Marketing Products

Iran
Country and Culture Overview Iran is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. Dating back to 3800 BCE it is a nation of strong tradition and cultural roots. To the western eye the most prominent factor is probably its Islamic influence. The majority of Muslims in Iran belong to the Twelver Shia branch of Islam. Islam has come under much scrutiny from the western world regarding the strict rules and regulations especially about how women are encouraged to dress. At the same time, Iran protects its culture and religious preferences and is typically wary of outside influences. As a nation Iran is almost a third of the size of the U.S. with a population of 75 million. It is a sizeable market, which makes it an interesting subject to investigate how it interacts with advertising as an Islamic nation. Other notable population factors include a very low divorce rate of only 2%, attributed to its Muslim majority population. Before considering how the nation interacts with advertising, it is important to look into how the nation might see advertisements, and find its involvement with different media channels. In Iran about 89% of homes have a TV. This is comparable to nations of the western world, by comparison in the U.S. . However, total internet enabled homes in Iran is only 12% or 10 million users, which is only a fraction of U.S. rate. Indicating it is more difficult for Iranians to access the internet from home and they may be using internet cafes or data on their phone to access the internet.
Trends in Advertising Advertising agencies consider Islamic nations “the next frontier” of advertising. Whereas in past decades no one would have considered trying to break in and create mainstream campaigns, as the world becomes increasingly globalized advertisers now see the opportunity to connect people who practice Islam to new products and services that they will want. Islamic nations previously thought to be almost impossible to reach are now seen as new markets ready to be advertised to. Iran falls into this category, and many of the advertising trends seen in Iran are not unique to only Iran but can also be seen across other Islamic nations. The first major trend that advertisers are pursuing in Iran includes increased amounts of branding. The notable U.S. agency Ogilvy & Mather has opened a new branch in the Middle East named Ogilvy Noor (Noor meaning “light” in Arabic) whose main aim will be to increase the presence and offerings of branded products in Iran and other nations in the Middle East. Whereas before there were only a few choices in brand for shampoo or soap Ogilvy Noor is spearheading the effort to bring a plethora of brands to Iranian shelves, so that in the future Iranians can choose from dandruff reducing, shine enhancing, or any of the other specialty shampoo options that the western world has grown accustomed to. In addition, part of this new branches work will be to oversee the “Noor index” that they have created. The index is designed to rate the appeal of foreign brands to Muslim consumers; often considering how compliant with Islamic law consumers view the product. Through this index and similar tools this branch of Ogilvy & Mather hopes to assist foreign brands in furthering their branding efforts in Islamic countries. Another upcoming trend is the popularity of “halal certification” which indicates to Muslims that the product is permissible under Islam. For example, Colgate mouthwash labeled itself as halal certified in Malaysia, because it wanted to communicate to Muslims that its mouthwash did not contain alcohol which would not be permissible. This trend is a unique way to lessen the risk to a consumer who has never tried a brand before. They can quickly identify that the brand coincides with their values, follows the rules of their religion. This type of certification seems like a relevant way for foreign brands to appeal to Iranians.
Rules and Regulations There are many rules and regulations making advertising difficult to foreign brands in Iran. In general, Iran is not friendly to foreign products in recent years. For the scope of this report, I’d like to focus on the most significant rule. It is very difficult to advertise a foreign product in Iran, in fact, if you have a foreign product that you want to sell in Iran, chances are you are not allowed to advertise it there. In 2012, Iran passed legislation that banned the advertisements of any foreign products that have a domestic rival. This is a significant development, and indicates Iran’s movement towards promoting only Iran-made products. Since the passing of this legislation, foreign advertisements have been slowly removed and new campaigns are not allowed to begin. It is also rumored that Iran is trying to ban importing of foreign luxury brands and items. This is a major setback for foreign brands wanting to break in and serve the Iranian market of 75 million, which makes up a significant portion of the Islamic world. It is incredible to think that in this day and age when globalization seems to be ever expanding that nations and markets are still actively resisting the change.
Recommendations
Iran is an incredibly difficult market to get your product into and advertise for effectively. Advertising in Iran as a foreign brand is now banned in most cases unless your product has no domestic substitute. For these reasons, I would not recommend trying to go into Iran as a foreign brand at this time. If a company has determined that Islamic nations are important markets for their company than I would suggest considering other Islamic nations and coming back to Iran in the future if legislation eases up on foreign brands. If a company absolutely decides that they want to pursue Iran as a market immediately regardless of the advertising limitations, than I would consider pursuing Halal certification. Since traditional advertising will be unavailable, the company will need to do anything it can to signal to consumers that their product is in compliance with Islamic law when they see it on the shelf.