Category: Far East


by Andy Kozlov

When I stopped by Rotary centre in central Harare (between the US and Russian Embassies) last March to have lunch at the school of hospitality that operates from there – Meikles-like meals for less money – I was

Meikles Hotel in Harare is one Zimbabwe’s premium lodgings

greeted by an usual poster. “Study in Russia!” announced a message fashioned in a colorful way. What I was to find out in a room next door was that RACUS, a Russian organization, was holding an educational exhibition there for Zimbabwean aspirants. The exhibition was held by the official delegation from Russia conjointly with their local representative in Zimbabwe TP World Students Services.

Zimbabwean school pupils and their parents, current students, and graduates of Russian universities visited the presentations at Rotary. The visitors considering Russia as a place of study were provided with necessary information about education in more than 15 Russian state universities. These offer more than 300 medical, technical, engineering, economical specialties and the humanities.

Last year I trained a group of young Zimbabwean marketers about place/nation branding techniques. (See Destination marketing: lessons for Zimbabwe) In a flash exercise, I asked them to write down five words that come into their mind when they think of Russia. Needless to say, most of my students thought of something either ‘soul-warming’ like vodka or ‘blood-freezing’ (AK rifles) – all the way down to sub-zero cold (vast land under the blanket of  snow). (See Nenets of the North)

Despite such popular perceptions, Russia, the largest country in the world by territory, has lots of assets that Zimbabwean youth can benefit from. Plus, the Russian government is ready to pay for such opportunities.

Russia boasts a great number of Nobel Prize winners, world-wide known names in culture and sport as well as rich natural resources. Today dozens of students from all parts of the world come to Russia to get education for reasonable prices. There are more than 165,000 foreign students from 200 countries who study in Russia.

The education for foreign students at Russian state universities is partially subsidized by the Russian government (up to 80%). The average cost of tuition and accommodation in university hostels depends on the specialization, university, city and the language of education (USD 2,500 – 4,500 per one academic year). Food expenses per one month are about USD 250-300.

RACUS, a group of more than 15 prestigious Russian universities, has been helping foreign students and their parents to make the right choice of an university for more than 20 years.

Upon completion of any Russian state university, the graduate receives a higher education degree of Russian national standard and also an additional document upon request – “European Appendix” to the degree. This allows its holder to get equivalence to educational documents either in Russia or in any other Western country.

The name RACUS is an abbreviation of its first four departments:

DEPARTMENT №1
Russian-Arabic Centre for
University Service
DEPARTMENT №2
Russian-Asian Centre for
University Service
DEPARTMENT №3
Russian-African Centre for
University Service
DEPARTMENT №4
Russian-American Centre for
University Service
DEPARTMENT №5
Department of the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS)
and Europe

Did you know? Facts about the Russian Federation

Russia is the biggest country in the world by territory, and home to 160 different ethnic groups.

Russia will host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. (See Switch on Ukraine! – To then do what?)

Circa 80% of professors at Russian universities hold at least one PhD degree.

International students entering a Russian state university through RACUS get all necessary professional support and guidance throughout the whole period of study (up to 7 years).

The Russian language is one of the key languages of international communication. It is one of the United Nations official languages. Russian is the most geographically widespread language in Eurasia. More than 350 million people speak at least a bit of Russian. Russian is the official language of space. All astronauts learn Russian.

Russian tourists travel to all corners of the planet. Knowledge of Russian often helps those in the hospitality business to move up the career ladder. (See Global Tourism Prospects and Trends)

Russian is an Indo-European language. It borrowed many words from other European languages. Because of this fact, it’s easier to learn Russian (rather than, say, Mandarin). (See Kramatorsk. A Global Intersection) By learning  Russian, you get introduced to French and German. (See What’s in your bag, Wladimir Kaminer? Slash 8, a piece of ginger and other requisites of Russo-German creative scapes)

Learning Russian will give you the opportunity to read the masterpieces of world-class writers, who wrote in Russian, in the original: Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Gogol. (See Tendai Huchu’s review of Marina Lewycka’s Two Caravans and The Russian Barber of Harare)

