if one does come to me what i can say about that i lived here in russia for a long time and i've watched a lot of changes and improvements happen over the standard 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 bridge 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 another brand and so we're in transition to 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 it has considerable long term potential not sure 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 may take a very long time robert trying to use private equity when you look at investors

what kind of brand do they see in russia what they see is a plus deficits or avoid. what we've seen recently is a lot of successes in the in the i.t. space in technology i mean take a brand which maybe don't put the associated with russia but i think it has very strong russian roots which is. a great company just dubai world anti-viral program exactly like more recently there's been an i.p.o. and they see that right. and right is that we are actually in a better life in india and that. there are a lot of very very bright russians a lot of people who have very good computer skills software development and i think that is becoming a brand with russia. you actually run a chain of electronics. soft goods chains how hard is it in russia today two thousand and eleven to create a lasting viable valuable brand. i think that

you can create that as a brand in a day you know because the station changed so quickly even in our segment of electronics after almost lain thousand years of development of all existing chains now we are just. a big changes in industry because of the impetus of internet because of the changes of customer behavior sorts of people and people will want to fly and some some tells them they want to buy and for a five year civil war then your civil. looking of all the russias is really unique solution especially in the infield if you're going to hear was some european company. one was a company was the existence of really strong national brands you know you seen local brands your local roads all signals of repeal all the. national brands is used or in some women it's a little boy it's you know don't you think we're here to hear 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 pool that's going to get a little edition will be no. trust in your books and your so is. those who are that excite always use you as a child. to play but it is easier to lose than to go to different stuff let's say electronics. you know where you do know where. you can where. for electronics people really read you play. because there's

a lot of international competition to because they need to go through all the films the quintile the all the idols but if you buy some. stuff like that. you can. judge the quality but you feel people really just simply. just do the ways that are almost more strong brands introduce a little simple thing you may never go back to robert here i mean before the program we we were both discussing i mean if we look at an international audience international customers. i can only think of one international russian brand and i'm sorry it's twenty years after 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 that's a real deficit here but is it also an opportunity. it's a considerable opportunity because as michael was saying there probably 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 brands instead of the foreign brands so they're 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 freight brands and really export them out i mean they have really. limited what they can do and it's wide open and i'm sure in the world i mean sure there's somebody in some other brands that are being exported now but there's a whole broad range that's really going to get whatever that also is a i won't name the brand but i like boutique wristwatches ok and i came across a russian brain on naming here and it's absolutely exquisite maybe a little gal be a little bit too much this is what i did say ok well this is and 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 brains but it's a third of the price you can afford the price now what it does at manufacture have to do i'd like to point out their presentation that with a box with a fold in it was awful ok with. into traffic 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 old or so here when what russian quality was was not something that was was really considered to be good i mean i mean everything about the world could have you can see a great races in watches but things are changing i mean we're seeing we're seeing russian russian brands which are now being the big push forwards in the west and and the association of russia we've even western brands is very personal take chelsea football club i mean russia has done a lot for i mean said individual certainly have done a lot for the russian. football and that's fantastic so you know there are certain things where you can definitely see there's been a lot of progress in pushing a russian association in the offing what do you mean do russian brands 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 eye of a consumer because they're sold there's so many brands out there that people identify with i mean i'm holding a pen 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 the beginning goes away. eventually in your pool in the u.s. money in terms of bus loads of people the feel of them is this money. in some. way if you want to bret's it means that people seem to see it in a few brands people. a little bit. and you pretty much as a sensible people. it's it's like it was before you know

a little bit a little nobody was pretty lousy since those of little 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's an example of a brand that's really changed and you know we're very time because before when you thought of your life you always thought of the triple zero one could be for iraq's borders or something like that and now you. i mean the international flights on aeroflot are great but they're the service is very good it's very international standard and they have a lot of direct flights of places that other carriers looking at robert are there

are old brands think they 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 i should of course as you have seen several i.p.o.'s of companies which have you know associations very close associations with russian names. and it is a you know often it is a very hard sell but i think that when people actually get into these companies and the quality of management look at the fundamentals driving this company forwards and the market they have in russia and now continues to expand outside of russia you know we've seen quite a few successes going to it's really interesting across not 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 it's ok it is competitive but you know i mean . are there can you think of any brands outside of kalashnikov which is

