The Content and Focus of Brand Communications in the Ukrainian Organic Market

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to study the implementation of brand communications in the Ukrainian organic market as represented in social media. Design/methodology/approach. The materials of the research are marketing (text) messages contained on the official Facebook pages of two certified Ukrainian organic egg producers. Marketing messages were collected for the period from February 31, 2018 to December 29, 2021 (or about 3 years) and studied based on the theoretical principles of brand communication in social media in the organic market and using the quantitative method of corpus linguistics (employing corpus analysis toolkit AntConc software for text analysis). Corpus linguistics helps to reveal objective, quantitative relationships between words, and their frequency in text messages on the official Facebook pages of organic egg producers, that is making it possible to uncover the main focus of these messages. Findings. The results of the study show that the content of brand communications is based on the multifaceted value of organic products, as indicated by the use of a set of motives in marketing messages that may encourage Ukrainian consumers to be inclined to buy organic. The focus of marketing information is primarily directed on gastronomic hedonism and is more product-centered, with the description of the benefits of egg consumption for human health. Ukrainian organic egg producers communicate the nutritional and taste characteristics of products, but not the environmental component of production, including animal care. Practical implications. The information about the chickens and their welfare is present in marketing messages, but it is not at the core of the implementation of brand communications, and therefore consumers may perceive such products as a good choice for their health, rather than ethically sound choices from the standpoint of animal welfare and care for the environment. However, according to Ukrainian scholars, the ecological dimension of organic production and organic products is a competitive advantage in the food market and the most important motive for the consumption of organic products than their hedonistic advantages. This is important both from the point of view of differentiating organic from other eco-labelled products, which compete with organic in the food market, and to teaching consumers to distinguish organic from non-organic. Thus, our recommendation to organic egg producers is to pay more attention to informing the target audience about the production certification and labelling because it will assure consumers of the high quality and unique value of organic products. Originality/value. This study fills the research gap in Ukraine by having examined the content and focus of brand communications in the Ukrainian organic market, their correspondence with the motives of Ukrainian consumers and the recommendations of scientists and practitioners in the field. This study identified not only the topics of brand communications of organic egg producers but also the focus of producers on conveying certain values to the consumer, which does not fully cover the organic values.