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ACT Kazakhstan tried to find out the perceptions of poverty among Almaty residents, feelings about the dynamics of poverty in the country, as well as the amount of income at which a person is poor. According to the survey, most of the respondents (62%) believed that the number of poor people in Kazakhstan had increased in the last three years. Of them, 46% believed that it had increased significantly, 16% felt a slight increase. Only 11% believed that the number of poor people had decreased (of them, 9% believed that it had decreased significantly, 16% felt a slight decrease). 13% of the respondents noted no change in the number of poor people in three years.
By age groups, the middle-aged and senior people (35-54 years) were more pessimistic since they believed the number of poor people had increased significantly. On the contrary, young people (18-24 years) thought that the situation had not changed or had even improved since they believed the number of poor people had decreased. According to the survey, one-third of Almaty residents consider the income of KZT 30,000-50,000 per family member as a sign of poverty. 16% of the respondents consider the income of KZT 20,000-30,000 per family member as a sign of poverty.
49% of Almaty residents stated they had never felt poor. Of them, 25% had the personal income of KZT 50,000-100,000, and 22% had the personal income of KZT 100,000-200,000. Out of the respondents who had ever felt poor, some felt poor in their childhood or student years (18% each), 15% felt poor in the 1990s, 13% said they always feel poor, and 11% felt poor after getting married.
The survey was conducted in January 2018 among the population of the city of Almaty on a sample representing the city population. The survey was conducted in the form of a personal interview. The sample size was 396 respondents. The sampling error does not exceed 4.9%, CI = 95%. The use of survey materials is permitted with the obligatory mention of the author of the survey.
AСT Kazakhstan continues to hold discussions with business representatives. This time, we turned to the advertising industry and invited Sabina Reingold, the founder and the producer of the Red Jolbors communications and advertising festival. Sabina is a unique representative of the advertising industry. She has a broad view not only on the Kazakhstani market but also on the Russian market, and the Central Asian market in general. Sabina works in an advertising agency (Friends Moscow) and actively communicating with other advertising agencies while organizing and holding the festival, so she has a good understanding and feeling of the advertising industry. During the interview, we touched the topics of evolution of the industry, and its standing in the current post-COVID period, the current market trends, creative advertising activities. We also talked a little about the Red Jolbors festival. This article summarizes the key insights gained during the discussion.
Evolution of the advertising industry in Central Asia
All Central Asian countries have developed in different ways. Kazakhstan is notable for the fact that at the stage of the formation of its advertising industry, international network advertising agencies entered the market to set a certain system in the local advertising industry. They trained the market and the local specialists on international approaches in the operation of advertising agencies. They explained, among other things, the ways to develop a creative campaign, the strategies, etc. Other Central Asian countries experienced different evolutionary development of the advertising industry. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have less attractive markets due to their economic resources; Uzbekistan, although more appealing, is more conservative and closed. International advertising agencies were less interested in those countries; their markets were formed rather spontaneously, and the local design and production agencies prevailed.
Market development is inherently linked to the economic situation in the country. Economic downturns, devaluation processes significantly affect advertising market development. For example, the economic downturn in Kazakhstan in 2014 and the related devaluation of the national currency had a significant impact on the ability of advertising agencies to attract ex-pats who used to occupy leading positions in advertising agencies in management, creativity, and strategy. Their operation in Kazakhstan had set a certain tone, quite a high bar. However, during the crisis, the advertising agencies had to abandon the involvement of foreign specialists and also reduce the number of local staff. The histories of economic downturns and crises indicate that the companies’ budgets planned for marketing and advertising are most often subject to optimization in the first place. Therefore each crisis of this kind inevitably negatively affects the advertising market.
However, the market not only presents crises; it also provides opportunities to study, also online, and participate in various festivals. In turn, these options give opportunities to share experiences and collaborate between countries that undoubtedly serves for market development.
