Historically, Iraqi’s have been the innovators of branding and marketing techniques, with the silk route, Baghdadi merchants, carpets sellers, perfume retailers and pottery and handicrafts to name but few trades.
If we add another exciting country in neighbouring Iran who Between them there are nearly 100 million people with an ever growing disposable income and the desire to spend on luxury products and international brands.
Most of the brands that are marketed in the Gulf countries appeals to 2-4 million people and the majority of buyers tend to be the foreign workers, and for decades the bulk of brands marketed in those regions being smuggled to both the Iraqi and Iranian markets.
Since the liberation of Iraq, the country has seen a massive demand for products and brands and a buying spree by the public as the income of Iraqi families increased from $20 dollars per month during Saddam era to some $400 per month now.
Multi-national brands have taken advantage of this sudden boom in a relatively quiet market locally by aggressively driving products sales in Iraq through their distributors in the Gulf or through Iraq neighbouring countries.
Iraq has certainly led the economic growth in the Middle East and will continue to do so for the next 2 decades.
International brands have been quick to act with distribution deals, partnership agent agreements and establishing offices in Baghdad.
Brands which had developed a presence in Iraq include such brands as Nokia, Siemens, LG, Phillips, Daewoo, Kia, Coca Cola, Pepsi, BMW, Ford, Vauxhall, Panasonic, Sanyo, Canon, Dell, BAT, Dunhill, Kraft, Nestle, P&G, Unilever, Toyota, Caterpillar, Cummins and a host of banks.
Cars were imported through the Ministry of Trade during the previous regime which has since with more than 1.3 million cars imported into Iraq some car brands have done better than others with the German car Opel taking the largest share with 300,000 cars sold into Iraq.
With the openness of the market and the liberation of the media came an increasing phenomenon, the advertising and media development.
In Iraq today there are 20 Independent television networks with a further 25 licences waiting to be approved.
The main stations leading this on slaught are led by Al-Iraqia, which part of the Iraqi Media Network consisting of FM & AM radio stations dotted in different regions and the main TV station based in Baghdad.
The Iraqi media commission an equivalent to Ofcom was established to legislate and develop some guidelines to broadcasters.
The commercial radio stations have some 32 FM & AM radio stations beaming news, chat, discussions, light entertainment and music 24 hours a day.
Most of the religious and political parties have their own media networks & establishments.
Other stations taken advantage of the only truly open and free media outlets in the region with the state department funded media joints Al-Hurra TV Iraq , Sawa radio and the BBC Arabic which is beaming on an FM transmitter in Baghdad.
The press was the first medium to take advantage of the liberation from 46 titles during Saddam regime to more than 165 newspapers now, dailies, weeklies both tabloid and broadsheet. The largest and most prominent titles being Al-Sabah (part of the Iraqi Media Network), Al-Zaman, Al-Mada (which appeals to the intellectual classes and was behind the leaking of oil for food UN scandals) and Al-Taakhi.
Iraqi’s seem to be delighted with the new freedoms they have got, and the craze over satellite channels never seem to slow down, with Iraq seeing the largest growth of satellite dish purchase (7.5 million satellite dishes have been installed over the past 10 months), even poor people in shacks have access to satellite TV as Iraqis want to compensate for the isolation from the outside world they have endured under Saddam.
The other major development is the outdoor poster sites which are dotted all over Iraq (in High Streets, top of buildings, public squares) and is developing at a faster pace with different sizes and last month saw the introduction of the mobile poster trucks and bus advertising mediums being launched.
Despite all the opportunities this market offers, its advertising and marketing business is relatively new ad weak, there are lack of good quality production facilities, postproduction equipments, models, promotional gifts concept.etc.
In the past year our agency have been developing a number of scheme to improve the marketing of brands entering the market or those who wish to enhance their market share in a crowded market.
We have introduced field teams, which access religious, sports and cultural festivals and interact with the masses and offer gifts.
The teams are from different cultures, so the Kurdish speaking team will cover the Kurdish northern areas as most of the people speak Kurdish Sorani while the Arab team will cover other parts of Iraq and a mix of Turkoman/Arabic/Kurdish will cover Kirkuk.
We also developed a relationship building team that interact with the retail trade to improve and cement the relationship between brands and retailer, which ultimately leads to top of mind and help increase sales.
Our public relation staffs has ensured that client merchandising and products are featured in prominent positions and get maximum coverage in the national and regional Iraqi media.
The press releases and the creative artworks will have to be adapted to different languages and cultures to reflect Iraq’s diverse cultures.
Camera crews are available but work on slightly older formats and need training in new media skills and techniques to catch up with what the west has to offer.
Above all it is important for any brand to get to bed with the right agency, which is able to deliver quality solutions and respond to the clients evolving needs.
It is also worth mentioning that some major brands (based in the Gulf) are placing some campaigns in Iraq through intermediaries who have no knowledge and understanding of the advertising market in Iraq and the rules governing the advertising scene in Iraq.
In fact while some advertisers are under the impression that their campaigns are being advertised prominently, they are in fact being brought down by Baghdad municipality.
Arab Star has devised a professional model, which ensures that clients approve the advertising solutions and clients are kept informed of the progress of the campaign, which is evaluated, and a weekly monitoring report is sent to the clients.
Campaigns should be planned well and partnership with well-established agencies must be formed to ensure that major brands get a strong presence and an increased market share in an ever-expanding market.
Saad Al-Saraf
CEO
Media Reach Advertising
www.mediareach.co.u
