Focus 2009: Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi)

Staying in the secure waters of EU markets is often the easiest way for many European businesses. The rules are similar everywhere and every market feels like home. Looking beyond EU borders is often seen as a daunting challenge, even more so if one looks eastward - to unknown Russia. It's an opportunity often ignored by European businesses.

If expansion in this direction, not least because of the unlimited chances and opportunities for growth, is almost inevitable, what often lacks is the necessary know how. To many in the EU, the Russian advertising market is as "familiar" as the frontiers of the Siberian tundra.

Restricting oneself, however, only to the European Union can be a challenge, especially with the competition from the rising markets in Asia. Long gone are the times in which Russia was a socialist state with a plan economy, keeping a close eye on the import of foreign and luxury goods. Russian consumers are now eager to discover the "western goods" kept long outside their reach.

Exports to Austria                 1.848 Mio. EUR
Imports from Austria            2.593 Mio. EUR

Large companies have identified the potential of this new market long ago, although their longstanding advertising campaigns have usually led to limited success in Russia: language, traditions and the often discussed "Russian soul" present challenges for foreign partners, showing yet again that success is not possible without profound understanding and cultural knowledge.

Much larger than the challenges, however, are the possibilities that Russia offers.

Russia is the largest country on Earth - with a population of 142.5 million, 10.1 of which in Moscow alone - and the world's biggest advertising space, with a market developing at fascinating speed (9,1% growth in 2007). There are some 6,300 advertising agencies working in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and more poster advertising in the capital than in all of Great Britain. In a country with the size of Russia, advertising is much more important than in smaller countries.
 
So why not be bold and look beyond the borders of European Union, and open doors to a gigantic, interesting market?
 
We hope to have contributed to open the door a little wider with euroforum: communication!
But the success of the event left us full of confident!