The standing of Kazakhstani advertising market after the COVID-19 pandemic
Today, advertising agencies in Kazakhstan and throughout the world experience tough times. The key difference of the current situation from the economic crises of the past is the conjunction of several circumstances such as the state of emergency and the quarantine, that has paralyzed the work of enterprises, the collapse of oil markets and the lack of accurate forecasts of the epidemic situation (the increase in the number of COVID19-infected in Kazakhstan that results in more stringent quarantine measures and awaiting of the autumn wave of isolation). However, the crisis gave a powerful impetus to the development of online businesses or online directions of existing companies. Such a relatively new direction may represent a new opportunity and a niche of stability for advertising agencies. It should be noted that the end consumer of the advertising business services has also changed. The consumers are now thinking more often about how exactly they consume goods and services. The emerging trend of conscious consumption and the savings in consumption will gain momentum. Moreover, the current situation has led to an increase in the unemployment rate, which invariably leads to a revaluation of the personal consumption model.
Trends and creativity
People are getting tired of hearing about COVID that makes the main topic of news, chats, posts in social networks, and this topic will give up its positions gradually. Storytelling is a today’s trend cause it emotionally connects the consumer values with the brand values. Building emotional ties with the consumer strengthens the brand’s position, especially in times of crisis.
Creativity distinguishes itself by an idea behind it. The modern consumer deals with huge information flow, and advertising has to compete not only with other brands’ ads but with a huge amount of other content: films, TV series, music. Therefore, it is important to be noticed, not get lost in this information flow. Creativity ensures that you are not only noticed but understood. Creativity is a tool that ensures that the advertising is seen or heard to the end. Today, a good creative product also demonstrates the values of people, is based on the emotional perception of the idea by the consumer, on the insights close to the consumer.
What is the situation with creativity here in Kazakhstan?
The advertising market in Central Asia is somewhat weaker compared to other regional markets, and this is also due to the specifics of the markets and their evolution. Creative advertising emerges in a co-operation between the advertising agency and the client from the agency’s capacity in the form of an idea and the client’s readiness to pay for the idea. The joke “what is the brief, so is the creative” is fully applicable to the current situation in terms of creativity in the advertising market. It speaks about the level of training, the professional level of both sides.
Future advertising specialists do not receive proper training (including higher school vocational education); the existing curriculum is far behind the market. For example, Russia, unlike Central Asia, has the schools of advertising where you can receive training; there are many short programs aimed at increasing the specialists’ competence. In Central Asia, advertising professionals take care of their professional development themselves. If an ad agency has a strategist (which is often not the case), it is more likely that the developed idea will be creative and will be accepted by the client. The work of a strategist is also essential because the strategist allows creating communication that will not only deliver business results but places proper accents to let the advertisement remain in consumer memory. Nevertheless, the fact that advertising agencies from Central Asia actively participate in festivals and take prizes indicates the development of the local advertising market, which is good news.
Here are the creative products from Central Asia that deserve special attention:
- TBWA\CAC\Tashkent – Technomart consumer electronics store advertisement by the Women’s Day (March 08)
- GForce Gray – Kaspi.kz advertisement about a raccoon-dishwasher
- Kombinat and Voskhod Advertising Agencies – ForteBank, Forte Femme advertisements
- Kombinat Advertising Agency – ForteBank advertisement, the longest advertisement for the fastest transfers
-MA’NO BRANDING – Logo and identity of Tashkent
About the Red Jolbors festival
This festival has already become an important event for the region. It serves for the formation of a market community uniting the creative agencies. The festival has become a communication and educational platform providing opportunities for development and training, exchange of experiences, the creation and implementation of joint projects between agencies (see www.jolbors.com for more information about the festival).
In 2020, the festival will be held online. The festival agenda is kept secret to maintain intrigue. At the RJ-2020 festival, you can definitely expect a rich educational program and a unique atmosphere, which the organizers will try to reproduce online.