Alexander Pushkin’s great-grandfather was a native Ethiopian who assisted the Russian Emperor, Peter the Great, to modernize Russia several centuries back. (See Multikulti Ukraine)

You can write to Andy Kozlov on a.kozlov@steppesinsync.com

Chery billboard by the University of Zimbabwe in Harare (photo by Andy Kozlov)

“China is home to the world’s second largest economy and its most dynamic market, but, as yet, its companies have struggled to create any distinctive global brands,” reflected Fiona Wilson in a Monocle article “Brand National – China” a year ago. “Could it be that only a few even want to try?”

When Li-Ning 李宁有限公司, the Chinese sportswear brand, began its launch in the US in 2010 it underwent a logo redesign, adopted an English slogan and invested in an expensive TV and print advertising campaign.

 ”Most Chinese firms don’t need to go global,” says Jonathan Chajet, former Asia Pacific exec at the brand consultancy Interbrand.  ”The ones that are going outside are the ones that have already consolidated their merket share at home and can build profits that will fund global expansion. Going overseas is the only way that those firms can hit their growth targets.”

Many Chinese firms’ business models are based on low cost and they don’t have the margins to justify the expense of battling their way into reluctant markets. There are already plenty of Chinese brands – such as car maker Chery – selling in Africa, Brazil, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Chery Automobile is a partner of ZAZ since 2006 and manufactures from CKD kits some of its vehicles in the plants from Zaporizhia and Illichivsk. Since February 2011, the Chery A13 is manufactured on full-scale in Ukraine, where it is sold rebadged as the ZAZ Forza.

"New cars.. Geely" reads a Russian-language billboard in central Kramatorsk, Ukraine (photo by Andy Kozlov)

Chajet adds:

Why would Chinese companies chase 300 million middle-class consumers in Europe and the US when the real opportunities are with the 3 billion consumers in China, Africa and India (See SinS book review. Africa Rising: how 900 million African consumers offer more than you think) who are already predisposed to their products ( See Africa-Asia prospects II: more solid research on Africa needed to inform Sino-African relations).

Most Chinese companies are geared towards the Chinese market and they would have to struggle to turn themselves into something that looks like a global brand. Few are prepared to take the risk that Lenovo, the world’s second largest PC maker, did when it dropped its original Mandarin name (Legend) for something that would work in the international market.

Like many private Chinese automakers, some Geely models are criticised for too-closely resembling those of famous-name foreign manufacturers. In Western media, the Geely GE has seen such opprobrium for looking like a Rolls-Royce.

Company name aside, the other big question for the CEO of any Chinese company is how much they want to signal the “Made in China” tag. The reputation for shoddy products once stuck to Japan and Korea. (See Africa-Asia prospects I: Japan’s dilemma of North or South)

What no-one is expecting is a global consumer brand, let alone a luxury label, to emerge from China. Yet analysts are eyeing Erdos (Mongolian for “Luxurious Palaces in the Grassland,” to say “Showily and Graceful Life”), the Inner-Mongolia-based cashmere company that can legitimately claim to be a world leader (it controls 40% of China’s raw cashmere and supplies to luxury labels). “Erdos” is the first cashmere trademark that wins the honor of China Famous Brand.

In 2007, Erdos Group opened a flagship store in Shanghaito extend its luxury 1436 brand (named after the cashmere yearn) to eastern China, after opening stores in Beijing and Shenzhen. This store is the brand’s 15th specialty store in China. (See Shokay: a Socially Conscious Business in China)

According to Owen MatthewsNewsweek  Bureau Chief in Moscow and Istanbul, The Grapevine Mansion was the first great Turkish soap debuted back in 2002. It was the tale of an urban sophisticate who marries into a small-town family living in an old mansion. There, she comes face to face with the old Turkey that most viewers left behind just a generation ago: blood feuds, illegitimate children, the bitter rivalries of the women of the house.

