Departed brands such as Honor, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Acer reportedly resumed marketing in the sanctioned country in 2023

Many Asian electronics giants that curtailed promotion or suspended official supplies of goods to Russia in the wake of Ukraine-related sanctions resumed advertising in the country in 2023, according to a Kommersant report on Monday.

The newspaper cited data by the analytics agency TelecomDaily showing that advertising activity by Asian electronics majors in the Russian market returned to the level of 2021 or even exceeded it. Among the brands in question, the report named Honor, Xiaomi, Samsung, Acer, and others.

New Chinese smartphone brands Tecno and Infinix also boosted their marketing activity by 60% in 2023, data shows.

A source at one of the companies confirmed the trend to Kommersant, noting that electronics companies were “mainly focused on collaboration with bloggers.” The source highlighted that last year investments in advertising grew from zero in 2022, and exceeded the figures for 2021 by 2-5%.

READ MORE: Major tech giant suspends business in Russia

The Kommersant report highlighted that, due to sanctions risks, Asian companies have been transferring their advertising budgets and rights to manage brand promotion entirely to third parties, mainly marketplaces, retailers and distributors.

A Kommersant source from a smartphone vendor confirmed that all the advertising activity for devices that are not officially supplied to the Russian market is now carried out by retailers and marketplaces. Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries told the daily that advertising activity on its website in the electronics segment increased by 6.6 times last year compared to 2022.