Turkey’s ad market is thriving thanks to a young and increasingly cosmopolitan consumer base. Adrian Pennington visits the meeting point of Europe and Asia.

 

Dynamic is the word on everyone’s lips in Turkey. It’s a rapidly growing market – young, consumption-oriented and increasingly well-educated.

According to Muharrem Ayin, who heads Starcom MediaVest in the region, “You can describe the Turkish market simply - dynamism is key. We’re seeing dramatic sector-wide growth. Advertising is increasing in volume, the technology and techniques to reach the market are improving and creativity is a by-product of competition among brands and agencies.”

The Turkish advertising market has experienced double digit growth since the recession of 2001-2, growing 19% last year to $2.25 billion thanks in part to a 210% surge in the online advertising market, followed by 17% growth in TV according to figures from media conglomerate Dogan.

“Turkey is emerging as a significant market,” notes Ayin. The country is not immune to the global economic slowdown but its forecast annual growth of 10% in entertainment and media spend this year outpaces most markets.

Since the liberalisation of the audiovisual market in 1991, national and over 1,500 regional newspapers, over 1,000 radio stations and 23 national TV channels. Turkey’s media landscape has exploded.

The contrast is remarkable, until the early 1980s media was closely controlled by the authorities and television was limited to a single state-run channel. Now a typical household with digital TV can access over 1,000 channels and TV is watched on average nearly six hours per person per day.

The Dogan Group (in which Germany’s Axel Springer has a stake) is the largest media owner (with approximately 45% of the magazine, TV and radio markets) but it faces healthy competition from others including the Cukurova (15%) and Calik (15%) groups.

The initial multiplication of privately owned satellite and cable channels went hand in hand with unregulated TV advertising.

According to Pinar Mutlu, strategic planning director at Universal McCann: “With recession the TV channels slashed their rates. As the economy improved there was huge demand for TV with no ad regulation which resulted in considerable clutter. Total commercial time per hour was longer than the programme itself in some instances. There were virtual ads, frames during programmes, L-shaped screens on top of the scenes, bumpers before and after each ad break, all kinds of programme integrations. It was chaos.”

In 2004 the government reigned in these excesses, cutting commercial time per hour to nine minutes in line with EU regulations and severely restricting any form of TV creativity outside the spot. The inevitable media inflation has not dampened enthusiasm for TV which remains cheap in comparison to West European and takes half of annual ad-spend. Nonetheless new restrictions plus inflation have tempted brands to engage elsewhere.

“The main recipient has been the out of home sector,” explains Mutlu. “A huge variety of OOH types are being spread all around Turkey in number and quality. The market has been taken over by multinational outdoor giants like Stroer, NewsMedia, Clearchannel, Wall.”

Bus shelters have included couches to promote Ikea. “There are many 3D signs, cut-outs, illuminations and increasingly LED screens,” she says.

Stroer recently launched the country’s first digital OOH specialist offering touch-screen, projections and digital LED screen solutions.

“Indoor and ambient media is also taking off,” reports Mutlu. “Until recently you required lots of permits – a real bureaucratic process – to arrange this kind of activity but now city authorities are more used to it.”

One campaign, for P&G’s Head & Shoulders entertained the public with ‘Dandruff Busters’, a humorous role-play, which included life size representations of a dandruff flake and H&S bottle. It generated 99% awareness.

Strategically located at the junction between Europe and Asia, Istanbul is the home of media and of the multinationals that have been pouring into the country, in equal measures attracted by and fuelling its economic surge. Nevertheless national brands such as food producer Ulker are holding their own against the likes of Frito Lay or Danone. Campaigns seem to work best when delivering Turkish content, Turkish themes and Turkish celebrities.

Two free newspapers recently launched in the city, hoping to buck the steady decline in overall print readership. Gaste (from the Metro stable) and 20dk, published by Dogan, both aim for 1 million copies daily, but are estimated to be distributing 150-200 thousand copies currently.

“This is an experiment and we are watching to see how it unfolds,” says Ayin. “They seem to have brought their own readers, not cannabalised those from mainstream circulation.”

These launches are an attempt to reach Turkey’s two main consumer groups – affluent opinion formers and young people. Remarkably the average age of the country’s 70m inhabitents is 28.

“Mass media is bypassed by most of the population,” says Mutlu. “The young want to interact with media. That’s why Turkey’s future lies in mobile and online.”

The latest research conducted by Mediaedge:cia on the online behaviour of Turkish consumers shows that they are more likely to make content, share thoughts and vote online than their European counterparts.

Since Turkish consumers show a high likelihood of online participation both advertisers and agencies are increasingly including digital in their marketing mix,; reports managing partner Hande Bursalioglu. “It encourages us to be as creative as possible but we also need to work with measurement tools which are only just being developed.&rdquo.

Internet penetration is still limited (at 22% it is below half the European average) but things should improve as the government presses ahead with fast broadband deployment and tenders for 3G mobile services next year.

ZenithOptimedia predicts a 50% growth in online expenditure this year taking it past outdoor for the first time and expects it to double its share of the total ad market by 2010 (10%).

“The strengthening of non-TV media has made Turkey a more mature market. Global brands expect us to execute campaigns on a par with Western Europe. There’s a more integrated approach to planning, which takes account of TV as the mechanism delivering quickest response but also OOH, print and increasingly digital,” says Elif Önal who heads up OMD Turkey.

The dynamism of the market has not been without effect on the Turkish consumer. Whereas five years ago advertising was treated as an entertainment consumers have become more sceptical and selective of ads that warrant their attention.

“They became fed-up with the clutter,” notes Önal. “The use of humour is still important. It is an exciting time to be living here – there are great expectations for the future and advertising needs to reflect that.”