Sergey Lelikov: "Four hours will be enough for me to change the world"

"Tashkent is beautiful, smart and a little shy," says Sergey Lelikov, brand consultant, coach, founder of the BRAND EFFECT Higher Branding Courses. He revealed the secrets of branding and told how to build a brand in Uzbekistan. You could see and hear the hero in the walls of the Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Tashkent Marketing Forum 2025, and now on the pages of Maili.uz.

Maili: There was an important question on the forum: how much is your brand worth? I'd like to ask you, too.

Sergey Lelikov: I have two of them. There is a brand of Higher branding courses called BRAND EFFECT, and there is my personal brand. I didn't evaluate either of them – I didn't think about selling them. I still enjoy the process itself. 

M: And if your brand was a person, what would it look like, say, and behave like?

SL: It would be simple, clear and charming. Simplicity. If you do complex things (such as consulting), and you can't explain to a 10-year-old child what you do, why do you do it at all? I think I can explain complex things simply. I am also as friendly as possible and try to be on the same page with my counterparts of any level.

M: What is the most brilliant brand strategy you've seen in your entire career? And why?

SL: The most ingenious strategy is the one that has not yet been created. But, although… Just recently, I was lucky enough to rebrand the "Silver Mercury International Festival of Advertising and Marketing Communications" together with its super-team. Please wait, there will be a presentation on April 11. I can't disclose any details yet. What the hell is not joking. Perhaps the result of this rebranding may be the answer to your question. We'll see.

This is one of the largest festivals in Russia and the former CIS countries. More than a thousand experts participate in it and it has the most transparent evaluation system. Soon the news about the rebranding will appear on all the tabloids. Moreover, this is the first rebranding in 26 years of existence of this respected award.

M: Intrigued. How do I know it's time to rebrand?

SL: It's a good idea to change your costume from time to time, at least to match your surroundings. It would be strange if we were still wearing crinolines and hedgehogs. You can, of course, shock once, but it is unlikely that someone will wear it all the time. It is necessary to correspond to the general direction of the movement of society, but still find your own individuality within its framework.

In both fashion and branding, it's important to change. It's not just about stylistic trends, but also about changing your target audience. It ages with the brand. Once the brand was young, there were fans and everything was going great. But, over time, they grow old, and the brand with them confidently moves towards the cemetery. If a brand doesn't run an anti-age program, it dies along with the audience.

If a brand doesn't rejuvenate, refocus on a younger audience, rebuild itself, or change its repertoire, it dies. Everyone chooses when to look back and look forward. This is always accompanied by fears: "Will I lose the old audience, the one with which I crawl to the cemetery?". Therefore, only a few people decide to change radically.

The future belongs to the younger generation. If my brand can be used by them, then I have to reorient myself to them in order to get a second, third, fourth, and fifth life. Align yourself with the values of the new audience. If, of course, this does not contradict my internal settings.

 M: That's how Kirkorov rebranded his own brand, he also changed it…

SL: I won't say anything about Kirkorov, but Alla Pugacheva, I think, did the rebranding. If you are in the industry, if you work with an audience: you either upgrade or leave with the old generation.

On the other hand, for example, take Oleg Mityaev. This is a bard, poet, and songwriter who is known to those who grew up in the USSR. Absolutely brilliant metaphors, texts and found intonation that gets to the audience that lived at that time. He literally holds her heart in his hands. Carefully, with understanding.

It seems that he doesn't need a rebranding and this is his choice. And what's going on? His audience grows up with him. At his concerts, in the hall, people of his age – 50-60 years. Yes, there are young people, but they are usually those who were brought up in families with conservative values of that time. There aren't many of them.

This is a classic example of what happens when a brand isn't updated. He remains true to himself, but at the same time moves to its logical conclusion. It's neither good nor bad – it's a choice. But if you want the brand to live longer, you need rebranding, rebuilding, and a new audience.

Rebranding makes the brand immortal.