The first Turkish soap opera export was “Deli Yürek” sold to Kazakhstan for $30 to $40 per episode

The first Turkish soap opera export was way earlier – in 1997, when Deli Yürek was sold to Kazakhstan for $30 to $40 per episode. These days series are sold for between $500 and $20,000 per episode. Kazakhstan still leads the way – this Central Asian giant of a nation airs the most Turkish soap operas: 42 of them. The second place is occupied by Bulgaria (27), then follows Azerbaijan (23) followed by Macedonia (17). (Data in this paragraph is by Monocle)

Since 2002, Turkish soap opera really translated into ’soap power’ for the former Ottoman Empire. (See On Branding: products and.. places) Among its former constituents and further across the oceans to the shores of Latin America, Turkish soap undoubtedly won over hearts and minds of many.  Maybe we should listen to Monocle‘s Melis Alphan and stop calling them soap operas. “Diplomacy series” is a more fitting term.

Magnificent Century, an historical soap opera based on the life of the 16th-century Suleiman the Magnificent, is one of more than 100 shows produced in 2010 by Turkey’s booming TV-drama industry. According to international media, the programs are becoming a wildly popular cultural phenomenon across the Middle East, bringing in their wake a renaissance in Turkey’s soft power and ushering in a low-key social revolution among the housewives of the Arab world.

Here is how the Newsweek described the Turkish drama boom in a September 2011 edition:

Middle East Broadcasting Center CEO Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim (image courtesy of albawaba.com)

“These serials have a huge impact,” says Izzet Pinto, CEO of Turkey’s Global Agency, which distributes Magnificent Century and 1001 Nights, another Turkish blockbuster set in modern-day Istanbul. (See What the world’s only active Somali archaeologist has in common with the Iraqi-British winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and Biosphere Connections by Star Alliance+UNESCO+National Geographic)

“In the Balkans, newborns are being named after 1001 Nights characters.” The secret is familiarity. “Neither the characters nor the subject matter nor the featured locations are foreign” to viewers, says Kemal Uzun, director of rags-to-riches soap Noor“They do not feel like outsiders to what is taking place. We are close cultures, close geographies; we have close ties.” [This is how Uzun alludes to the Turkish rule over the region for several centuries up to the end of the First World War.]

“Global Agency keeps growing around 150-200% a year. We plan to keep this growth for 2011 and 2012,” Izzet Pinto told ttv, a TV business publication.

One of the distributor’s first steps toward building these relationships has been an agreement with Venevisión International [a Spanish language entertainment company with more than 30 years of experience in TV programming production and distribution] to distribute some of the Venezuelan company’s content in Central and Eastern Europe. Global Agency is the exclusive distributor of content by Mega, Greece’s number one channel. “Another strong international partnership comes from our work with Miditech in India who won an award for the best adaptation of an existing format in the Asian Television Awards 2010.”

“It was quite striking to see the world map on the wall with all the places where Turkish TV series had been sold”

As the Newsweek story observes, “despite a century of Arab nationalism, Arab viewers have nonetheless become keen fans of shows that hark back to an idealized Ottoman past.” In 2008, Saudi media tycoon Sheik Waleed al Ibrahim began buying up Turkish dramas for his Middle East Broadcasting Center that majority-owns Al Jazeera’s competitor in the Middle East, Al Arabiya.

MBC was launched in 1991 as the first privately owned and independent Arabic satellite TV station. (See I want My TV in Afghanistan!) “Instead of dubbing the shows in classical Arabic, al-Ibrahim rendered them into a colloquial dialect of Syrian Arabic readily understood by ordinary viewers across the Middle East.”

After the success of Noor, Fadi Ismail, MBC group director of services, declared, “We want to import whatever Turkey produces.”

“It was quite striking to see the world map on the wall with all the places where Turkish TV series had been sold,” shares on his blog photographer Matthieu Paley, who worked with Melis Alphan on the Monocle story entitled “Dream Export-Turkey.” Poland and Hungary have recently bought series from Turkey and are calling in the voiceover artists.

