Analysis of Genshin Impact brand communications with the Russian audience

In 2021, the Genshin Impact brand used traditional TV advertising as a platform for communicating with Russian-speaking audiences; by 2026, primary communication takes place through the game’s official group on the social network VKontakte, which has 1.3 million subscribers [4]. The group regularly features announcements of upcoming promotions and game updates, while the active fan community ensures a high level of engagement through discussions and user-generated content. An overview of the brand’s current PR strategies can be traced through several advertising campaigns conducted in Russia between 2021 and 2026:

— Genshin Impact: Traditional TV Commercial (2021). In this campaign, the brand departed from the digital advertising typical of games in order to convey significance and scale, thereby increasing audience trust.

— DOOH advertising campaign for the #ENDLESSJOURNEY project at the Evropeysky shopping mall (2023): In this example, the brand demonstrated a strategy of entering the offline space by placing branding in a high-traffic location, helping to transform the virtual gaming experience into a physical event and attracting not only loyal fans but also a general audience.

— Genshin Impact × Dodo Pizza collaboration (2024). — Genshin Impact × One Price Coffee collaboration (2026). These two cross-brand collaborations reflect a strategy of embedding the brand into users' everyday consumer rituals. The use of gamification mechanics within the collaborations (exclusive items, promo codes) allows the brand to maintain a high level of engagement and sustained attention, while driving sales by linking the digital product to real-world food and beverage products.

— Genshin Impact × Likee collaboration (2025): The partnership with the popular Likee platform particularly highlights the brand’s focus on a younger audience. This campaign emphasized the use of short-form video content and challenges, which aligns with contemporary media consumption trends and helps maintain relevance through live interaction and fan community creativity.

Overall, the brand’s strategy is built on the synergy between its digital presence and offline activities, transforming the game into a cultural phenomenon integrated into the everyday lives of Russian consumers.

Two models were chosen as the analytical framework for this study: the ELM (Elaboration Likelihood Model) (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) and the Narrative Paradigm (Fisher, 1984). In our view, these two approaches are particularly well-suited as analytical lenses for examining all of the brand’s advertising campaigns mentioned above.

The ELM model makes it possible to classify the ways in which advertising campaigns are perceived through different routes of persuasion. The central processing route explains the engagement of the core target audience by analyzing the value of in-game bonuses within collaborations, while the peripheral route describes the response of broader audiences to visual cues and media authority figures [7].

The Narrative Paradigm model complements the analysis by viewing the brand as an evolving story. The persuasiveness of communications within this paradigm is assessed through Narrative Coherence and Narrative Fidelity, making it possible to determine how specific mechanisms may contribute to — or, conversely, undermine — a cohesive perception of the game world [8].

In this advertising campaign, the brand primarily employed the peripheral route of the ELM model in order to increase brand awareness and encourage potential users to download the digital product — leveraging airtime on TV channels (Authority) to build trust with the target audience, as well as the visual aesthetics of in-game footage featuring the stunning landscapes of the Teyvat world and charming characters (Liking).

When examining this brand communication through the lens of the Narrative Paradigm, it is worth noting that the creators succeeded in conveying, within a short video, the feeling of a thrilling adventure in which the viewer can become the protagonist — creating a complete and coherent picture of the game world that is easily understood and feels finished and self-contained (Narrative Coherence).

Here, too, the brand employs the peripheral route of the ELM model, increasing awareness among a broad audience through striking visuals and the scale of the installation, as well as its placement in a prestigious shopping center.

The large-scale screen installation functions as a visual stage for the game’s story, supporting Narrative Coherence by immersing passersby in the game’s context and making them participants in the narrative within a physical space.

The involvement of influential bloggers indicates the use of the peripheral route of the ELM model (Social Proof, Authority), while the large cash prizes and engagement of cosplayers are directed at strong motivation and audience participation, which is characteristic of the central route (Central Route).

The creative participation of users generating their own narratives with game characters enhances Narrative Coherence, as fans themselves become co-authors of the story, projecting the game’s meanings onto their own videos.

The analysis of Genshin Impact’s communication strategies in Russia from 2021 to 2026 demonstrates the brand’s transformation from a digital product into a fully-fledged cultural phenomenon. Applying the ELM model as an analytical lens revealed that the success of the brand’s marketing activities is underpinned by a balance between the central and peripheral routes of audience persuasion — allowing the brand to both retain its loyal core fan base through reward systems and attract the mass consumer through authoritative partners and compelling visual aesthetics. The application of the Narrative Paradigm, in turn, revealed the key factor behind the audience’s emotional engagement: the brand’s ability to integrate the game’s meanings into everyday lived experience, thereby increasing the believability of the game’s story.

Given that Russian-speaking users rank among the top five by number of game downloads, and that the new region «Snezhnaya» intuitively evokes associations with Russia among players (as evidenced by screenshots of player messages from the game’s official group), it is highly advisable — in order to further strengthen the brand’s position in the Russian market — to address the meaningful gap created by the absence of Russian voice acting. A logical and strategically sound step would be to time its introduction to coincide with the release of the new region, which would help preserve narrative integrity and deepen the emotional connection with the audience.