seventy six hours of intense fighting. six thousand dead at a beach front battlefields several kilometers long. and now there is only one person who cares. you see we are surrounded by garbage everywhere but also there are. on this beach which of course is where most appropriate signification a symbol of everything that's wrong with our goddamn government allowing not only garbage but to accumulate where so many guys died. a new battle is going on. will the history be protected. return to terra with julian cooper story on our t.v. .

it's our last hour here in moscow you're watching our team made headlines. greece is a new finance minister takes office from the hall in some people to accept further austerity cuts some way bailouts costs a shadow over the future of the units that nations like turkey and we're desperate to join up and then having a rethink. president regret ever criticize is the state's role in the russian economy and stand reparation for threatening the country's development and speech and international economic performance and he does but he reinstated his

commitments to modernization drastic measures to create a better investment climate. the e.u. plans a third set of tougher sanctions against syria as a crackdown on protesters continues reportedly planning at least sixteen large on friday some experts warn the sanctions could be paving the way for it to be a start intervention. next we look at russia's business prospects with peter lavelle in on the money. hello and welcome to on the money with the business of rush it is business as usual about any we're broadcasting from the st petersburg international economic forum and we're talking about branding. to discuss branding i'm joined by robert sasson he's senior managing director at u.s.g.

private equity also we have you know coco teachy is chairman of the board of the retail chain technique and robert made he's managing partner at robert make consulting group ok gentlemen we're in st petersburg and i'd like to ask you robert the first question when we think of the term branding the country japan technology china the factory of the world germany precision united states may be too much financial market you think of russia what brand comes to mind. if today's one if one does come to me what i can say about that i live here in russia for a long time and i've watched a lot of changes and improvements happen over the send to fifteen years i had to describe russia in short i would say it continues to be a country in transition with considerable long term potential is that a brand that's the brand in my opinion it is because i'm not sure how else you could describe it because we won from one system and we went from one brand another

brand and so we're in turn this into i mean create their own model here in russia i would say it's not going to match the model you'll see in other countries but what i can say is it has considerable long term potential not short term but long term i think the vision is there the policy vision is there on behalf of the president's administration in the government it's just the biggest step is taking this syrian policy and putting it into practice and then means changing the institutions changing the the infrastructure changing the mentality of a lot of the people that me take a very long time robert. i go to you private equity when you look at investors what kind of brand do they see in russia what do you see is a plus a deficit or a void but sadly what we've seen recently is a lot of successes in the in the i t space and technology i mean take a brand which maybe is not fully associated with russia but i think is you know has very strong russian roots which is to go. to a great company dubai world anti-viral program exactly more recently there's been

an i.p.o. yandex which will be a great success. and we're right that we are actually an investor and i. think so but there are a lot of very very bright russian a lot of people who have very good computer skills software development skills and i think about is becoming a brand with russia you know you are you actually growing the chain electronics. softwoods chain how hard is it in russia today two thousand and eleven to create a lasting viable valuable brand. i think. you can create as a brand in a day you know because the solution changes so quickly even in our segment before the chinese ask the almost lame thousand year you will upon people fall just in chains no we just. make changes in the industry because the impulse of internet people for a change as a customer to have

a source of people and people no one can find some some tells them they want to buy and for those people in your circle. looking of all the russias this really unique solution especially in the new deal if you're going to do was do some european company. no one was a company ms exist that is just wrong initial brands in the scene local brands your local roads in full signal for national repeal all. national brands he's used or in some women it's a little it's you know. you know if you're to europe you're striving to be the biggest in the best in your field have you learned certain branding techniques from western maybe your western competitors or western peers i mean how do you when you look at your consumer how do you match brand and your consumer do you look at certain specific local issues that you can play upon or do you look outside and say hey well you know in britain they did this or in argentina they did that i mean is it a combination how do you do it. as always it's always trust it means

a. really gustavus digitally additional but it was a trust in your words trust in your so was. those excite always use there's a chance the only way to complete it is easier times than to go to different stuff let's say electronics. you know where you do know where. you can where. or electronics people really need you to put a premium because it because there's a lot of international competition it's a difficult to understand the quality. but if you buy some. some stuff like that you know where you can. judge the quality and people. that are almost more strong brands in produce all the same thing you may never go back to you over here i mean before the program where we were both discussing i