Turkish drama television series and soap operas are seen by 25 to 30 million people weekly in Turkey and have become pop-culture phenomenon abroad. In Saudi Arabia, Noor‘s final episode attracted a record 85 million Arab viewers [in 22 countries] when it aired in August 2011…

“These serials show what the closed societies of the Middle East long to see, hear, even live: being Muslim with a modern lifestyle, a high standard of living, equality between men and women,” explains to Owen Matthews Irfan Sahin, CEO of Doğan TV Holding, Turkey’s biggest media group and producer of Noor.

The rising popularity of Turkish soaps has coincided with the rise of Turkey’s soft power in the Middle East. Before the Mavi Marmara ship tried to deliver aid to Gaza in May 2010, Turkish soap operas had been illustrating the country’s solidarity with Palestinians, often by maligning Israelis. Turkish TV drama can also be studied by those interested in the Kurd issue.

Since 2001, over 65 Turkish television series have been sold abroad, bringing in over 50 milliion US dollars to the booming Turkish television industry. Although unplanned, the spread of Turkish television falls neatly into the soft-power strategy of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as outlined in his seminal 2001 book Strategic Depth. Davutoglu advocates a pro-active and multi-dimensional foreign policy that sees Turkey’s shared history and culture with former Ottoman lands as a strategic advantage — forming one prong of Turkey’s soft-power strategy.

Business-savvy Turks are aware of the newly acquired ‘soap power’ - Firat Gülgen of Calinos Holding that executes 80% of the export deals for all Turkish soap operas, would like to bring the soft-power effect to a higher level altogether, “We would prefer that they [foreign TV channels] air the series in Turkish, as we would prefer that the viewers learn and understand the Turkish language. ..On the plane [when Firat traveled for business] there were almost 200 business people, they all stated that before they start a meeting they discuss TV series in all meetings, before starting the real business at hand.

The spread of Turkish television falls neatly into the soft-power strategy of Turkish Foreign Minister Professor Ahmet Davutoglu (left). In this picture he is with Brazilian ex-President Lula da Silva and former Foreign Minister of Brazil Celso Amorim (right)

Our Foreign Minister in Bosnia stated ‘The Bosnian and Serbian people have reunited due to the popularity of Turkish serials. The owner of a TV station in Macedonia received a phone call from his largest advertiser of telecommunications stating, ‘I will no longer be advertising on your station. When the public is viewing a Turkish drama, no one is talking on the phone. This is going to make us go bankrupt.’ A chief of police in Kazakhstan wrote a letter of gratitude to a TV station there, “Please continue to air series of this quality. When they air, the level of crime is almost zero.’”

Firat Gülgen explains how it all began for him, an MA graduate in finance and banking from Boston College:

Cüneyt Arkın [one of the most prominent Turkish actors of all time] is my mother’s uncles. My father Melih Gülgen is a producer. I, personally, cannot even taken a picture. But I am part of it by buying and selling. After completing my education, I was employed by a New York distribution company as a sales representative for the Middle East. I attended a convention in New Orleans, where in three days I witnessed agreements being made of $4,000,000. And I thought to myself, “This is a profitable industry. If this were arms it would not have sold as much.” Afterwards in 1997 while in Los Angeles, I formed Calinos Entertainment.

According to the Newsweek, Turkey’s trade with the Middle Eastern region has quadrupled since 2002 (data as of 2011). In 2010, Turkey announced a free-trade zone with Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. (See Steppes In Figures #5: Ukraine and the world) According to a recent Pew Foundation survey, 17 % of Turks believe their country should look to Europe for inspiration, while 25 % think that Turkey’s future lies with the Middle East. One tangible sign of this regional love-in is a massive boom in Arab tourism to Turkey, fueled by new visa-free travel from Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. (See The Bittersweet Taste of Soft Power: North Korea’s flirting with tourism) “In Europe, people are hostile and unfriendly,” says Abdullah al-Aziz, a Saudi investment consultant who brought his veiled wife, children, and Indonesian nanny to Istanbul last summer. “Here, people in hotels and restaurants speak Arabic, and they want your business.” The Aziz family was touring Büyükada, an island often used for soap-opera filming because of its preserved Ottoman villas, and planned to take a cruise to visit the Bosporus mansion where Noor is set.

