“Domestic” does not mean “poor quality” anymore

The once-prevalent notion that products made in Russia are not worthy of attention seems to have finally become a thing of the past. Numerous public opinion studies confirm this. The rise in patriotic sentiment has led to growth of interest and trust towards domestic products and content produced within the country. According to sociological studies, this trend will only gain momentum.

The entry of foreign companies into the Russian market in the 1990s gave a powerful stimulus to the development of domestic businesses. To compete with major international brands, Russian companies have had to improve production, make investments, develop technologies, create new services, and come up with more creative advertising tactics. They also had to learn and adapt at an extremely demanding pace. As a result, the internal consumer market has evolved significantly in the past 30 years.

In 2022, the conditions have changed dramatically once again. Many foreign companies exited the market completely, announced a drastic reduction in their product range reduction, or were shut down only to re-open under a different name. The issue of import substitution came to the fore. At the moment, the Russian market is ahead of the curve.{1]{1]

The rise in patriotic sentiment due to the current events has caused an increase in trust and interest towards all things Russian. It is particularly evident in the Russian regional markets. In May 2022, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) found that Russians are anticipating the substitution of foreign products by domestic ones. The respondents were certain that domestic manufacturers would be able to quickly replace foreign companies in the segments of key consumer goods: food products (94%), personal care products (91%), household cleaning products (90%), building and finishing materials (86%). If the price was the same, 67% of respondents said that they would choose the domestic product, and only 18% said they would choose the foreign one. 56% of respondents trust the quality of Russian products, and 22% show trust for foreign products.

According to Romir data, by the beginning of 2023, 73% of consumers preferred brands of new domestic manufacturers with Russian features (name, logo, design), while 27% preferred brands with foreign features.

In June 2023, VCIOM studied consumer confidence in food products based on the country of origin. 39% said that the quality of domestic food products was higher than the quality of foreign ones. 34% thought that the quality was about the same. Only 15% said that foreign food products were of better quality.

The level of domestic media content has evidently grown as well, and viewers (not only from Russia) have taken notice. As evaluated by Roskino, at the start of 2020s Russia became one of top 10 series-exporting countries. In 2020, Netflix bought rights to the “To the Lake” series created by 1-2-3 Production and producers Valery Fedorovich and Yevgeni Nikishov. The series was a great success. It has been translated into 12 languages and ranked as the 4th most-watched show on Netflix.

A shot from the “To the Lake” series

“To the Lake” and the movie “Pops (Batya)” produced by Good Story Media for TNT and TNT4 TV channels (part of Gazprom-Media Holding) became successful abroad as well. First, the movie became a bestseller in online cinemas in 2021, and later, the only Russian project on Canneseries in the short form category. In 2022, the comedy won in the “Best Script” nomination at the Bilbao Seriesland web-series festival in Spain.

Analysis results of Kinopoisk Pro (a list of the 100 series that most interested Russians within a week) show that the interest in domestic series is growing steadily. This index takes into account search queries and visits to web pages related to the series. In 2023, on average, among 100 series in the Kinopoisk Pro index, 43 series were Russian, and 27 were American. In 2021, the same ratio was 30 to 32. Among Russian series for the New Year season,the series “Zhuki. The Finale” is particularly popular (the series is produced by the TNT TV channels and Comedy Club Production, part of Gazprom-Media Holding).

A shot from the “Zhuki” series

“The growing interest in Russian media content unlocks new opportunities for the development of the licensing industry,” says Eduard Ayrapetyan, Managing Director of Licensing at Gazprom-Media Sales House. At the start of 2023, Gazprom-Media Sales House (part of Gazprom-Media Holding) announced the launch of a separate brand licensing branch for teenage and adult audiences.

In 2022, as noted by VCIOM, 56% of Russians continued to watch Russian movies like before, and 13% of respondents started to do so more often, which indicates steady growth of interest in domestic movies. All this is a reason to confidently say that the domestic manufacturing and Russian brands have a great future ahead.

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