The future of the market belongs to local talent

Alexey Savilov is CEO of Okori CCAR. He explains why Uzbekistan's market needs the global industry standard rather than a conceptual language of its own, and why systematic education is the only way out of dependence on expats.

A single global standard as the basis for sharing experience

Professional debates often return to the idea that we need a unique local code and a conceptual framework of our own. In my view, the foundation for any specialist is the global standard of the advertising industry.

These are the rules, terminology and classic metrics shared by every country — GRP, TRP, ROI. Not American, not European and not Kazakh practice, but a universal language that a marketer anywhere in the world should command. It is precisely this shared foundation that makes it possible to compare results objectively, to follow the logic behind decisions and to adopt what has worked for colleagues in other countries.

An example from my own experience. Working at Coca-Cola, with its highly flexible horizontal structure, I watched markets exchange best practice constantly. The "Share a Coke" campaign, which printed names directly on cans and bottles, launched in Australia. As it rolled around the world it reached Russia in 2014, and we adapted it by drawing not on head-office instructions but on the real experience of other countries. That kind of technology transfer is only possible when everyone involved understands the fundamental business parameters and metrics in the same way.

The market is growing faster than talent is being trained

Uzbekistan's advertising market began to open up and develop systematically only fairly recently. Large-scale change started just a few years ago: in 2018 the research giant Kantar entered the country, and the media seller IMS launched structured TV advertising sales. By the standards of the global industry, that was yesterday.

Since then the market has grown at a tremendous pace, passing the 200 million dollar mark as early as last year. Advertiser investment increases every quarter, while the need for qualified specialists exceeds the number available many times over.

Learning on the job, in the middle of live work, is the riskiest and longest route. The market needs a full system of academic and applied education, one that lets specialists understand the logic of their actions before real campaigns go live. Raising the qualifications of local talent will reduce the market's dependence on expats and borrowed specialists. That is why we launched our own digital learning platform for employees — because we believe in our own people.

Why a local specialist is stronger than an expat

Bringing in foreign talent is unavoidable during a rapid start, but the future of the market always belongs to local professionals. Someone who grew up in Uzbekistan, plans to live here and ties their family's future to this country carries a completely different level of responsibility towards the professional community.

A local specialist has no fallback airfield — they cannot pack up and leave after a campaign fails. Their reputation is tied to their home market.

Local talent not only works with greater commitment but is also incomparably more deeply embedded in Uzbekistan's cultural context. As we grow our own specialists, the country's sovereign cultural code will be applied in advertising more naturally and more effectively. Expats play an important role at this stage too: they build and sustain the right corporate culture inside organisations.

Cultural code and a research-led approach

The "one creative for the whole region" model has finally run its course. Experienced international brands understand that you cannot take a single creative built for a European office and launch it across Central Asia without deep adaptation. Today's social agenda in Europe includes trends that in our region will not simply fail to lift sales — they will produce the opposite effect. What is more, social and cultural codes differ sharply even within Central Asia.

Compare the region's major markets and the differences show up at the level of basic visual detail:

• European norms do not transfer directly. What feels natural in Europe is unacceptable in our region and needs substantial reworking not only for Kazakhstan, but even for a highly cosmopolitan Moscow.
• Uzbekistan calls for a finer tone. Communication norms here assume an even more respectful treatment of traditional values.
• A simple storyline plays out differently. A scene in which a young man and a young woman interact on screen reads in one country as an ordinary walk between friends, while in Uzbekistan it has to be presented in line with traditional etiquette.

Research analytics is the key tool for understanding what is specific to the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Using trend reports and data, we demonstrate these differences to advertisers clearly — within strategic partnerships and at industry conferences.

Dialogue with the state and bringing order to the market

Looking at the direction Uzbekistan is taking, I see a positive trend: the state is coming to a clear understanding of the strategic value of the creative and communications industry. Dialogue between business and the authorities is becoming more open and transparent, at municipal level — including the Tashkent city administration — and at national level. The authorities see the advertising sector not as mere media activity but as a support for the real economy: advertising promotes the goods and services of producers who create jobs and invest in the country.

Given how fast the market has grown over the past five to seven years, structuring it is the natural next stage. Outdoor advertising should fit harmoniously into the architectural character of Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara and comply with urban planning rules, while remaining effective. The digital environment should develop in line with the country's information policy and with user comfort, guaranteeing a balance between advertising formats and quality content. And transparent rules of the game, together with permanent platforms for dialogue, give advertisers a clear view of how to build long-term investment.

From systematic education to initiative from within

Respect for the traditions and cultural code of Uzbekistan is intuitively clear to every professional. Yet there is a long distance between abstract understanding and real expression in communications. A permanent discussion platform moves this process out of the realm of individual thinking and into the category of an industry standard.

The industry's key development path rests on three principles:

• Initiative from within. Legislative and infrastructure proposals should take shape inside the advertising community itself, based on the real needs of business.
• Continuous education. Systematic training of specialists with an emphasis on global standards, analytics and ethics creates the foundation people work from every day.
• Technological leadership with a human face. Technology is already taking jobs, and it will keep doing so faster. I constantly push our employees to sharpen their skills, with the emphasis on creativity, communication, emotional intelligence and broad horizons: a computer can do a great deal, but it cannot replace the human being.

The expertise we accumulate and the quality of our training inevitably turn quantity into quality — the "potential energy" of knowledge into the "kinetic energy" of growth for the whole market. When dialogue with the authorities rests on deep analytics and well-prepared people, the market grows faster and more effectively, preserving and building on the country's unique experience and traditions.