Marketing communications create a positive brand image and attract potential consumers while providing close interaction with the target audience and increasing competitiveness. By combining approaches and tools, food companies increase the effectiveness of marketing communications and avoid communication barriers, thus achieving their profit targets in sales and advertising. The research featured consumer preferences in the field of dairy products. The research involved such methods as observation and survey; the obtained data underwent statistical, economic, and graphic processing. The survey involved 388 residents of the city of Kemerovo and the case of the local dairy producer Naturalnoe Moloko LLC, Kemerovo. The main barriers of marketing communications usually include barriers of perception, presentation, and interaction. The case study revealed barriers connected with installation, interaction, motivation, and comfort. The barriers could be minimized using digital marketing communications. The target audience saw the information availability about dairy companies and their products as important. This information can be provided by websites, social network accounts, and chat bots. In modern economic environment, a company is only as successful as its marketing communications. The survey data made it possible to formulate recommendations on how dairy companies can overcome communication barriers, based on the requirements of their target audience and their preferences regarding the place of purchase, choice, and communication channels.

Healthy diet and lifestyle are especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, more and more people of all age groups are getting involved into various sports and healthy diets. These factors have boosted the development of the sports nutrition industry. The current situation requires detailed studies of consumer preferences and digital marketing communications. The present research objective was to identify the role of digital marketing communications in sports nutrition. The study featured the consumer preferences in the market of sports nutrition and included an on-line survey of 500 residents of the Kuzbass Region engaged in various sports. The obtained results underwent statistical, economic, and graphic analyses. Men aged 18–29 appeared to be the main consumers of sports nutrition in Kuzbass. Most of them (90%) relied on the competent advice from the seller or coach and purchased sports foods in specialized shops or online. The target audience of sports nutrition consumers is expanding, which requires new promotion means. Digital marketing tools proved extremely effective as they bring information to the target audience in a tailored manner via social nets or influential bloggers. The article contains some recommendations for producers and sellers of sports foods based on the requirements of the main target consumers and their preferences regarding the place of purchase, content, communication channels, etc. The priority is shifting from traditional marketing communication channels to digital ones, i.e. contextual, targeted, and viral advertising, social media promotion, consultations with a shop assistant or a fitness club coach, direct online marketing, sponsorship of various sports events, joint online promotions with fitness club, etc.

The effective innovation activity in the region depends on the state and development of its innovative potential. The authors used theoretical, statistical, comparative, and analytical methods to describe the concept of innovative potential, evaluate its current state in the Kemerovo Region, and identify the promising areas for its development. The article introduces a comparative analysis of innovative and entrepreneurial activity in the Kemerovo Region in 2016–2020. The methodology developed by the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University made it possible to compare the indicators of innovative development in different regions of the Siberian Federal District. The analysis included the dynamics of the factors in order to calculate the indicators of innovative development and rank the regions. In terms of innovation activity, the Kemerovo Region appeared to be inferior to such leading regions of the Siberian Federal District as Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, and Krasnoyarsk. However, the region has good potential opportunities for innovative development. The authors recommend several promising directions that could develop the innovative potential of the region, create competitive advantages, attract additional investment, develop its digitalization potential, and increase its participation in the federal innovative, scientific, and technical policy, as well as to make it attractive for young people.