AdIndex · November 2025
The Art of Effectiveness: Elina Isagulova at the Group4Media Conference
"Trust-centricity, hyperpersonalization, and transparent brand-to-consumer dialogue — three trends that will define media strategy effectiveness in the coming year."
— Elina Isagulova, VP at VK, Group4Media conference, November 2025
On November 25, 2025, Moscow hosted the Group4Media "Art of Effectiveness" conference — the annual gathering of the advertising market focused on maximising returns from media strategy. The agenda centred on shifts in advertising communications, technology trends, and new formats for working with media. Elina Isagulova presented VK's perspective on the key vectors of market development.
Three Trends from VK: What Matters for the Market in 2026
Isagulova identified three interconnected trends that will define the effectiveness of brand media strategies in the coming year:
Consumers choose brands they trust — and are willing to pay for that trust with loyalty. Transparency is becoming a competitive advantage.
Segment-level targeting is giving way to individual offers. Platform data makes this accessible not only to large advertisers.
One-way brand-to-consumer communication is becoming less effective. Those who build genuine two-way conversations win.
Context: Economic Cooling and the Demand for Emotion
Group4Media CEO Maria Kolosova opened the conference by setting out the macro context: a period of economic cooling is reducing consumer confidence indices, and people are experiencing fewer emotional responses to standard advertising communications. In this environment, brands need "something special that will genuinely capture attention." Isagulova's arguments for trust-centricity and personalization speak directly to this demand — these are the tools that cut through emotional noise.
The Transformation of Television and Total Video
Participants also discussed the transformation of the television market. Alexei Tolstogan (NRA) presented the Total Video concept: digital TV reaches 40 million users, and dividing audiences by device is becoming increasingly irrelevant. For VK, this fits naturally into the platform's strategy: VK reaches 81.5 million monthly users regardless of the content consumption channel.
Media Mix: Scale, ROI, Synergy
The Mediamaker team presented a three-component model for an effective media mix: reach at scale, return on investment, and synergy between channels. None of these components works in isolation — it is their joint optimisation that determines campaign effectiveness. New formats — e-commerce, Connected TV, messengers, video bloggers — expand the space for synergy but require more sophisticated analytics.
AI in Data Analysis: 40–60% More Variables
A dedicated conference block focused on artificial intelligence in marketing. The new [m]Intellect product was presented — an AI engine that analyses media data and surfaces insights. According to its developers, the tool allows analysis of 40–60% more variables compared to traditional approaches. This is a direct consequence of the hyperpersonalization trend: without AI, processing the necessary volume of signals in real time is impossible.
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