Santa Claus bypassed Santa Claus 14 times: rating of the presence of New Year characters in the Russian media.

For the third time, AGT communications agency and Smyslografia analytical agency conducted a study of the presence of fabulous New Year characters from Russian regions in the domestic media.

By the end of 2018, Father Frost from Veliky Ustyug and Snow Maiden from Kostroma keep the lead. At the same time, if the number of references to Santa Claus increased by more than 20 thousand (216 thousand in 2018 compared with 194 thousand in 2017), then Snow Maiden was remembered only 9 thousand times more (111 thousand in 2018 year compared with 102 thousand in 2017).

If you compare the most popular Russian fairy-tale character with foreign colleagues, it becomes noticeable that the “expansion” of foreign wizards in the Russian media field has noticeably decreased only in the case of Santa Claus. If last year it was mentioned in 18 thousand publications, in this their number borders on 15.5 thousand. The Belarusian Dze Maroze is remembered with an enviable consistency (250 in 2018 and 256 in 2017), but the Finnish Joulupukki was noted more than 200 overtime publications compared to last year (515 in 2018 and 377 in 2017).

Other traditional leaders of the TOP-5 Russian characters also showed a slight increase in publications:

Kysh Babai (2,057 in 2018; 1,932 in 2017);

Tol Babai (1 571 in 2018; 1 401 in 2017);

Pakkayne (1,293 in 2018; 1,130 in 2017).

In total, the twenty most powerful Russian New Year fairy characters look like this:

Natalia Belyakova, an associate professor at HSE, a partner of the Center for Territorial Marketing, was not surprised by the rating: “The rating of the New Year characters in 2018 seems to be devoid of sensations. There are no obvious ups and downs in the top, except that Karelian Talvi Ukko and Yakut Chyskhaan were castled. There is a plateau effect - the arrangement of magical forces has been determined, and outwardly everything is pretty stable.

However, when looking at absolute figures, it is obvious that, in principle, the Russian media became more interested in the fate of Russian New Year characters. The number of publications about Santa Claus (collective image, not limited to the Great Ustyug) has increased by 20 thousand! It seems that Santa is starting to lose ground on 1/6 of the land: last year he was devoted to 3 thousand. fewer publications than in 2017.

The most media New Year characters have successful winter residences with an annual cycle of activities (including the spring-summer season), that is, they act as newsmakers all the time. It is possible to predict the continuation of old and the emergence of new conflicts on the basis of the ownership and use of the fabulous brand - as practice shows, the heroes of the New Year's folklore are poorly protected from attacks on their name. ”

Vladislav Shulaev, director for promotion of the territories of AGT communication agency, noted the general media rise of regional Snow Maidens: “The Kostroma Snow Maiden has become more popular with media by 10 percent. Tatarstan Kar Kyzy this year entered the top-10. Yur Pike, Lymy Nyl, granddaughter Lumudyr strengthened their positions. So now not only Santa Clauses can share experiences of interesting events, but also Snow Maidens. It is not clear why Voronezh will not undertake the promotion of its New Year characters. After all, the Voronezh studio Wizart created a new full-length “Snow Queen”. Four cartoons have already been released, and they are quite popular, and not only in Russia. This is a “gold mine” for the promotion of fairytale cartoon characters. With a properly designed New Year “approach”, the region could quickly enter the top 10 New Year marketing projects of the country. ”

The results of the study in 2017 can be found in the relevant news on the site "Smyslography."