Ukraine: Marketing Communications in Wartime

The All-Ukrainian Advertising Coalition presents a brief overview of what is happening in the marketing field at leading Ukrainian advertisers during the war.

The research 'Trends in the Management of Marketing Communications during the war' was conducted among 118 advertisers. Survey period is from August to September 2022. 

According to the survey, different companies mastered 'military shock' at different times.

Service companies quickly got involved and resumed business (even in 3-10 days), while some food companies stopped production for a period of up to 3-4 months. 

Migration of the population, decrease in the solvency of consumers, destruction of infrastructure, plants and factories, difficulties with logistics and restrictions on investments affected the decrease in the income of companies. 56% of respondents indicate a decrease in income. On average, income decreased by 33%. 

In the conditions of a significant decrease in business income and a general situation of uncertainty, 74% of companies switched to short-term planning, 87% of respondents adjusted or radically changed their business strategies. 

The main trend was a significant increase in spending on social projects and support of the country. Companies allocate budgets for humanitarian aid, support charitable foundations and the Armed Forces, contribute to the coverage of events at the international level, participating in and organizing events in support of the country.  

Every fourth company reduced its workforce after the start of the war, an average of 22%. There is a "natural outflow" of personnel – when people decide to go abroad and start building their lives there. 

29% of companies implemented office relocation measures. Most often, this is relocation to safer regions of Ukraine, although 15% of companies have implemented partial team relocation abroad. Currently, remote work mode prevails for most companies. 

16% of respondents reduced their marketing staff, on average by 30%. Currently, the average size of the marketing department is 14 employees.

80% of advertisers note that marketing activity has fallen due to the war. Among the marketing activities planned before the war, 45% of the projects were cancelled. 

To respond to modern challenges, marketing has to focus more on analytics and timely response, and change almost everything: communication strategies, product portfolio, pricing strategies, marketing budgets, work with partners and contractors. 

The general cohesion of business is also growing, which leads to the emergence of a wide variety of partnerships and collaborations: with competitors, with Ukrainian artists, with stars, with funds and brands, etc.

All directions of advertising and communication activities underwent significant changes this year in terms of approaches to their management.

72% of advertisers talk about significant changes in media advertising, 47% about such changes in approaches to managing non-media activities, the number of companies that used marketing research in the new conditions of martial law fell by 2 times. This is one of the largest indicators in the history of the advertising industry of Ukraine.

Internet advertising suffered the least losses, it was used by 71% of surveyed companies after 24 February 2022. The biggest losses are advertising on television (reduced more than 3 times) and in cinemas (reduced more than 6 times). 21% of respondents did not advertise at all after 24 February 2022. 

The number of companies that had PR projects and direct marketing this year decreased by almost 30% in comparison with the previous year. 

34% of respondents revised their media selection strategy. Digitalization has become a major trend. 33% of companies are developing in-house expertise in media planning and buying.  

49% of respondents already have an updated strategy for media advertising, 27% are currently working on this task. 77% of companies allocate budgets for media. The situation with non-media activity is similar: 49% have a strategy and budget, 22% are working on it, 70% have planned a budget. The situation with marketing research is different, 40% of companies do not have a clear strategy in this direction and do not allocate a budget, 49% do not plan any budget for this activity. 

Therefore, despite the difficult state in which the country and the advertising industry in particular found themselves, most advertisers are reformatting their business processes and marketing functions, updating communication strategies and starting to allocate budgets for marketing activities. 

Stand with Ukraine!