M: Can you kill a brand?

SL:You can easily kill a brand. It's enough to stop communicating with your audience, give up on feedback, and stop giving them something new. Especially now, when young people quickly get fed up and are constantly looking for fresh impressions. If the older generation is used to stability: the same shoes for years, the same dining room, a familiar courtyard, then young people are eager for changes. 

And this is all part of the brand's anti-age program. This is a comprehensive strategy for changing and responding to new challenges of the time, where it is impossible to single out one thing. Everything is interconnected.

M: Can you name the brands that are doing so cool right now that you want to stand up and applaud?

SL: Sberbank. If you follow Russian banks, you know that a few years ago he was crawling along with his retired audience in the direction of the cemetery.I mean retail.

But then there was a rebranding. They stopped being just a bank and became an ecosystem. Now banking services are only part of a huge range of consumer solutions: delivery of goods, pharmacies, services, etc. And all this to attract a young audience that requires convenience and speed, to meet their new needs.

What's cool is that they haven't lost their old audience. They divided the communication: pensioners – some videos, young people-others. Why show your grandmother an ad for fast food delivery if she needs reliability and stability? They began to speak two languages.

M: Is it possible to create a strong brand without big budgets?

SL: May. A brand is a perception in people's minds. And a micro-business can create its own brand if it sells not just a product, but also forms the values of its brand and builds trustful communication. Think of Starbucks. Does he sell coffee? No! It sells atmosphere and respect for you as a person. Remember the name cups? That's what he sells! 

For example, imagine a new apartment complex. It has a small cafe that competes with the same others. It doesn't have millions for marketing, but by knowing certain branding rules, you can easily create a brand within this competitive community, making yourself stand out from them. Become a significant part of the life of a certain part of local residents. If the brand's values match those of your audience, it will work and collect its own people without huge budgets.

A brand is not necessarily something global. It may be small and local, but it is also significant for its audience. 

M: You were recently in Uzbekistan. How would you create a country tour brand? What key aspects are important?

SL: Создание тур-бренда страны – это процесс, очень похожий на создание корпоративного бренда. Это, если хотите – прямая аналогия. У страны, как и у бизнеса, есть наемный менеджмент – администрация, «сотрудники» – жители, держатели акций, целевая аудитория – туристы, продуктовая линейка… и даже сторонние инвесторы и т. д. 

I would start with a study: I would gather representatives from different levels - from the management to ordinary residents-to hear the opinions of different groups of people. Young people, middle-aged people, pensioners, economists, business representatives, cultural scientists, etc. What do they think and how do they see this future? Remember, I gave the example of SBERBANK, which today united different audiences into a single ecosystem. It is also possible and necessary for any country, city or town to find its own identity, which is different from others.

The next step is the brand platform, which includes new meanings, a system of values and unique features of Uzbekistan, on the basis of which the final visual appearance and all brand communication is created.

M: And what values could form the basis of the brand of Uzbekistan?

SL: I can't just immediately formulate them for the residents – we need to work on this first. I can only give an example of my personal impressions of the cities I visit in my aphorisms - "Lelikates". For example, about Vladivostok: "A city with a character, but the character is easy-going." About Smolensk: "The city with a squint". And, by the way, the locals appreciated them with a smile.

After my visit to the wonderful city of Tashkent, I put it this way: "Tashkent is beautiful, smart, and a little shy." The city is very developed, but at the same time, local residents are sometimes afraid to stand out, to be the first, to grow. There is an element of modesty, but the potential is huge.

M: What about the marketing forum you spoke at? What are your impressions? 

SL: You have Dier Mirzaakhmedov – a person who really sees the future. Take care of it! I think Uzbek entrepreneurs need to look up to him, because he sets the right direction, gathers progressive people who strive for new things.

What I particularly liked was that it was from him that I first heard the idea of introducing a brand evaluation graph. After all, entrepreneurs do not understand that you can earn money not only on the product, but also on the brand. The brand creates the main added value, but so far none of them are seriously thinking about it.