ACT Kazakhstan continues a series of articles devoted to the study of the impact the emergency regime and the self-isolation regime have on Kazakhstanis. 51% of Kazakhstanis have noted that the introduced social distancing regime partly influenced their customary lifestyle. One-third of the respondents (32%) say that the social distancing regime has strongly influenced their customary lifestyle. 16% are not affected by the social distancing regime. The survey also aimed to study the behavioral patterns of Kazakhstanis in the settings of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In terms of the emotional perception of the quarantine-related situation, Kazakhstanis demonstrate a high level of adaptivity to the conditions (TOP5):
In terms of difficulties/inconveniences that Kazakhstanis are facing with the introduction of social distancing regime, we got the following answers:
And, finally, we tried to use the survey to look into the future and learn what will happen after the pandemic, would the Kazakhstanis return to their usual life and what kind of relationship between people will develop. The results have instilled in us optimism and deep faith in our people. 46% of Kazakhstanis believe that people will become more supportive of each other; 27% think that nothing will change after the pandemic is over. Оnly 18% believe that people will take care more about themselves and their close ones, and 9% had no answer. Still, there is an interesting difference between age groups in how they see future relations between people. Younger people aged 18 to 24 years mostly believe that people will take care more only about themselves and their close ones. Half of the Kazakhstanis aged 25-34 years believe that nothing will change in the relations between people; another half thinks that people will support each other more. People aged 35 years and older expect that, after the COVID-19 pandemic, people will support each other more.
The survey was conducted on 17-22 April 2020 among the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan on a sample representing the country’s population. The geographical, age- and gender-related quotas corresponded to the data of the Statistical Committee MNE RK. The survey was conducted by the method of phone interviews. The sample included 600 respondents. The sampling error does not exceed 4%, CI = 95%.The use of survey materials is permitted with the obligatory mention of the author of the survey.
We continue #DialoguesWithBusiness. The project is aimed at a better understanding of the market situation. Within our #Dialogues, we also focus on various topics in the marketing field. We invited Aiman Kazybayeva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, the leader of the “Marketing” educational program and the head of the Neuromarketing laboratory at Almaty Management University, to discuss an interesting topic of neuromarketing.
A conversation about neuromarketing should start with the origins of this concept, its roots, namely the consumer behavior. Since the dawn of the new millennium, the consumers and consumer behavior have changed significantly. The basic paradigm in the consumer’s mind has changed. Staying in a massive flow of information, the conditions of vast choice, the consumers often behave spontaneously, at a higher degree of emotionality. The rational model of behavior is giving way to the emotional one. The purchase decision algorithm is changing – the emotion comes first, then follows the action, and after that, the consumer analyzes the reason for the actions made.
Such a state of affairs made both theorists and producers of goods and services think about it. Manufacturers began to analyze deep insights of consumers and the emotional and value factors that influence the decision making. This has been reflected in the communicative policy of brands, in advertising which has become more emotional and intertwines the value guidelines of the brand with consumer values. Such communication leads to both steady growths of sales and increased consumer loyalty. Theoretical grounds evidence the irrationality of consumer actions and a high level of emotional influence. The developed and proven theories allow predicting consumer behavior, but the emotional component of behavior is always intriguing. So, how can we measure emotions? Neuromarketing allows us to study consumer behavior in different settings in terms of the processes going in the brain.
Neuromarketing solves the following tasks:
The neuromarketing portfolio includes the following biometric measurement tools: Eye Tracker, electroencephalographs, polygraphs, Facial scanners, MRI. These tools allow tracking consumer reaction patterns. Almaty Management University has become the basis for studying the effectiveness of mastering the educational material depending on the inclusion of audio/video aids. The results inspire: the involvement of students in the learning process has increased by 20%.
In fact, these methodological measurements indicate that neuromarketing is an efficient tool that can help an educator build a productive training course. Recent years have witnessed the rising interest in neuromarketing in Kazakhstan. An increasing number of brands are looking for additional insights into consumer behavior. However, neuromarketing is more of an applied research method. Further development of neuromarketing as an industry is possible subject to the popularization of this direction, raising the public awareness by research companies/centers possessing this technology, and the presence of competition in the market.