Brand Awareness in Times of Foreign Divestments: Case of Fashion and Food Industries in Russia

Финансы и бизнес. 2024. Vol. 20. No. 1. P. 63–81.

Lebeyodkina D., Ehtisham U. H., Markovskaya E., Shola Ojo Kolawole

The article is dedicated to the analysis of brand awareness during foreign divestments in cases of fashion and food industries in Russia. For a detailed analysis, two companies from the food industry were selected: McDonald’s (with the brand Vkusno i Tochka after the divestment) and Coca-Cola (with the brand Dobry Cola after the divestment), as well as one company from the fashion industry: LPP Group (with the brands Re, M, Sin, XC after the divestment). The aim of this study is to analyze the phenomenon of divestment in the Russian food and fashion industries, both on the part of companies (how divestments took place, how they differ from company to company, and why this happened) and the part of consumers (how the new positioning has affected the awareness of the brand, its recognition and its attractiveness). The study puts an effort to fill the research gap caused by a lack of knowledge about how exactly foreign companies left the Russian market during the current sanctions, and how the consumers reacted to the new brands that replaced them, which defines the relevance of the work.

For the study, a comprehensive analysis of the literature was carried out, as well as case study method and statistical tests were used. The data was collected using a brand awareness survey. During the analysis of the results, it was found that companies used either disinvestment (starvation) strategy or sell-off (divestiture) strategy. As for the brand awareness survey results, it was noted that despite the idea of succession promoted by new companies, brand loyalty and satisfaction have fallen below those of the original brands, as well as poor brand positioning has been presented. The results of the analysis provide valuable insights into the perceptions that consumers have with selected brands both for brand managers and for scholars.

Keywords: food industry, brand awareness, divestments, fashion industry