However, not all viewers are as enthusiastic about Turkey and its cultural exports. When Noor first aired in Saudi Arabia, the chairman of the country’s Supreme Judiciary Council called for the murder of satellite-television executives for showing “immorality.” Magnificent Century caused a row in Turkey, with conservative Turks denouncing its portrayal of Suleiman drinking wine and having a harem full of sexy women (both details are historically accurate). Ratings soared after the row.

Ottoman era houses in the streets of Büyükada

Discop Istanbul, Turkey’s TV content market, has evolved dramatically in the past decade and a half,” writes Andrew McDonald. (See Ukrainian Media Content Market 2012 scheduled for September and From Zimbabwe to Australia: Stephen Chigorimbo on the International Public Television event) “Once home to a high number of foreign imports, including Latin American telenovelas, Turkey has since developed a rich drama industry of its own that now accounts for the bulk of the main terrestrial broadcasters’ primetime output.”

Endemol Turkey partnered with Argentinian network Telefe to adapt primetime daily telenovela The Successful Mr & Mrs Pells as a weekly drama for the Kanal D, Turkey’s #1 terrestrial network [It is part of Doğan Holding. In 2007, Kanal D has launched in Romaniaa television channel under the same name]. (See Destination branding for Romania, anyone?) Yet despite other adaptations of the format in Poland and Chile, the show didn’t make it past one season.

On production budgets of Turkish TV drama

Can Okan, president, CEO and co-founder of Istanbul-based distributor ITV Inter Medya, claims that in the past couple of years production budgets in Turkey have doubled, with some period dramas costing US$750,000 per episode. Over at Kanal D, Turna agrees: “We are spending incredible amounts of money when we begin the shows. For example, for Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman ki (Time Goes By), just for the first two episodes we spent more than €1m. But the market is very competitive.”

On the ad breaks that result in 90-minute episodes

Kerim Emrah Turna, international sales and acquisitions specialist at Kanal D, says the reason why Turkey tends towards longer episodes is to do with regulations that limit ad breaks to 12 minutes in every hour. This is in line with European legislation, which Turkey has adopted voluntarily despite not being a part of the EU. “To get a bigger part of the advertisement pie, channels are demanding 90-minute episodes from the producers in order to have a couple more primetime advertisement slots during the programme,” he says.

By the same logic, you might then expect Turkish dramas to be equally hard to sell abroad due to episode length. Yet this does not seem to be the case. Indeed, ad gains along with rivalry in the Turkish market are helping to drive up production values, which in turn is making Turkish drama more appealing to international buyers. In many territories, 90-minute Turkish drama episodes are shown in their entirety or stripped as two 45-minute episodes.

As of recently, Turkish distribution companies are eyeing the audiences of  the Far East and Sub-Saharan Africa. The next DISCOP AFRICA event is scheduled for 31 October – 2 November and will be held in Johannesburg. (See Afriwood to participate in 2012 Ukrainian Content MarketUrban rail in Africa: Whether “freedom trains” will solve Zimbabwe’s traffic jam problems, more attention should be paid to what happens when you board at A and get off at B. And don’t forget the bike!Why I am excited about flying through Dubai or Why I am excited not to fly through OR Tambo in JoziBrand Africa Expo 2011 to take place in Joburg16 million eyes of ZBC viewers could add on several millions more)

The 2nd International audiovisual content market Ukrainian Content Market 2012 is scheduled to take place in Kyiv on September 12-14, 2012.

Media Resources Management (MRM), a Kyiv-based media consulting company, is an organizer of the event. With a client basethat includes such international stalwarts of audiovisual production and distribution as Endemol (the world’s largest independent production company, with over 80 companies in 31 countries), Russian NTV, Central Partnership, RTL Group (Europe’s largest TV, radio and production company majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann – See Top 10 global media giants: it’s not that easy), among many others, MRM is in an unique position to facilitate networking between various actors in the media of what used to be the Soviet Union.

