8,170 new advertisers!

In recent years the advertising sector has been really booming. In 2006 the sector grew by 23 percent, turnover reached YTL 2.763 billion and the number of advertisers rose by 42 percent. In 2006 a total of 8,170 brands advertised for the first time, accounting for 7 percent of total turnover.

The last ten years have been the best ever for the Turkish advertising sector. Last year the sector grew by 23 percent and total turnover reached YTL 2.763 billion. The rate of growth of the Turkish advertising sector is higher than in Europe of America. In Europe and North America the rate of growth is 3-5 percent, while Turkey has been recording consistently impressive growth since 2002.

In addition to a continuing growth in the sector’s turnover, the number of companies placing advertisements is also increasing rapidly. In the period 2002 to 2005, the number of brands advertising for the first time grew steadily by around 20 percent a year. In 2006 the number of brands advertising for the first time grew rapidly by 42 percent.

When we look at 2006, what is striking that there was a not inconsiderable growth in the number of companies advertising for the first time. According to data from Bileşim International, 8,170 companies advertised for the first time in 2006. This figure was 6,117 in 2005, 5,266 in 2004 and 180 in 2003.

More than half of investments, that is to say 52 percent, were in television. Advertisements on television grew by 19 percent in 2006 compared with the previous year to US$994 million. In 2005 the number of companies advertising on television was 1,640, but this number rose by over 100 percent last year to 3,339. In 2006 a total of 12,539 companies advertised in the print media, up from 11,976 in 2005. Of the total for 2006, 3,764 were advertising for the first time.

What Is The Reason For The Increase?
The main reasons for the growth in new advertisers are privatization, the increase in foreign investments and, of course, strong economic growth. The fall in the cost of housing loans, the preparations for the introduction of mortgages and the construction boom had a knock-on effect on many sectors.

The increase in foreign investments and privatisation played an important role in the influx of new advertisers. Companies which came to Turkey for the first time -such as Kimberly Clark, which entered the list of the largest advertisers in 2006 in 32nd place- made a significant contribution to the advertising sector. The booming economy and intensifying competition resulted in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) deciding to launch branding operations.

The rapidly increasing number of SMEs which have recently begun to advertise has changed the profile of the players in the advertising sector. Communications experts stress that it is a very strategic period in terms of creating a brand. Communications expert Hayri Cem says that, long-established companies producing high quality goods and focusing primarily on their own region were ready to take off nationwide; and, with the right advertising strategy, many companies will be able to quickly move up to the next league.

Companies which see their rivals, with whom they have competed for years on a local platform, suddenly advertise on a major scale, may themselves think of advertising for the first time, and may join those who, emboldened by their rivals, have begun to advertise for the first time.

One of the most successful recent examples of these is Şahin Sucukları, which produces the traditional spicy sausages known as ‘sucuk’. Şahin Sucukları uses the slogan ‘Made in Kayseri’ in its advertisements and has become the first sucuk brand in Kayseri. Şahin Sucukları has been advertising on a national scale since 2004 and spends 30 percent of its turnover on advertisements. Officials from the advertising company Merkez Reklam, which is based in Kayseri, made the following analysis: “Advertising has enabled Şahin Sucukları to increase its production capacity by 500 percent.”

The Most Aggressive Sectors
In 2006 the sectors which advertised the most were cosmetics, finance, furniture, household textiles, construction and communications. But when we look at the companies which were advertising for the first time then the list is headed by marketing companies.

Mindshare Türkiye Business Development Director Melis Tufur says: “When we look at the data on a ratecard basis for investments in the sector as a whole, we see that of the companies which were advertising for the first time it was marketing companies who spent the most in 2006. Marketing companies are followed by the cosmetics and finance sectors. In 2006 the list of the companies which were advertising for the first time was headed by Top Shop Marketing. It was followed by Kimberly Clark and Türkiye Finans Katılım Bankası.”

Erdal Kale of Starcom notes that the locomotives of growth last year were communications companies, particularly GSM operators. He explains the reasons for this as follows: “The most important reasons for the pace of growth in media advertisements by the communications sector were dynamic competition, the entry into the market of new players, the launch of new brands and diversification in products.”

Cem Topçuoğlu, the president of the Advertising Companies Association, says that the boom in housing construction led to an acceleration in advertising, particularly in the print media. But he notes that in general new advertisers looked primarily to television and that this was not a healthy development. Topçuoğlu says: “We see that new advertisers which are institutionalizing their advertising methods focused on TV, instead of making plans about the medium and without assessing the impact. We have to inform and support new advertisers in this regard.”

Özlem Aydın
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