Effective Advertising Strategies for Alcohol and Tobacco Products in Russia: Navigating the Landscape of Dark Marketing.

Since 2012, Russian legislation has been one of the strictest in the world when it comes to advertising alcohol and tobacco products. While some countries allow partial or complete promotion of these products, in Russia it is either completely prohibited through traditional media channels such as TV, print, and radio, or allowed with significant restrictions. However, this does not mean that advertising these products is impossible. There are still legitimate ways to advertise using digital tools.

QB Agency experts have created a special guide to help navigate the specifics of dark marketing for promoting alcohol and tobacco products on the Russian market.

Promoting Alcohol in Russia: Legal Restrictions and Possible Alternatives

Article 21 of the Federal Law “About advertising” governs the requirements for promoting alcoholic beverages in Russia. The regulations differ depending on the type of product being advertised. For instance:

• Beer and beverages with an ethyl alcohol content of 0.5% or more can be promoted through retail outlets, TV and radio broadcasts during championships and sports contests (excluding children’s competitions), closed social interest groups, and social media and company websites.
• Russian-produced wine and champagne (ethyl alcohol content of 0.5% or more) can be advertised in offline sales outlets, closed interest clubs, social media, and company websites. They may also be promoted in print media (except for magazine covers or newspaper first and last pages), on TV and radio between 23:00 and 07:00 (excluding live youth sports competitions), and at food exhibitions in the restaurant segment.
• Strong alcohol (ethyl alcohol content of more than 5%), wine, and champagne from other countries have more limitations. They can only be promoted offline through retail outlets, closed interest clubs, and social media and company websites. TV, print media, and OOH advertising are not allowed. Additionally, it’s crucial to understand the nuances related to a company’s official website. While the website itself is not considered an advertisement, banners and pop-up windows on it are considered prohibited promotional materials.

The promotion of alcoholic beverages in Russia must adhere to specific content requirements outlined in Article 21 of the Federal Law “About advertising.” Firstly, the distribution channels for advertising vary depending on the type of alcoholic product. Secondly, the content of alcohol advertising must contain a warning about the dangers of alcohol consumption and must not promote alcohol as a means of success or recognition. Additionally, it is prohibited to advertise to minors and use images of people or animals. General advertising requirements, such as avoiding violence and false comparisons, also apply. Violations of these regulations result in fines ranging from 4,000 to 20,000 rubles for individual entrepreneurs and 100,000 to 500,000 rubles for companies.

Given these restrictions, acceptable advertising tools for alcoholic beverages include the following.

There are various ways to advertise alcoholic beverages within the limits of legal requirements. Native content, which combines educational or informative media with advertising, is acceptable. This can include recipes for drinks, materials about alcohol culture, and interviews with representatives of alcohol companies. Sponsorship is also allowed in the form of supporting festivals and concerts in exchange for advertising, including logos and symbols on stage, posters, and tickets. Cooperation with restaurants, bars, and cafes involves branding of the premises, promotions, tastings, and creating a special cocktail menu for the brand.

Advertising of non-alcoholic products can be used to remind customers about the brand, which is often done by large brewing companies that have non-alcoholic beer in their product lines. Animated characters and people can be used in advertising of drinks containing less than 0.5% ethyl alcohol. However, the positioning of non-alcoholic products must be indicated in the content, otherwise, it will be considered illegal.

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote products on the market, and bloggers can advertise alcoholic beverages because they are not official representatives of the media. Brands often use this advertising tool by creating information guides, emphasizing premium product quality, and offering prize draws, among other things.

Advertising integrations on YouTube are also growing, with Russian YouTube bloggers earning approximately 175 million rubles per year from integrations with alcohol brands, according to Yoloco influencer marketing platform. William Lawson’s, Dewars, Belenkaya, Bacardi, and Martini are among the top companies that spent the most on such promotion. For example, Dewars whiskey was mentioned in videos of Leonid Parfenov, Ksenia Sobchak, Artemy Lebedev, and Oblomoff. Despite the risks of penalties, alcohol brands continue to invest in special projects, sponsorships of various events, and promotion on Telegram. Companies usually budget expenses for possible risks or penalties in advance, as the revenues from advertising alcoholic beverages through influencer marketing still exceed the costs of implementing campaigns themselves.

In other words, there are exceptions to the rule. Despite strict legal limitations, promoting alcoholic beverages can be accomplished effectively using diverse strategies. Among them, the most potent ones are advertising through social media and influencer marketing. Interestingly, the latter technique is also the most effective approach for promoting tobacco products.

Although limited, there are still opportunities for advertising tobacco products in Russia.

Compared to the alcohol industry, the advertising options for tobacco-containing products are significantly restricted. Traditional advertising channels such as TV, media, and OOH are banned for tobacco brands and products. The Federal Law “About Advertising” prohibits the advertising of all tobacco-related products, including cigarettes, mouthpiece cigarettes, tobacco, cigars, smoking pipes, hookahs, cigarette paper, lighters, and electronic cigarettes in Russia.

Unlike non-alcoholic beer, there are no exceptions to this ban in the legislation. The promotion of tobacco products is governed by Article 16 of Law No. 15-FZ, which draws certain conclusions about its regulation in Russia.

The following activities are prohibited in relation to tobacco products:

• Offering discounts or coupons for tobacco products
• Presenting or distributing tobacco products for free
• Creating other products that imitate tobacco products (e.g., chewing gum that looks like a cigarette)
• Using tobacco brand logos for purposes other than tobacco products (e.g., displaying a tobacco brand logo on charcoal packs for hookahs)
• Holding contests or lotteries where purchasing tobacco products is a requirement to participate
• Depicting the act of smoking in children’s films, programs, and theatrical performances
• Conducting offline events that encourage the audience to buy tobacco products
• Attracting a tobacco brand as a sponsor, or using the identity of such brands in charitable events.

To summarize, there are limited ways to promote tobacco products, but there are some integration formats that are not directly prohibited by law. However, advertisers should be aware of the potential risks and include potential penalties in their advertising budget. According to Part 1 of Article 14.2.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, the penalties for advertising tobacco products vary from 10,000 to 25,000 rubles for individual entrepreneurs and from 150,000 to 600,000 rubles for companies.

That being said, there are still some relatively safe ways to promote these products. For instance, offline promotion at sales outlets is possible, such as providing advice to customers and conducting market research. Additionally, publishing content on an official website or social media can inform customers about new products without explicitly promoting them. However, pop-up banners are considered advertising and are therefore forbidden. It’s also crucial to include age restrictions and warnings about the dangers of smoking as part of the design of these resources.