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 of a sociological survey.

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Almost 10% of mentions from the general online communication of brands are on 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 from international brands has occupied 9.8% of the total communication in online media. The results of the study 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 has been in a controversial 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 - it continued to work in the Russian Federation and only in April 2023 was able to sell its assets and finally leave this market. The media field of the brand consists of almost 29% publications about business in the Russian Federation. In communications from McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Bosch, this topic accounts for more than 11% of the total number of mentions. The fewest mentions in the Megogo and Kernel brands. Such a low mention rate may be due to the fact that these companies, even before the war and in the first days of the invasion, publicly expressed their positions on leaving the Russian market.

For example:

Megogo

28.02.2022 — Megogo Removed All Russian Movies

02.03.2022 — Megogo announced closure in Russia

Kernel

23.03.2020 —Verevsky's Kernel sells its last Russian asset

28.03.2022 —Sergey Shibayev on March 12 submitted a written notice of his departure from the board of directors of Kernel Holding SA

Most often mentioned about 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 occurs 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 due to the fact that many international companies at the initial stage of the war decided to leave the Russian market, so the media field was more densely filled with references to this topic in the spring months. In 2023, closer to the anniversary of the war, the number of mentions in the media rises again - in January and February the number of mentions reaches almost 12% of the total number of mentions.

Based on a sociological study in which 400 respondents from different regions of Ukraine took part, excluding Crimea, Donbas and Luhansk regions, we tracked consumer sentiment and identified the following trends.

Almost 50% of consumers will not buy goods of companies that continue to operate in the Russian Federation

Data from a sociological study 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 products 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 those surveyed.

1. South-Western regions of Ukraine and Kherson region are the most radical to the issue of companies leaving the Russian market

Chernivtsi, Transcarpathian and Kherson regions 100% answered that they would not buy goods from companies operating in the Russian market. The highest level of loyalty to brands operating in the Russian market was shown by Kirovohrad (40%), Vinnytsia (33%) and Odessa (32%) regions.

2. The higher the income of the respondents, the higher the degree of rejection of the products of companies operating in the Russian market

Among people with high incomes, 100% answered that they will definitely not purchase, or rather will not purchase, the products of a company operating in the Russian market, and among people with low incomes this figure is 53%.

People with higher incomes are not only more principled when choosing companies, but also more knowledgeable about businesses that work with the Russian Federation. Thus, among the people who heard about the exit of companies from the Russian market, 20% of people were with high incomes, 19% with incomes above average and 18% with average incomes.

Communications of companies in the last 3 months: what the respondents heard, saw and read

The largest number of mentions of cooperation of companies with the Russian Federation falls on news media and news aggregators (consolidators) - almost 500 mentions each. Among other media, the most active on this topic were the media of the financial and retail direction, as well as business. In the category of TOP media, the largest number of mentions falls on the profile media resource of a non-profit organization Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers.

The vast majority of respondents who were acquainted with the information about the exit of companies from the Russian market have a high (20.1%) or above average income (19.1%) and the age of 25-35 years (35.7%). Probably, a significant part of the respondents received information just from those media that are highlighted in the companies' communications for the analyzed period.

Coverage and level of knowledge about the exit of companies from the Russian market

The most prominent in the context of leaving the Russian market over the past 3 months was McDonald's, which received more than 400 media mentions and the highest level of knowledge among respondents of 39%. TV for McDonald's has become 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 has gone through a rather long period of exit from the Russian market. Management statementregarding the release was announced in April 2022 and just a year later the company signed a sale agreementbusiness in the Russian Federation for 600 million euros. As a result of the greater coverage in the news agencies, Bosch (13%) and Megogo (15%) managed to obtain higher levels of knowledge than Credit Agricole (6%) in the last 3 months.

Media activity and the level of knowledge in the regional context shows that the most active regions that mentioned companies in the context of their exit from the Russian market were Kiev, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk and Khmelnytsky. This may be due to the number of media for which this information drive is relevant or to the representative offices or branches of international companies located in certain regions.

Based on the results of the study, 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 has paid the most attention in communications to this issue, and has also received some of the highest coverage and level of knowledge.
2. High-income people are more critical of companies that cooperate with the Russian Federation and are more aware of this topic, so in order to keep them among their consumers and not lose profits, brands must clearly communicate their position in the media.
3. The topic of business leaving the Russian market is a trigger for people and society living in a country where the war continues, so its resonance in the media from time to time will rise again and be filled with new information drives within the general theme.
   
   

The interactive report can also be viewed in Google Data Studio.

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