Turkey: A Bright Star In The Region

In March I did a day-long workshop in Istanbul:

International Marketing/Advertising Techniques Targeting Baby Boomers

And blogged about it:

The Istanbul Posts
There are 15 million people living in Istanbul – and I think I saw all of them. And I met about two dozen of the brightest … 

Turkey is a vibrant, economic powerhouse – especially  the financial sector.  There will be no stopping them (not that you’d want to).

Over on Nigel Hollis’ Blog, I left a comment about the economy of Turkey:

April 9th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I was in Istanbul a few weeks ago - speaking to twenty-five marketing execs in the financial sector - for a whole day …

I was talking about the 50+ Demo, showed examples of ad campaigns from around the world.  We talked a bit about branding Turkish products/services for European and U.S. consumption.  As far as banks and insurance companies - how many banks folded in Turkey because of the recession?  None.  That’s a selling point for sure.

The EU: Many European countries want Turkey to join because it’s an economic, political, and cultural powerhouse.  Many European countries do not want Turkey to join because it’s an economic, political, and cultural powerhouse.

If Turkey joins the EU, that will be the bedrock for cross-border marketing.  Then take the products one by one.  Turkey as a quality ‘brand’: the tourism industry.  You’re right - outside of Turkey, you don’t think of their products as quality brands - but I bet that will change if Turkey is serious (and the EU is serious) about EU inclusion.

A few days ago Bloomberg.com and Barclays Capital weighed in:

Turkish Economic Growth Accelerates to 11.7%, Fastest Pace in Six Years
“Turkey is a bright star in the region, the only country where we see something of a V-shaped recovery,” Christian Keller, chief economist for European emerging markets at Barclays Capital… 

I still exchange emails with a few of the attendees/organizers - and it’s great to know that the Turkish economic sector is doing so well.  No big surprise to me!