a real maker why must we be any other brand that can be sold outside of russia's borders using its name now. we need we need out there a file that's. probably what. you see in a t. a b. a b. you successful if you're in love it will store. almost the whole program speech a. part of one by one company. the team some people will. say could use a mini or a little monkey jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after about a short break we'll return discuss russia's branding state guard. for the full story we've got it first the biggest issues get

a human voice face to face with the news makers on. to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of europe and the shadow is an approaching upon all the friends. of the early twenty first century military bases the network of military bases all around the former misleading empire that the united states is trying to get its astonishing most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million or more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s. troops stationed on these bases all around the world. we don't have power bases in america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in our bases afai are

the noises i would northeast of those of all the us at all because they're all bases but for other people it's almost like a cancer here for these people. since the end of world war two the spaces i've been . working here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the questions they have thing else just get everything you needed wealthy british style it's time to. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines into kaiser report.

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 branding 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 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 and traditional aspects to some of the brands that have been around for a long time who like to reminisce about remember the old there is this wine this cookie whatever so i think. a lot of the some of the people are never going to

reach a point where they can expire to the most expensive brands but for them it's not for the you know as robert is i think it's very interesting as they said goon in moscow they have this store astronauts and ten years ago even five years ago i would say they know what no one whom would never dare to not to point out to our viewers as a huge huge department store dared to put a soviet almost replica and no you go there it's very very popular rubber for 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. movement among some producers to say look you've had all of the wonderful western goods the cereals the soaps the paintings 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 history and i think what i'm seeing is more sophisticated. russian advisor actually are actually beginning to understand the value of some of the older and better russian brand from the see this is in food products and drinks in types of beer and in politics it's a definite that the question is whether these brands can mend be marketed outside of russia the fact that not only not every been home market you know you know if i go to you know i mean this could be a tough one in your russian soul and ask you the tough question here i mean russia's reputation is problematic in many parts of the world because of the soviet past and when in some cases even before that i mean how does russia in russian companies get over that i mean its history i mean this is a market economy people are very very savvy here are they certainly have the abilities and knowledge in now even money here maybe is is that kind of all the brand of russia is that could it 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 if you will be useful as a strong. side each legion of. share of those if you look at the world it's good if you create the you know everybody in the russian well if. you will. was supposed program. if you see on a national brands that exist. the brands. that people go see that. as a high quality even the broad even the western companies. in the world. like. also russian are stupid and it's a stupid law and you always need to clear. all those don't you michel felicia.

you mean sure but ok with you again you know i'm going to pour a little bit of cold water on this here i'm. they named the company as i don't want to promote them and i don't want them to get angry with me at the same time the same energy companies in russia when there is a dispute with a neighboring country. i don't see that they put a whole lot of effort into p.r. in creating a brand you know what authoritative responsible for print citizen i mean. when you get too big and too powerful this is a risk of being lazy and saying it doesn't matter because we're here and people have to deal with this i mean does that you think that that is the case and just how dangerous is it because it is dangerous i think so you're speaking more in russia as russia as a brand as a paper sack consumer product because i consumer products i think it will take it for me a long time to have something very competitive in the will eventually large energy companies they are directly associated with the russian state meaning they're owed 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 you still have a lot of these companies that are state owned or there's a high level of state participation so again in 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 really better rule of law and the conditions that are good for foreign investors then i think you'll start to see a bit of a change in the mentality and basically how russia presents itself overseas. when you think about how do you think you know i lost i mean small and medium companies have to go out of their way to make a good impression but let's go beyond my my sins i actually sit on the board of one of the large. shipping companies in russia a non-executive and a director and i was brought on along with several. independent directors to try

