In April 2014, ahead of the Popsop training event in Moscow, we collected some rather controversial perspectives on the design business, popular in the Russian marketing circles. We kindly asked Jonathan Ford, one of the honoured speakers at our inaugural event, to comment on each of these stereotypes. Here we publish his interesting thoughts.

Last month, March 1-2, Sam Stone, Creative Director at London-based Identica, taught a masterclass on visual identity and branding for the Russian designers and managers in Moscow. Popsop sat down with Sam to discuss how local Russian brands can fulfill their potential to become globally known and iconic, and why Russian FMCG brands choose to imitate Western style rather than developing their own.