No. 1 in the Mideast, INTERMARKETS covers a market of nearly 200 million people. Erwin GUERROVICH, Chairman of the Board, agreed to introduce his agency and speak about the Mideast market to UNIVAS news readers.
UNIVAS news: Erwin GUERROVICH, you are Chairman of the Board of INTERMARKETS. Your agency is established in Lebanon, at Beirut, and your advertising activities cover the whole Mideast. How long has INTERMARKETS been in the advertising market in the Mideast?
Erwin GUERROVICH: It's a long story. INTERMARKETS has existed legally since January 1, 1971, but it was born much earlier and you have to go back to July 12, 1961, when we began our advertising activities. At first there were 3 of us in 1-1/2 rooms. In 1962, with growing business, we structured ourselves as an agency and by 1970 our growth had made us No. 2 in the Mideast advertising market. At that point we felt the need to expand our structures and to adapt them even more to the market. With this in mind we merged with the No. 4 Lebanese agency to form INTERMARKETS and thereby became No. 1 in advertising in this area.
In the first year, INTERMARKETS raised its Business by 35% over the combined Business of the two agencies
in 1970.
U.n.: How large is your present staff?
E.G.: We are 52 in Beirut and 6 in Kuwait, which makes a total of 58 associates.
U.n.: How much Business did you have in 1971?
E.G.: Our consolidated Business came to 6.5 million Lebanese pounds or $2.5 million.
Wide Resources
U.n.: What is INTERMARKETS present profile like on the Mideast advertising market?
E.G.: We are established in Beirut but we are Mideast agency whose activities are not only Lebanese. Our headquarters is in Beirut and we have a branch in Kuwait. It is this Beirut-Kuwait axis which enables us to cover broadly and precisely the key Mideast areas, some of which have the priority at this moment-the ones where the greatest expansion is taking place.
Thus the biggest potential for new business is located especially in the Persian Gulf, in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia among others.
U.n.: You have indicated the importance of INTERMARKET's privileged position in the Mideast on its Beirut-Kuwait axis. What differentiates the advertising market in this area from other international advertising markets?
E.G.: With its 200 million inhabitants the Mideast may seem homogeneous, especially if you look at it from the standpoint of language or basic culture. In the advertising and marketing field the situation is totally different: different approaches for each market, different mentalities, and differences in understanding problems and in the rate of expansion and development. Thus when you tackle these markets you must never make the mistake of thinking of them as a single, identical market, but on the contrary think of them as so many different markets which require solutions perfectly adapted to their specific characteristics. For that matter, there is a dearth of media in a good number of countries. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the local press is rather weak and very limited when compared to the Pan-Arab publications printed in Lebanon which cover the whole area. There is also no radio and the fringe radios are very weak and only cover certain parts of the outer edge of Saudi Arabia which is an enormous country. These listening areas are several thousand kilometers apart.
"A moving team" of specialists
U.n.: In certain regards and in some areas it is a somewhat backward market, but this also makes it a market where there is much to be done in advertising. Isn't that an advantage?
E.G.: That is precisely where our advantage lies. If we take the case of Lebanon, a market of 3 million inhabitants with a very liberal economy and a high, well-distributed per capita income, we have a very sophisticated market and if we want to establish a new business growth index, it is rather limited. On the other hand if we take the developing Mideast countries, they offer us a number of resources. The markets there are in an extraordinary expansion, especially on the Persian Gulf where considerable effort is being made to speed development: schools and hospitals are free and the best students are given scholarships to study at Beirut universities and then are sent on to international universities, all at the state's expense.
An effort is also being made to industrialize and extraordinary roads are being built. Among other things this represents an enormous potential for the introduction of new products which may correspond to new needs and which call for advertising. Valid statistics do not exist so there is, of course, an enormous field for research, market studies, etc.
U.n.: Given the extent of your market, what is your strategy?
E.G.: With the current situation in the Mideast it is impossible to cover the whole area with an antenna on each market. Some markets are very small, others have very strict laws which make it difficult to open an advertising agency. In Iraq or in Syria there is a Central State Advertising Office which you are forced to go through. Thus we've put together "a moving team" of specialists who travel all over our market. And in order to be effective in the area where the potential for New Business is highest-the Persian Gulf-we have set up a branch in Kuwait. Also, apart from their constant traveling, our specialists manage to be on the spot for each new advertising operation.
Offering an International Network to expansionary companies
U.n.: The Mideast represents nearly 200 million people and a vast geographical area. How do you carry out your advertising activities for your clients?
E.G.: All our clients work in the Mideast. Above all we have an important American and British clientele. They all have a financial center in London, New York or Chicago and they entrust their advertising problems for the whole Mideast to an agency in Lebanon. If, in fact, it is necessary to differentiate each market, there is always a basic constant - the brand image or advertising at sales points. Thus we must retain uniformity, with, however, differences for each market. Each market obliges us, by it's very characteristics, to adapt our activities to its particular shape, while maintaining the uniformity of the brand image. Obviously this complicates matters in our work and that isn't all, because on top of these problems there are economic and financial problems. In each market there are advertising agencies but these are agencies that work only on the local level. They act especially as space brokers and as work centers. When we come in locally we have to do our own creative concept work in the market in liaison with these agencies.
U.n.: Erwin GUERROVICH, INTERMARKETS is now a part of the international UNIVAS Network. From your standpoint what does the UNIVAS Network bring to INTERMARKETS and what will INTERMARKETS mean to the other partners ot the Network?
E.G.: First of all in opening the Mideast to the international market. The various Mideast countries have more and more activities in Europe or the United States - in the field of tourism for instance or with airlines, which are becoming more and more important. There is thus a potential to be analyzed and for a Mideast agency to reach it, we must be able to offer expansionary companies an international Network to which we belong. This Network should furnish whatever help is necessary in the international market and should do so actively and not merely be content to receive instructions. The help from the Network to the partner agency must also go beyond the particular field and add a formative element by transmitting the sum of its experience. For these reasons, belonging to the UNIVAS Network is an important expansion and development factor for INTERMARKETS.
And then in opening the International Market to the Mideast. The Arab countries are not yet very industrialized so a large part of their consumer goods are imported and with them the accompanying advertising accounts.
With INTERMARKETS, UNIVAS can offer its clients the possibility of advertising activities in the Mideast carried out by the biggest agency in the market. Like all the Network partner agencies INTERMARKETS is in a position to offer UNIVAS clients the same services they are used to in Europe or the United States. I believe that it is useful for the UNIVAS partners to have a partner who covers a complicated market that is very hard to get to know.
In the next three to five years
U.n.: In becoming a partner of the UNIVAS Network, INTERMARKETS has taken a big step. At this point in your development what are your current projects?
E.G.: First, the creation of affiliated companies in sectors such as Public Relations, Research and Printing. We also want progressively to reinforce our implantation (according to the particular style of Mideast markets). Finally, thanks to the opening available through the Network, we would like to see exchanges with certain African countries which have points in common with the Mideast. A large part of this program will be operational in the next three to five years.
(UNIVAS News)