MRM launched Ukrainian Content Market last year as part of the KIEV MEDIA WEEK (KMW). Concurrently with the Content Market, the following media business events will be held in the Ukrainian capital this coming September (Sept 11-14):

  • 11 September 2012
  • 12 September 2012
  • 13 September 2012
  • 14 September 2012

One of the most successful business people in the Eastern-European media industries, Alexander Rodnyansky on KIEV MEDIA WEEK :

I am extremely impressed with the idea of organizing KIEV MEDIA WEEK. It will finally allow to look around and feel the main global trends. It is no secret that the film industry is dictated by the standards of English-speaking world.

 In the West, film and Alexander Rodnyansky TV is a powerful industry with proven technology and experience in production and promotion of media content. There is much to learn and, most importantly, we have to learn if we seriously want to talk about the film business in Ukraine.

Naomi Koh, Vice President of Sales at Zodiak Rights, who has an enormous experience in selling television content across the world: Asia, Central-Eastern Europe, German-speaking Europe, Israel and Turkey. Supervising sales to this wide array of regions has given her a depth of insight into the different television cultures and tastes of different audiences around the world. She was a speaker at last year’s KMW:

I think it is an excellent idea to have a market in Ukraine. KIEV MEDIA WEEK will give us an opportunity to see many of our partners across the CIS region. The timing of the market, being just before the other international activities of media industry, means that the buyers we see will be the first to hear about the new shows – what a great opportunity for all concerned!

Who are the exhibitors of the Ukrainian Content Market:

  • major audiovisual content production and distribution companies from Russia and Ukraine;
  • exhibitors from other CIS countries, Baltic States and Eastern Europe.

Exhibitors’ offices will be set up in the suites of Radisson Blu Hotel in Kyiv.

Who are the buyers (participants) of this year’s Market

  • broadcasters and distributors of media content (including new media) from Russia, Ukraine (including local regional companies);
  • broadcasters and distributors (including new media) from other CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Moldova and the others), Baltic States, Georgia and other former-Soviet nations

The organizers of KMW and the Ukrainian Content Market 2012, Media Resources Management, is the first Ukrainian media consulting company. It has been around since 2005. Their experts have participated in a host of major media industry events since then, including the MIPCOM and MIPTV

MIPCOM is the world's leading content market for creating, co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment across all platforms. Every October it summons thousands of media industry professionals to Cannes.

markets (Cannes), DISCOP (Budapest), the Berlin Film Festival, the European Film Market. They also attended conferences like the European Film Finance (2007, 2008, 2009) and Digital TV Outlook (2007, 2008) (Munich, Germany), the Media Festival 2008 (Manchester, Great Britain), the European TV Dialogue, as well as exhibition and conference on media technologies IBC (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), «The World of Mobile Content MoCo 2007» (Moscow), the «Teleshow» (Moscow), NATPE (Las Vegas, USA) and many others.

According to Variety, Patrick Jucaud, owner of Los Angeles- and Paris-based Basic Lead, has run DISCOP since founding it in 1991 to give international distributors the chance to sell content to the emerging markets of the former Soviet Bloc. DISCOP East is now called NATPE Budapest, after NATPE acquired majority control of the East European TV mart.

A fewday ago, MRM Director, Victoria Yarmoshchuk, became a member of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, international EMMY Award organizer.

Ukrainian Media Content Market is an echo of a global trend for content aggregation. Other examples include the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) and Zimbabwe Creative Content Agency (ZICCA), a partnership between SinS founder Andy Kozlov and creatives from across the African continent.

As a public agency, KOCCA is a combination of five organizations including the Korean Broadcasting Institute, the Korea Culture and Content Agency, the Korea Game Development and Promotion Institute, the Culture & Contents Center and Digital Contents Business Group of the Korea SW Industry Promotion Agency.

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