mean if we look at an international audience international customers there is i can only think of one international russian brand and i'm sorry it's twenty years out of the end of the soviet union and that's kalashnikov ok i can think maybe gentlemen can help me out here but i can't think of another brand or balance a real deficit here but is it also an opportunity i think it's a considerable opportunity because as michael was saying there are we are some very good brands that are known here in russia and i know that there are some russian consumers that would really love to buy the russian ground instead of the foreign brands so there. just waiting for someone to please do something with them or improve them. russia has considerable potential because they can take the best practices from around the world they can apply them here in create brands and really export them out i mean they have really. it's on limit of what they can do and it's wide open and i'm sure in the world i mean sure there are some vodka and some other brands that are being exported now but there's a whole broad range that's what i'm going to go over to also. i won't name the

brand but i like. wristwatches ok and i came across the russian brand own name in here and it's absolutely exquisite maybe a little galbi a little bit too much this is right is say ok well this isn't perfect i should have worn my russian one but my point is that technologically speaking it's state of the art it can go up against any swiss brand but it's a third the price you can afford the price now what it will what does that manufacturer how to do i'd like to point out their presentation that with the box where they sold it was awful ok it wasn't attractive ok but the product itself was how do they get around that this is just investing the normal amount of money or just to repeat what everyone else has done but i think it's a process that i mean it's going to take time in any case it's only been you know twenty odd years of the soviet union when what russian policy was was not something that was was really considered to be good i mean i mean everything about the world

you can see a good for instance in watches but things are changing i mean we're seeing we're seeing russian russian brands which are now being. pushed forwards in the west and and the association of russia with even western brands is very positive take chelsea football club i mean russia has done a lot for i mean said individual certainly have done a lot to the russian bring the football and that's fantastic so you know there are certain things where you can definitely see there's been a lot of progress and in pushing a russian association you know if i'm going to you i mean do russian bring. i have to be better than the best to be equal i just gave the example of a wristwatch manufacturer i mean what do you have to do to get the i of a consumer because yourself there's so many brands out there that people identify with i mean i'm holding a painting here again i won't name it here but i mean this is one of the nicer ones but most of them are just pure plastic but they still cost a lot of money ok you're buying the brand how hard it is is it for you in russian companies to really meet that challenge. group to bring the city of challenge

especially if you are just bits of being goes away. easily union in the us money in terms of bus loads of people the feel little time business money. you almost get it's about. in some areas which if you want to bret's it means that people seem to see anything brands people. but i just look we've been email and pretty much was a sense of most people. it's it's like it was before in or one little bit in a little while but nobody was pretty lousy since those at all it's a business they still have a hammer and sickle i'd like to point out it's their logo here which again you know their place to a local consumer here because i do is a brand that is considered of value though it may be ambiguous to a foreign. consumer and i can tell you it is so i think it's an interesting story

that they kept that that mark the hammer and sickle and they kept it in after the soviet union because it's so well known among russian citizens you know but i think that an example of a brand that's really changed and you know we're very sad because before when you thought of your life you know i started to follow one could be for iraq's borders or something like that and now you have i mean is the international flights on our flight are great but they're there the service is very good very international standard and they have a lot of direct flights of places there either. oh. are there are old brands think we can actually be made international i think the first company that ever listed local on a local stock exchange was bolshevik biscuits yeah ok i mean well known in russia but that's a hard it's a hard sell well it's right of course as you've never seen several i.p.o.'s of companies which have you know associations very close associations with russian names. and it is the officer that is

a very hard sell but i think when people actually get into these companies and the quality of management look at the fundamentals driving most companies forwards and the market they have in russia and continue to expand outside of russia you know we've seen quite a few successes going to it's really interesting across the top of the confectionery again if you translate it into english red october it still does not have an appeal to outside this because the borders of this country which i can attest the their product is excellent ok it is competitive but you know i mean they are there can you think of any brands outside of kalashnikov which is a real negative why am i going to have any other brand that can be sold outside of russia's borders using its name now. the name we named our aeroflot that's probably been home with a whole spread belief probably of what. you see in a t. v maybe you successful if you're not in love it

