Turkey's advertising industry has grown with the development of a free-market economy and its next target will be on the country's smaller businesses.
While the marketing sector's turnover is calculated to be $1.2 billion this year — compared to $700 million in 1993 — authorities say the figure should have been three to four times higher when compared with the size of the economy.
They emphasize that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will play a crucial role in the sector's expansion.
With the entry of a number of multinational corporations into the economy, the advertising industry became one of the primary beneficiaries of Turkey's globalization.
Since 1990, it demonstrated an annual growth of 10 to 20 percent —apart from the years 1994 and 1999, which were marked by economic crises. It is more advanced than a number of other sectors in terms of adopting the economic criteria of the European Union and the United States.
Advertising expenditures are for the most part limited to companies in Turkey's metropolitan centers. Cetin Ziylan, general secretary of the Advertising Association, noted that the sector needed to shift its focus from large companies to SMEs throughout Anatolia and mentioned that association members would start touring Anatolia as part of a promotion campaign.
"There is a large number of small businesses in Anatolia, but they are unable to market their goods because they have not created brands and do not have advertising budgets,'' he said.
"Executives need to be convinced that their total revenues will exceed spending on advertisements. It is not possible to become a brand and sell products without using ads." Ziylan noted that marketing revenues were expected to reach the same level as 1998 this year despite the slight downswing in 1999.
Emphasizing the significance of a free-market economy and a firm belief that marketing was indispensable to promotion, Ziylan recalled that countries such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal - where the gross national product (GNP) is lower than in Turkey - spend more on advertising.
Ziylan complained of the inadequacy of financial records and statistics on the industry's performance.
"We rely exclusively on firms' revenue figures to calculate advertising budgets. The advertising agencies do not provide us with data. While we can estimate the value of TV, radio and press adverts, it is impossible to be absolutely certain of the printing, paper and other expenditures or the production costs of advertising in local media,'' he said. ``According to our estimates, the advertising industry has generated around $1.2 billion this year.
``This is of course not the way things are done in the United States or EU countries, where advertising agencies issue annual financial reports. –(Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
