Russia's best brands, winners of EFFIE/The Best Brand 2006 national award, were announced in Forum Hall on October 26. EFFIE/The Best Brand is currently the country's single trophy recognized globally and licensed by the American Marketing Association. Delegates of top Russian companies whose best projects of the year had been nominated for the award were anxious to hear the commission's final decision.

"The EFFIE/The Best Brand works as a litmus paper indicating how strong a company's position is and whether its sales promotion strategy is efficient or not," RBC's General Director Yury Rovensky noted. "But now at its new stage the award has yet another important mission: to give a true-to-life picture of the state of the Russian economy in general," he added.

Notably, recent years have seen a revolution in the minds of business people. They used to be cautious if not apprehensive of such awards at the start, when extensive publicity was not welcome. However at this point it is apparent to nearly everybody that goodwill should be regarded as capital, and ongoing efforts should be made to build it up. This is all the more true as Russia will soon be incorporated into the global economy by joining the WTO.

"If you want prosperity and stability for your company, you have to take care of your brand from the very first day of its existence. It's your business card, your reputation," Chairman of the awards' jury, President of the Russian Academy of Advertising Vladimir Filippov noted. "Building a brand is challenging and tedious, but you can't do without it in a modern world," he added.

The seriousness with which even small and young companies are treating their brands is remarkable. They make special, not just advertising or marketing, but brand building budget allocations. The jury was unanimous that most companies were geared up well for the competition. Many of them are fully aware that participation in such upscale events is not only trendy and prestigious, but also an indispensable marketing strategy element for a state-of-the-art company.

Vladimir Filippov said he saw the award's chief accomplishment in revealing the awareness of the essence of brands amid Russia's advertising and marketing experts. "This can be seen from the way the applications were formulated, the brands were promoted and aims were set, and what the results were.

Winning EFFIE/The Best Brand award, or sometimes even participation in the competition, grants a company public recognition and objective expert assessment of its activities, including appraisal by its rivals. Furthermore, the victory is a perfect incentive for the winner to continue its efforts.

"Even if you lose," Sergei Polonsky, MIRAX Group head, said in his acceptance speech for the "gold" prize in the Real Estate and Construction category, "you know that you have lost to a really strong competitor, such to which it is no disgrace to lose."

Meanwhile, this year the participants included such famous brands as Samsung, BMW, Russkoye Radio, Il Patio, Vitek, Sobinbank, Kopeyka, Rexona, L'Etoile and other major companies. EFFIE/The Best Brand ceremony showed that just over one hundred brands on the Russian market have earned recognition among experts. According to the panel of judges, consumer brands (foods, children's goods and household electronics) performed best last year. Mass media also made an unexpectedly impressive appearance on the winners list.

Three projects were awarded Grands Prix, Aeroflot - Russian Airlines for the change of image, MegaFon for goodwill and confidence, and a family savings program Malina as a new brand. The remaining 108 brands were honored with gold (40), silver (41) or bronze awards (27).

The awards ceremony turned into a genuine feast which invited Russian marketing and advertising stars as well as outstanding political and cultural figures whose name has long become real brands. The guests included Deputy Minister of Culture and Mass Communications Dmitry Amunts, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wimm-Bill-Dann David Yakobashvili, Euroset CEO Yevgeny Chichvarkin, Managing Partner and Group Account Director at Arnold Worldwide Barbara Reilly, leader of the Union of Right Forces party Nikita Belykh, Producer Iosef Prigozhy, TV presenter Boris Notkin, singer Valeria, painter Nikas Safronov, designer Elena Yarmak, actress Nelli Uvarova and many others.

The performance by Valeria and the international opera quartet Amichi Forever awarded a special prize by the Milan opera academy and a Grand Prix from the Vienna international opera festival, who had sung in front of European royal families at most important ceremonies, were the high spot of the party. The ceremony closed on a magnificent Aquatic Show where water, light and sound were fantastically interwoven. The hi-tech art made fountains dance to the same rhythm as the music and the light, with breath-taking water columns shooting up three meters high into the air and performing stunts to Chaykovsky's music.