Presciant had the delightful experience of working with Farida Rustamova and Margarita Liutova rebranding and renaming their pioneering Russia newsletter on what’s really going on inside the Russian regime.
Before launching it, both were eminent Russian journalists who spent more than a decade covering Russian politics and economics for publications, including Vedomosti, the Financial Times’ former Russian partner, the BBC Russian Service, and TV Rain. Margarita also worked inside the Russian Central Bank, at the center of Russian political and economic life. Both have rare access to senior officials, policymakers, and insiders. Few journalists possess such deep knowledge of how the system operates or maintain such strong connections to people who know what is really happening behind closed doors.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Farida and Margarita had to flee. In exile in Europe, they felt it was their duty to share the truth about what’s going on in Russia with the world. They are very conscious that no one else can provide the insights that they can deliver. They have major advantages over many people who write about Russia. Many lack direct access to people inside the system. They are either not Russian, or are Russians working for publications whose editorial line they have to follow. Or they are older men who rely on gossip or old relationships with biased points of view. Farida and Margarita are young, female, and bring an objective unbiased point of view. They also check their facts with exceptional rigor and sift through the morass of news and gossip to distill what matters.
They started a newsletter on Substack called Faridaily which has been coming out sporadically but attracting more and more readers. They are now relaunching it as a regular bi-weekly, targeting people who have a professional need to know what’s really going on in Russia—diplomats, journalists, academics, business people with involvement in Russia.
Though not naming experts, they realized they needed a new name. “Faridaily” is a combination of “Fari” for Farida, and “daily” obviously the wrong name for a newsletter that was coming out sporadically and is now going to be weekly. They needed a brand that communicated what they do and, in their words, would “make our voice heard more widely.”
You can’t develop a name in the abstract. It has to reflect the brand’s purpose and positioning. Presciant developed a clear purpose: “To tell audiences around the world what’s really going on inside the Russian regime.” That’s why the newsletter exists, and why its editors are so committed to it.
The positioning communicates what the newsletter offers to its audiences.
Four pillars or attributes sum up how the newsletter delivers on its promise and creates proof points or reasons to believe.
Once we knew what the brand’s positioning and purpose are, the next task was to identify a name which communicates the idea of “what’s really going on inside the Russian regime.”
After evaluating a large number of names, the winner was “Vlast”. Why? Vlast is the Russian word for power, especially political power. It is a word that will be understood by the readers of the newsletter—it’s a word that anyone with a little bit of Russian will know. It is linguistically powerful and short and suggests we have the ability to see inside the Russian power.
A new visual identity signals the positioning. It avoids clichéd Soviet iconography, eagles, stars. The typeface looks Russian. The color is deliberately not red, but a powerful purple. The whole logo is strong and aggressive. It signals power and authority. Strong diagonals create a sense of momentum and direction, reflecting a publication focused on where power is moving next.
Here’s what it looks like on the new Vlast Substack page:
What the editors say about the new brand: “We wanted to let you know the successful launch of the new brand would have been impossible without Presciant. We’ve already received a surge of new subscribers and a lot of compliments for our name and design.”
We love this type of radical rebranding. It builds awareness, revenues and growth. If you have a rebranding challenge, please get in touch.