will store. seeing almost all program states of. hard won by one company. and some people. so you could use a mini all right i'm going to jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll return discuss russia's brimming state guard to. one stream cascading from mom slopes to view is mr myers he move

this beauty brings deaths and a speed of more than two hundred kilometers from. the stamp in the launch. to be soo much brighter if you move the sun from phones to parachute it's. through starts on t.v. dot com. welcome back to on the money i'm peter lavelle in this episode we're discussing branding ok robert i want to go to you we've heard a lot of good things about running in the first part of the program but i always like to pour a little bit of cold water on things is really branding all that important when so

many people in this country because there's a huge income difference here is branding so important only just for a small small percentage of the population is it just for aspirational people and i think many russians are really quite pleased with russian products that i mean depends what we're talking about and their aspirations i mean they want something of good quality that's affordable and there's a lot of historical in traditional aspects to some of the brands that have been around for a long time you like to reminisce about remember the old beers this wine this cookie whatever so i feel. good about the some of the people are never going to reach a point where they can expire to the most expensive around with for them it's not for the you know as robert is i think it's very interesting as a fed goon in moscow they have a this store a guest. you know and ten years ago even five years ago i would say they know what no one would never dare and i to find out to our viewers as a huge huge department store dared to put

a soviet almost replica and now you go there it's very very popular robert in the same reasons that you mentioned brands that you can do up with and reminds me of something very much when i lived in poland before i came to russia was there was a me polska we movement among some producers to say look you've had all of the wonderful western goods the serials the soaps the pens would have been the clothes but we had some good stuff here you see that trend there really picking up some steam here because a drink that almost disappeared here the kind of an equivalent of coca-cola or some kind of coal in the west came back i guess i would say. what i'm seeing is more sophisticated russian advisor actually are actually beginning to understand the value of some of the older better russian brands and see this is in food products and drinks in types of the air quality so definitely the question is whether these brands can never be marketed outside of russia if successful now that the market

you know you know if i go to you i mean this could be a tough one in your russian soul and ask you the tough question here russia's reputation is problematic in many parts of the world because of the soviet past in some cases even before that i mean how does russia and russian companies get over that i mean its history i mean this is a market economy people are very very savvy here they certainly have the abilities and knowledge in now even money here i mean is is that kind of all the brand of russia is i couldn't be is that still a major barrier for companies that want to go beyond the borders to sell to consumers because it is a globalized economy and to be a global winner you have to go global. you can create brands only. fuel whistles a strong. side each legion of. share of those if you look at the world. three of the two you know everybody in the russian

well if. you will. was supposed program. if you see on the national brands that exist. the brands. that people go see the. so high quality even the broth even the western companies if you look in the bowl. like they do it all sort of. stupidity and it's a stupid law and you always need to clear. all those don't you michel felicia if you go strong image you've been ok with the again you know i'm going to pour a little bit of cold water on this here i'm lucky to name the companies because i don't want to promote them and i don't want them to get angry with me at the same time with the same energy companies in russia that when there is a dispute with a neighboring country. i don't see that they put a whole lot of effort into p.r. and creating a brand you know one of forward cadia of responsible corporate citizen i mean. when

you get too big and too powerful is it is there a risk of being lazy and saying it doesn't matter because we're here and people have to deal with this i mean is that you think that any case and just how dangerous is it because it is dangerous i think so you're speaking more on russia where russia is the brand as a first south consumer product because i consumer products i think it will take extreme a long time to have something very competitive in the world i mentioned the large energy companies they are directly associated with the russian state in some gas they're owned by the russians but in that respect. it's true and it's very important because in russia it's a little bit different where you see the fine line between business and politics it's much finer in russia than it is in many other countries and. we still have a lot of these companies that are speed owner there's a high level of state participation so again on this transition i was talking about once we get to the point where there's more privatization when there's more institutions that are set up that are free better rule of law and conditions that

