, and an open competition for the development of the country's brand was announced, the head of Rostourism recalled. More than 10 thousand proposals were received, there were even professional works, but in most cases these were kind and naive options. Three winners of the public competition received awards. "But we realized that we need to work with professionals," Oleg Safonov explained. "We contacted the Association of Branding Companies of Russia, and they responded eagerly to our proposal. They considered it important to participate in this historical process."

 

 

Now the work has come to an end. Alexey Andreev, the head of the Association, spoke about the process: “It was easy to recruit professionals for this work. After all, the state looked at us in the person of Rostourism. This is an unprecedented story, we have done a huge consolidated job. There was no experience of such volunteer work, we did not find any global examples. First of all, together with Rostourism and representatives of the professional community, we created a route map. It was clear that allies would be needed. We contacted educational institutions, professional communities interested in branding, design, and the reputation of territories. This is how the expert council was formed. We also defended ourselves from the legal side, because this is intellectual work.”

30 balanced full-fledged strategies were received, said Alexey Andreev, of which 10 finalists were selected. They moved on to a popular vote, which was held online on the website for three months. As a result, three final proposals were placed on the jury's table. The head of the Association of Branding Companies of Russia cited some figures: the brand's presentation video has already been viewed more than 40 thousand times, more than 50 professionals made up the Russian branding team that worked on the project, more than 30 articles about the Russian tourism brand were published on foreign resources dedicated to branding, more than 80 reviews are dedicated to it on the Internet, specialists spoke about the history of the brand's creation at more than 10 events in Paris, Milan, Berlin, Cannes.

The winning concept is a sign created in the style of Suprematism, and the motto "Russia is the whole world", it received the majority of votes from the jury. "The theme of Suprematism is one of the cross-cutting themes in Russian culture, and we found communication tools that will allow us to present the country in this brand," says Alexey Andreyev. "The metaphor was a picture that represents a map of the country. It can be broken down into details and at the same time remains recognizable. The brand design can be used everywhere and in different forms. The sign has a large number of interfaces. We believe in the future of this brand. We are satisfied with the results."

The brand itself, as well as its use, sparked discussion among the participants of the meeting. For example, should Russia's tourism brand be paid or free? Deputy Head of Rostourism Nikolay Korolev, for example, recalled the use of the Olympic and World Cup symbols - they could only be used with permission. The head of the Public Council of Rostourism Dmitry Davydenko, General Director of the Non-Profit Partnership “Center for the Protection and Assistance of Citizens Abroad and Support of Compatriots”, Chairman of the All-Russian Public Association “All-Russian Association of Tourists”, also noted that if the sign is free, there is a risk that it will appear on low-quality tourist products, so it will be important to control the use of the sign, even if it is free.

"The brand is designed for both specialists and consumers, which means it should be recognizable and understandable," the meeting participants said, suggesting that the design of the final version could be difficult to perceive. Alexey Andreyev, in turn, noted that this is a flexible brand that will suit any story and each of its users, and will be able to reflect the characteristics of different regions of Russia.

As for the question of why the creators of the Russia brand did not use traditional symbols of the matryoshka doll, balalaika and other already recognizable Russian images, Alexey Andreyev said that the working group studied all possible approaches: “We studied what kind of communication works for the consumer and what does not. For example, we suggested toning down the ardor regarding matryoshka dolls, Gzhel and so on, just as France does not try to use the Eiffel Tower symbol everywhere. We looked at what and how the audience reacts to. We had to overcome many barriers. Among the finalists, there are more traditional brand options, but our goal is to think ahead.” “Right now, there is no task to unanimously accept the final version; approval of the correctness of our course of work is more important,” Nikolay Korolev noted.

Following the discussion, the participants of the meeting approved the presented tourist brand of the country. Rostourism must register the sign, the format and rules of its use will also be thought out.

And here it is worth noting that social media users have reacted extremely ambiguously to the new Russian tourism brand. Against this background, the TRN portal asks its readers to share their opinion on this matter in the comments to this article.

Source: trn-news.ru

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