Red jackets meet their wearers
At the height of summer, on 1 July at the Latvian Railway Museum, red jackets were presented for the first time to the 25 best export brands in Latvia.
The companies were judged according to various criteria, chief among which were -the company has to be a brand created in Latvia and it has to export goods and services worth at least LVL 500,000. As a result, out of the country’s 1,555 biggest exporters, the 100 most suitable were selected, of whom 25 received red raincoats specially designed by fashion designerAgnese Narņicka.
The following companies were recognised as our best exporters: "airBaltic", "Biosan", "DEAC", "Dobeles dzirnavnieks", "Evopipes", "Grindeks", "Hanzas elektronika", "Latvijas Balzams", "Latvijas Dzelzceļš", "Latvijas Finieris", "Lauma Fabrics", "Lauma Lingerie", "Livonia Print", "Madara Cosmetics", "New Rosme", "NP Foods", "PAA", "PET Baltija", "Primekss", "SAF Tehnika", "Stenders", "Tilde", "UPB", "Valmieras Stikla šķiedra" and "Valpro".
Furthermore, 11 “Rising Stars” have been awarded for their outstanding export potential, amongst them: “Blindsave”, board game developer “Brain Games”, “Kukuu”, soy wax candle producer “Mumio Candela”, “Pompidoo”, IT solution developer “Cube Systems”, “Positivus”, candy manufacture “Pure Chocolate”, exotic headwear company “Utha”, “Vendon” and “Very Berry”.
The idea that export achievements can be symbolised by a red jacket was born thanks to a, by now legendary, photograph showing our former president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga in red jacket that stood against a background of her political colleagues dressed in much more neutral tones. The co-authors of the "The Red Jackets" movement are brand nest MATKA branding guru Inese Apse–Apsīte, export service company "GatewayBaltic’s" Managing Director Inese Andersone, and DDB Latvia’s CEO Andris Rubīns.
"We, at DDB, support this movement, because we’re convinced that brands created in Latvia have huge global potential. However, first of all, we all need to believe this, and once we do, we immediately have to become more active, interesting and noticeable in communication in export markets," says Andris Rubīns explaining his belief and that of DDB. "I’m convinced that brands can also become more interesting to the world if they were less afraid to referencing and using elements characteristic of Latvia, and by adding more colour and spice to their communications and teaming up with like-minded people, so that the overall impression would be as big as that created by our huge grand choir in Mežaparks."
"The Red Jackets" unique graphic identity was created under the supervision of DDB art director Jānis Birznieks as were its communication materials, whose creation is also the result of a significant amount of work put in by designers Kuntī Berzinska and Staņislavs Buls. All the materials can be viewed in this gallery.
In 2015, "The Red Jackets" movement will once again evaluate and find out our country’s best brands in the field of exports.
