Perception of brands after leaving the Russian market: sociology and media analytics

 

The exit of companies from the PF market is a powerful value trigger for business and society that cannot be ignored today. Its influence is important for the further development of the brand and its attractiveness for consumers and investors. The LOOQME team investigated the communications of 9 international companies: Coca-cola, Megogo, McDonald's, Netflix, Kernel, Credit Agricole, Henkel, Bosch, Luxsoft for the period from 24.02.2022 to 30.04.2023 in traditional and online media, and compared them with the results sociological survey. We share the results of the study. Almost 10% of mentions from the general online communication of brands are about the topic of business exit from the Russian Federation Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the issue of the exit of businesses from the Russian market for international brands has occupied 9.8% of the total communication in the online mass media. The research results show that Henkel received the most attention from the media in the context of this topic. This is due to the fact that the company took a contradictory position for quite a long time - on the one hand, it supported Ukraine and talked about it in the media space, and on the other hand, it continued to work in the Russian Federation and only in April 2023 was able to sell its assets and finally leave this market. Almost 29% of the brand's media base consists of publications about business in the Russian Federation. In the communications of McDonald's, Coca-cola and Bosch, this topic accounts for more than 11% of the total number of mentions. Megogo and Kernel brands have the fewest mentions. Such a low rate of recall may be related to the fact that even before the war and in the first days of the invasion, these companies publicly expressed their positions on exiting the Russian market. Example: Megogo 02/28/2022 — Megogo removed all Russian movies 03/02/2022 — Megogo announced its closure in Russia Kernel 03/23/2020 — Verevsky's "Kernel" sold its last Russian asset 28.03.2022 — Serhii Shibayev submitted a written notice of resignation from the Board of Directors of Kernel Holding SA on March 12 Most often, they mentioned the exit of business from the Russian Federation in the spring of 2022 and before the anniversary of the war The largest number of mentions of business leaving the Russian market is in the spring of 2022: in May, almost 16% of the total number of mentions, in March — 13%, and in April, almost 12%. This dynamic is connected with the fact that many international companies at the initial stage of the war decided to withdraw from the Russian market, so the media field was more densely filled with mentions of this topic in the spring months. In 2023, closer to the anniversary of the war, the rate of mentions in the media increases again — in January and February, the number of mentions reaches almost 12% of the total number of mentions. On the basis of a sociological study in which 400 respondents from different regions of Ukraine took part, excluding Crimea, Donbass and Luhansk region, we tracked consumer attitudes and identified the following trends. Almost 50% of consumers will not buy goods from companies that continue to operate in the Russian Federation Sociological research data show that consumers are not interested in the products and services of companies that have not left the Russian market. 45.5% of respondents categorically refuse to buy goods of brands that continue to work in the Russian Federation, and 32.3% would rather not buy them. In total, this is more than 77% of respondents, that is, the vast majority of respondents. The South-Western regions of Ukraine and the Kherson region are the most radical when it comes to the exit of companies from the Russian market Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia and Kherson regions answered 100% that they will not buy goods from companies operating on the Russian market. Kirovohrad (40%), Vinnytsia (33%) and Odesa (32%) regions showed a higher level of loyalty to brands operating on the Russian market. The higher the income of the respondents, the higher the degree of rejection of the products of companies operating on the market of the Russian Federation Among people with a high income, 100% answered that they would definitely not purchase, or rather would not purchase, the products of a company operating in the Russian market, while among people with a low income, this indicator is 53%. People with higher incomes are not only more principled when choosing companies, but also more knowledgeable about businesses operating from the Russian Federation. Thus, among people who heard about the exit of companies from the Russian market, 20% of people had a high income, 19% had an above-average income, and 18% had an average income. Company communications over the past 3 months: what respondents heard, saw and read News media and news aggregators (consolidators) have the largest number of mentions of the cooperation of companies with the Russian Federation — almost 500 mentions each. Among other media, the most active on this topic were financial and retail media, as well as business media. In the TOP-MEDIA category, the largest number of mentions goes to the profile media resource of the non-profit organization Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers. The vast majority of respondents who were familiar with the information drive about the withdrawal of companies from the Russian market have a high (20.1%) or above average income (19.1%) and are 25-35 years old (35.7%). Probably, a significant part of the respondents received information from those mass media that are highlighted in the company's communications for the analyzed period. Coverage and level of knowledge about you progress of companies from the Russian market

In the context of exiting the Russian market in the last 3 months, McDonald's was the most media-focused company, which received more than 400 mentions in the media and the highest level of knowledge among respondents at 39%. TV for McDonald's became the main source of communication for this information drive. Coverage and level of knowledge about the exit of companies from the Russian market In the context of exiting the Russian market in the last 3 months, McDonald's was the most media-focused company, which received more than 400 mentions in the media and the highest level of knowledge among respondents at 39%. TV for McDonald's became the main source of communication for this information drive. The most contrasting relationship between the number of mentions in the media and the level of knowledge of the respondents in the Henkel brand. This may be due to the fact that the company went through a rather long period of withdrawal from the Russian market. The management's statement regarding the exit was made public in April 2022, and only a year later the company signed an agreement to sell its business in the Russian Federation for 600 million euros. As a result of greater coverage in information agencies, the company Bosch (13%) and Megogo (15%) managed to obtain higher indicators of the level of knowledge than Credit Agricole (6%) over the last 3 months. Media activity and the level of knowledge in a regional context shows that the most active regions that mentioned companies in the context of their exit from the Russian market were Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk and Khmelnytskyi. This may be related to the number of media for which this infographic is relevant, or to representative offices or branches of international companies located in certain regions. Based on the research results, we can draw the following conclusions: 1. Resonance regarding the company's exit from the Russian market has an impact on its perception by consumers. This trend is clearly reflected by the Henkel brand, which paid the most attention to this issue in communications, and also received one of the highest indicators of coverage and level of knowledge. 2. People with high incomes have a harsher attitude towards companies that cooperate with the Russian Federation and are more knowledgeable about this topic, so in order to keep them among their consumers and not lose profits, brands should clearly communicate their position in the media. 3. The topic of business exit from the Russian market is a trigger for people and society living in a country where the war continues, so its resonance in the media will rise again from time to time and be filled with new information drives within the general topic. The interactive report can also be viewed in Google Data Studio.