For the "BelBrand", the year 2018 was full of landmark projects and events, new achievements and cooperation partners. The main events related to intellectual property protection took place in the framework of the large-scale "Legal Trade – Safe World" international project.
On June 14, 2018, the "BelBrand" Association held a webinar "Internet trade in counterfeits: prospects of defending the consumer", which was moderated by Artyom Sokolov, President of the Russian Association of Internet Trade Companies. Officials of the "BelBrand" Association took part in the PMI Impact Company's Forum for grant recipients in Geneva (June 19-20). A seminar "Specificities of intellectual property protection and countering counterfeit spread through Internet", which was the key event of the 6th Minsk International Forum on Intellectual Property Protection, took place in Minsk on September 27.
In 2018, the "BelBrand" continued its educational and enlightenment activities. In January, the Brand Management School organized a travel seminar for the staff of the OJSC "Babushkina Krynka" (Granny's Jug). Training sessions were also conducted in April (for authors of innovative projects) and September (in the format of Summer School for the movers of youth initiatives in scientific, technological and cultural spheres). During the Global Entrepreneurship Week, the "BelBrand" Association conducted an information seminar on intellectual property protection and presented a new national project called "Woman's Business". The Association also took part in the work of the expert council at the National Contest of Innovative Projects and was an organizing partner of the 3rd International Student's Contest on Mediation and Negotiations called "Mediation of the Future".
The "BelBrand" Association's Discussion Club and the informational-analytical website kontrafaktunet.com continued their operation. On August 1, all the current educational projects and initiatives of the "BelBrand" Association were united into the BELBRAND ACADEMY Project, which gives special emphasis to working with the youth.
In January and September, the "Legal Trade – Safe World" youth initiatives were held. In April, the "BelBrand" Association marked five projects of the "100 Ideas for Belarus" nationwide youth contest with its promotion certificates. The authors of most interesting projects, supported by the "BelBrand" Association at this and other contests became the heroes of the LIFT rubric at the ONT TV Channel.
In 2018, the "Youth Brand" annual sociology study was conducted by the "BelBrand" Association and the Youth Laboratory of Sociology Studies of the Public Association of the "Belarusian Republic's Youth Union (known as BRSM). Over 1200 young Belarusians aged 18-32 from all major regions of Belarus were interviewed during the study. A separate block of questions was on banking technologies and the attitude to counterfeit goods and illegal trade. The outcomes of the study were summed up in February during a press-conference at the press centre of the BelTA News Agency, during a sitting of the "BelBrand" Discussion Club and during a seminar the "Mir Castle" Muse-um Complex with invitation of the companies, whose products were named as most popular and demanded by the youth. The promotion of national brands was a top prioritythroughout the year.
These issues were discussed by officials of the Associa-tion during their visits to Udmurtia (July), Tatarstan (November), Samara Region (November) and Kazakhstan (July). The "BelBrand" Association helped in organizing the business visit of Udmurt entrepreneurs to Belarus on August 13-16. Officials of the Association took part in the 14th sitting of the intergovernmental Belarus-Kazakhstan commission on trade and economic cooperation, which took place in the National Library of Belarus on November 26.
On November 19, 2018, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the "BelBrand" Association (Belarus) and the "RusBrand" Association (Russia).
The signing ceremony took place on the site of the 4th Inter-national Forum "Anti-Counterfeit-2018". During the year, a number of events under the common motto "Arts in Defence of Brands" were held. In January, the "BelBrand" Association became a corporate member of the Eurasian Creative Guild in London. The Guild was founded as an association of scholars, writers, arts figures, musicians, painters and publishers to promote creative projects and mutually beneficial cooperation. A joint project of the two partners was the publishing in October 2018 of the Eurasian literary collection "Thread" that brought together the works of authors from the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
During the year, the outcomes of the "BelBrand" Literary and Artistic Contest were summed up, and the laureates of the International Musical BELBRAND AWARD of the EAEU were announced. Apart from the memorable awards, the laureates were supported in promoting their creative works at author's performances, exhibitions and plein air events at various sites in Belarus and abroad, and in the form of publishing and presenting their works and books. In May, in Moscow, laureates and nominees of the creative contests of the "BelBrand" Association took part in musical, literary and artistic series of events "Minimalism opportunities in promoting brands".
In June, the "BelBrand" Association summed up the outcomes of the "Legal Trade – Safe World" contest of creative works in the sphere of literature, design, video, visual and decorative arts. The awarding ceremony took place in the "Mir Castle" Complex.
On October 1-3, 2018, the "BelBrand" Association in cooperation with the "Art Chaos" Gallery-Salon (Belarus) and the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) held an exhibition "Belarusian Arts – Life and Dream" in London, presenting the works of young painters-laureates of the Artistic "BelBrand" Award.
In 2018, the project "Vector: Through Centuries to Nowadays" (in the towns of Mir and Novogrudok) dedicated to the Small Homeland Year was launched in cooperation with the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. The ea-fest.com website on the creative projects of the "BelBrand" Association was opened.
