We hear a lot of talk about brands evolving as their customers, markets and regulatory environments evolve. So who would think that one of the best examples of brand evolution would come from a Russian brand that came to prominence during the Communist era?
This irony occurred to us when we saw this very Western-style headline recently in Pravda online: “Anna Kournikova made the whole world respect Russia.”
Talk about evolution. Back in the day, Kournikova would have defected to the West and been denounced by Pravda as a decadent tool of capitalist propaganda.
Pravda (“The Truth”) was the official organ of the Soviet Communist Party between 1918 and 1991. It was founded by Leon Trotsky; during the Cold War, Soviet leaders used it as their primary forum to lash out at the imperialistic West.
Talk about regulatory changes: In 1991, with the fall of the Soviet empire, Boris Yeltsin shut down the paper altogether. A few weeks later, its staff registered a new a paper with the same title, and then sold it to Greek entrepreneurs.
Of course, no brand evolution is without its difficulties — particularly in a country where trademarks are not particularly well-protected. The new owners didn’t get along with the staff, so the staff left to create their own online version of Pravda in 1999. Today, the print Pravda and the online Pravda are completely unrelated media outlets.
So it’s been a little messy, but the upshot is this: The online Pravda remains one of the most popular sources for Russian news in the world.
Why? Two reasons:
1. It’s the only Russian media brand that most people outside of Russia have ever heard of. Lesson: There’s a lot to be said for name recognition.
2. Because it was the official party organ for more than 70 years, the brand retains a level of authority that its competitors lack — particularly for Western audiences.
That’s brand evolution, friends. Let’s see Phil Knight or Steve Jobs top that.
Tags: Kournikova, politics, Pravda, Russia