A Russian student is set make the trip to Britain to discuss the brand strategy for online tea and coffee company Ringtons, after his dissertation was discovered online by Orange Bus, the company’s digital agency.

Orange Bus, which created the e-commerce site for Ringtons, discovered the dissertation by Dmitri Moruz while working on the social media strategy for the business, through Twitter.

Moruz is studying at the British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow, and had tweeted his rebranded design of the Ringtons label through design website, The Die Line, as part of his degree.

Having been impressed by what he saw, managing director Julian Leighton forwarded the link onto Jon Malton, director of Ringtons, who has now invited the 24-year-old to Newcastle for a meeting as to how its speciality tea brand can appeal to a younger audience.

Leighton said: “The fact that we can listen into conversations about our brands from the other side of the world on such networks as Twitter demonstrates the power of social media and the web.  People often do not understand how much value that there is in conversations becoming a big part of  social media and this is a perfect example. 

“Dmitri’s concept and interpretation of Ringtons Tea packaging was so fresh and beautifully designed and with the eco-friendly packaging, he really showed an understanding of the product.  I felt that this was something that Ringtons should be made aware of and his initiative to post his work on an international design blog site has really paid off. 

“I hope this is one of many brand conversations we find through Twitter and other social media platforms for our customers, and this story encourages all businesses to keep their eyes and ears open online.”  

 Jon Malton added: “It is amazing to think that something like Twitter would have brought such young talent to my attention from the other side of the world and we are very much looking forward to meeting the young man who has dreams of redesigning our established brand.”