and help help with dealing with corporate governance diffuse and dealing with the. have accompanied him on the market and we're trying very hard to to prove that it isn't the issue of what's the biggest barrier what's the biggest challenge we face from doing what i think the biggest challenge is is there has been one of mentality that needs to change but again it's a question i face in generational i think it will take us through that i mean i could get you know i think it's going to be a couple of years but generally i think of the past you know ten fifteen years you see the love of a 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 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 said the west will look at banks to look at oil companies you know it's 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 and politicians even. usually when people see. company me as a brand. they do the experience if you go in or nobody in france look it was the french people or. the experience on some of you and something from the species or if you buy. some i don't like japan this technique or. you'll. like this. charles for the coolidge offices i don't suppose a mission all. my things all you with it is very strong it's possible to be more but. really to build one it's not that

there was a goal it's a matter. as a business as well as weekly that is strong business oriented for. tourists people who come in the shop who has been here. these weeks spent money will be quotable going to the polls use information a little more will do you only consumables maybe it will be in order they'll build maybe it will be. it will be. know what speeds if you will like to see. what's going on the national football school you could call this program beyond kalashnikov here let's talk about this forum that we're out here how valuable is this forum in st petersburg because it's really a mess and so a lot of people come here to live a lot of what i read in western media about media that about what interest there is in russia i mean there's. there's 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. our forum

site is worth while why do you guys come to. i think you should speak on this program or mechanic at. this forum in particular has improved dramatically i would say six seven years ago it was a completely different floor and i think once there the government of president said look this is going to be our forum and they showed a real commitment it's a great opportunity for networking it's it's quite impressive 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 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 see your transparency it's really kind of 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 severstal whoever it might be and it's the access it's really quite impressive when you think of about my arms i do because there's quite a few of them but this is seems to be when i discovered this is that i mean i

should live in peace by seventeen years so i mean here it is you know is right nice anyway. but i i found that it's quite a lot better yes and suddenly he did leave the organizers of trying very hard to make an international film not only focusing on russia but on the smash would suit him that he was very bad at them and to try to write high quality people from business always that people come into this and say what the president's going to say. and that's a very important as well but would you say this form is more business driven than politics than policy i did it yeah i definitely don't probably explains the attraction of the whole why did you come to this when you can do this for. the world to this forum here the same people. actually contribute. and he'll say complaints. i don't like to spend too much they impose this was for me because. usually it's the people. useless usually useless if you just spend time suitable to get by and to see if anybody. else is

sitting here. with everybody. else to meet the days so we still most difficult to meet you you've got you've got people who can beat him in the rooms in the city you can see people with whom you've been. up to meet them you can also hear something really interesting use. 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. the brain 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 any different than any other place in

the world i pray to move on out of time i want to thank all my guests here in the studio and i think our viewers for watching us here on the money see you next time in state car to.

one stream cascading from my. view is miss moment. but this beauty brings down the speed of more than two hundred kilometers. the steps.

it's about see the e.u. agonizes over curbing its catastrophic debt and ballooning budget as other countries bonzi could join the bloc of second thoughts. but how to stop a global crisis happening again major business and political leaders of discuss just that at the international economic forum that's just wrapped up in some pictures. and syria faces a third round of e.u. sanctions i'm appalled deadly antigovernment crackdowns which sold more than a dozen dead and thousands of great nationwide. very good evening from r.t. my name is kevin owen it's nine pm here in moscow and our top story tonight a real war that so greece's latest finance minister sums up the job ahead of him he's been tossed with securing another multibillion euro bailout the criteria for

which mean slapping and outright hostile greek public with more status he cuts and some countries like turkey which ones harbor dreams of e.u. membership of getting to rethink their plans to. if you talked about turkey in the e.u. ten years ago turkey's hopes of joining would have been inseparable from joining the euro not anymore turkey's attitude in short can be summed up very simply very glad you're not part of the euro right now took on the street seem to have a wide range of opinions on the euro but their countries doorstep europe's economy is worse now turkey's is improving turkey is improving in all fields but europe is going backwards so we don't need them. to fish people are using the year as an investment to earn money here is a more reliable and turkish money people don't want to save their money in the euro . few invest in euros you get more than the euros also stronger than dollars having

said that i don't want to risk investing. but academics and ally.