are good for foreign investors then i think you'll start to see bit of a change in the mentality and basically how russia presents itself overseas. i mean when you think about how do you think low i mean small and medium companies have to go out of their way to make a good impression but let's go beyond what my my since i actually sit on the board of one of the large. shipping companies in russia not exactly and the director and i was brought on along with several. independent directors to try to help help with dealing with corporate governance issues and always the image of the company on the market and we're trying very hard to to improve that isn't the issue of what's the biggest barrier what's the biggest challenge you face when doing well i think the biggest challenge is is there has been one of mentality that needs to change but again it's a question of time and i think you're generational i think it will take us to that

i mean i think it's you know i think it's going to be a couple of years but but generally what i think of the us through the ten fifteen years you see the love and lot of progress and i think that's going to continue you know it will always go back to this year and i in western media russian companies often get a bad rap certainly in the russian state. how can the russian business in your opinion being a businessman yourself help improve the image of russia as a brand on the international stage because you know when a lot of critics of the west still look at banks to look at oil companies you know use these evil institutions and things like that but as we've already pointed out on this program here there's not that much of people make that kind of differentiation what does business have to do to disassociate itself with government institutions involved. titian's even. usually when people see the ball as a company on company made sure it's a brand. new so they do the experience if you come in or already in france look it

was a french people or. you. experience on some. something from the species or if you buy all the little babies just so some items like japan this technique or. you'll. like. charles for the coolidge olds is i don't suppose a mission all but. i think the only way how russia in italy create a strong image it's possible to be more but. really to build on it's not that there was a goal it's a matter as a business as well as weekly that it is strong business oriented for. tourists or people who come in the shop who can spend here. these weeks spent money will be awful done that it was used in question and this also tells you more wells will do you not only consumables maybe it will be in order to build builds maybe it

will be. it will be it. now what's believed to feel like you see. what go on national football you could call this program beyond a kalashnikov here about this forum that we're out here how valuable is this forum in st petersburg because it's really a man so a lot of people come here in the lives a lot of what i read in western media about media that about what interest there is in russia i mean there's this community and there are so many pavilions in this complex here it's hard to keep track of who's here and you can't meet everyone obviously i mean. there are forums like this worth while why do you guys come to. i think he's actually on this program or make a half. this forum in particular has improved dramatically i would say six seven years ago it was a completely different four and i think once there the government of president said look this is going to be our form and they showed a real commitment it's

a great opportunity for networking it's it's quite incredible incredible you won't find a better forum i think than this to meet anyone who's either a senior in government or senior and business so fitting for with respect to the dialogue the ability to meet people face to face exchange ideas i think it's really quite good when you're transparent it's really it's wonderful open access i mean you don't have. pretty much you walking by you in the way there is the president the minister the head of severson all whoever it might be and it's the access it's really quite impressive when you think of i am i do because there's quite a few of them but this is seems to be one of the neighborhoods is that i mean i should live in peace by seventeen years so i mean here it is you know right now anyway but i i found that it's going to look back to the past years and suddenly he did leave the organizers are trying very hard to make an international forum not only focusing on russia but on the international excuse me that he was very bad at them and trying to write high quality people from business obviously people coming into this and see what the president's going to say. and that sophie very important

as well but would you say this form is more business driven than politics and policies that yeah definitely definitely explains the attraction of the whole why did you come to this what you can do this for. to this former st petersburg. show you can truly make sure that he'll say complaints. i don't like to spend too much than facilities for people. you know. useless because it's useless to just spend time suitable to give time to see if anybody. else is sitting here. with everybody. else to meet to day so we. almost difficult to meet you you can you can. we can meet in. the rooms in the city you can see people with whom we've been. up to meet. you can also hear some really interesting news. host comes.

over and leave you the last word here what would you like to see change in russia over the next five years when it comes to brand. of bread for the country. i'd like to see a really driven by business where it's less given by politics less driven by government but actually business setting the course setting the pace and then you'll get a feel for that this country really has made the transition and it operates functions like any other you know thriving is different than any other place in the world i prefer it to move on out of time i want to thank all my guests here in the studio want to thank our viewers for watching us here on the money see you next time and state charges.

to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of the earth and the.