A simple example: Apple and Samsung. In fact, inside they have the same thing, but the cost of the iPhone is much higher. Why? Because people don't just buy a phone, they buy a brand. For some, it's status, for others – the story of Steve Jobs, for others-something else. The question is not about the product, but what the brand creates in people's minds. And this is the key idea that is extremely important to convey to all entrepreneurs today. 

M: Do you think it will be possible to convey this message to businessmen in the future?

SL: This is not a one-day job. It takes time and effort to explain that a brand is not just a logo, but a value system around which a community is built. Today, the world has become discrete. It is divided into small value communities. If earlier it was enough to go on TV and reach out to everyone at once, now each group of consumers lives in its own separate world. Business today must not only understand its audience, share its values and take into account the system of views of its employees, but also be aware of the social responsibility of business to society. This is a complex process, but without it it is impossible to build strong brands, which means to conduct effective business, thereby moving the progress and development of the entire society forward.

M: If you had the opportunity to speak to an audience of 1,000, 000 people and say one thing – what would it be?

SL: I would say, " Build a brand!"

M: Does this summarize everything?

SL: Sure. The brand is the way to go. If I had 4 hours in front of such an audience, I would explain why this is important. Business would be different the very next day. Because it is business that changes the world. If entrepreneurs realize that their money is not only in the product, but in the brand, everything will change instantly. Four hours is enough to change the world! 

M: You have announced the release of a new textbook, but this one is based on your personal brand. When can I expect it?

SL: Yes, the new tutorial "Instructions for building a personal brand", aimed at girls, will be released at the end of May. Follow the announcements on my telegram channel @lelikovbrand. This will be a compact guide to building a personal brand – a detailed guide with electronic materials and direct communication with me, as it was in the first basic tutorial "Instructions for building a brand", released in 2024. Girls will absolutely " collect their personal brand, like the shelf of their Ikea, without even ruining the manicure."

M: What should Uzbek companies learn from global brands, and what, on the contrary, should they keep as a unique advantage?

SL: This question is much deeper than it seems. Perhaps it should be reformulated: how to follow the path of progress, but not lose your identity?

But should we cling to the past like this? Personally, I believe that traditions are not the most necessary things to take with you into the future. They are good for their time, but it is pointless to continue chewing the same gum that our ancestors chewed. The taste is no longer the same, values change, meanings are transformed. The priorities of the new generation are completely different. Family values, relationships, social norms-everything evolves. So why drag the chest of the past behind you? It hinders our progress.

Есть еще одна метафора: рюкзак прошлого мы носим за спиной. Но в будущем он нам вряд ли чем-то поможет. Родительские советы могут не сработать в новой реальности. Они учили нас прясть на прялке, стирать на доске, лепить пельмени… Да, это было романтично, и в музее видеть это даже прикольно, но какое это имеет отношение к завтрашнему дню? Пельмени давно продаются готовыми…

Так что мне сложно ответить, как сохранить идентичность. А надо ли? Вся эта концепция корнями уходит в прошлое. Именно прошлое тормозит развитие. На мой взгляд, его нужно отсекать, сбрасывать ненужный груз. Родители – это отличная ракета-носитель выводящая на орбиту, но если вовремя не отстегнуть эту ступень ракеты, то можно вместе грохнуться вниз.

Want another metaphor? It's about the rearview mirror. If you're driving ahead, why do you have to keep looking back at it? But many people get stuck in this mirror and live with memories and thoughts of "how it used to be". 

M:Do you have any forecasts for the future of brands?

SL: I'm not a prophet or an analyst, but I can see how fast the world is changing. Today, society is divided into value communities. Everyone has their own needs, requests for goods and services. This process of "singularity", I think, will only get stronger. Therefore, the brands of the future are something unique, created for specific values and audiences. The mass market is a thing of the past. This must be taken into account if you want to be on the crest of the wave and meet new challenges.