Finance: Russia asks 248,000 citizens to vote on a symbol for the Ruble

A currency is a brand and just like any other brand it needs a good logo. Up until now there has been no official symbol for the Russian Currency, unlike it’s counterparts the Dollar and the Pound. Inspired by the design of the new Euro back in the 90’s the Russian Central Bank embarked on a branding strategy. It’s been a bumpy ride, with Russia defaulting in 1998 however the new symbol is designed to represent stability and reliability. The winning entry with 61% of the votes? The Cyrillic letter for R which has often been used as the unofficial symbol. You can read more about the branding process here from the Washington Post.