Unilever is making significant investment in its brands in Russia, with a major revamp of its Baltimor ketchup range. Russia is the second biggest ketchup market in the world—consumption per head is six times bigger than the world average and double the consumption of the USA—and Unilever leads the market with its two ketchup brands, Baltimor and Calvé.  The brand overhaul has been carried out by the Dutch (Hilversum, NL) and UK offices of brand development agency Anthem Worldwide, part of Schawk, Inc.

With 951 entries from over 50 countries, this year’s Pentawards competition, the only international one exclusively dedicated to packaging design, has been tough, experts say. We asked Graham Shearsby, Group Creative Director at Design Bridge, award-winning agency which has scooped 4 Pentawards this year, about the award’s retrospective, criteria and the trends, driving the UK package design industry today.

While David Cameron’s visit to Moscow on Monday, 12 September, can hardly be regarded a full ‘reset’ in quite ‘chilly’ UK-Russia political ties, it should definitely have a positive impact on strengthening bilateral business relations between the countries. Talking business without politics, Russia has long been and still is an appealing market for UK companies in some key economic sectors. Taking into account a growing number of Russian companies looking to create and develop strong national brands, and, on the other hand, Britain’s vibrant expertise in branding and design, UK and Russia seem to be ‘uniquely placed to help each other grow’ in this direction, indeed.