Позитивные изменения. Том 3, № 2 (2023). Positive changes. Volume 3, Issue 2 (2023)

We can definitely be confident about the feasibility of assessing the impact of children’s cinema, because in this case, we could and should use the tools from pedagogy and child psychology. In addition, this year there will be a significant change in the system – the maximum public funding limit of children’s films will be raised from 70 % to 100 %. Accordingly, producers will no longer have to be concerned about economic performance, so we are hoping there will be more high quality films aimed specifically at children. But since the film production cycle is 2–3 years, the effect of this law will not become clear until 2026.

Galina Sytsko also believes that the production of films popularizing the professions of teachers, engineers, doctors, etc. will gain momentum in the near future. The effect of such films can be measured by comparing the percentage of school graduates entering specialized universities, or by comparing the age profile of those who work in a particular profession now and some years later.

Maria Mokina, journalist, producer, member of the Coordinating Council on Social Advertising and Social Communications at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Public Council at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation, noted that the modern media market has evolved from an emotional joy of someone finally integrating a social theme into the media product, to a conscious introduction of social context to develop new positive social habits, change lifestyles, and create comfortable spaces around oneself. The result of this evolution has been the total incorporation of a social idea into the body of the media product. This has become a mandatory “burden” on the part of customers and creators.

Today, society is entering the next stage of development, when it is necessary not only to rejoice in the casual effect, but to form an effective social impact entertainment industry[20], which will produce products aimed at solving specific social and humanitarian problems.

“There is virtually no qualitative research on this topic in the media production market today; only quantitative studies are available. The assessment market is still in its infancy. The key players in this area are the Positive Changes Factory, the Higher School of Economics, and the National Media Group,” says Maria Mokina.

The state has created an extensive system of grant, financial, and infrastructural support for the film industry; but when the experts are deciding on whether to provide this support, they are focused on the traditional set of criteria such as increasing audience coverage or popularizing a certain issue. The introduction of an end-to-end assessment system at all stages of the creation and production of an audiovisual work will make it possible to multiply its qualitative impact, to see how effectively the money was invested, not only through the emotional impact, but by expanding the impact from Call-to-Action[21], which is mainly used in advertising today, to the introduction of social decision and behavior models that contribute to the sustainable development of society.

As part of the activities of the Coordinating Council on Social Advertising and Social Communications at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, social advertising currently undergoes assessment based on the criteria described in the “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Social Advertising” methodological manual from 2018, the only scientific publication to date that takes into account anything other than the economic result (Gladkikh Vainer, 2018). Regular expert examination and evaluation also takes place within the framework of IDI and Yandex competitions on social advertising for NGOs[22].

“I can highlight several cases in the domestic industry. First of all, it is the #thiscannotbecured #cancercanbecured advertising campaign by Konstantin Khabensky Charitable Foundation, aimed at fighting fear of cancer[23]. The Foundation’s creative team conducted baseline research before launching the campaign and summarized its results, which made it possible to develop a strategy for the Foundation’s activities in the future. Some of the more recent cases are “Teenagers” and “Aunt Martha” projects made by NMG,” Maria Mokina continues. “In addition to integrating social messages into the series, they were surrounded by support services for the target audience, which were based on the studies of viewing statistics and viewer feedback on the media product. However, it is too early to say that a systematic assessment of qualitative results at the level of content impact is present in the media industry. This new, deliberate approach has yet to be created, tested, and implemented.”