Marketing in Belgium

As a Belgian, I already have a lot of insight in the way things work. I can tell you, for example, that TV advertising in Belgium is both sleep-inducingly boring, as well as frustrating. There's too much of it, that's clear. Belgian TV makes an art out of irritating people. I would rather go to the kitchen and stuff my face than sit in front of the TV when the commercials are on.

Now, the problem here is not that the commercials are too long, or that the break in between programs takes too long. The problem is the commercials themselves. They are (in general) so boring! You'd think we're all laundry-obsessed shoe-maniacs. The average Belgian commercial has a woman talking straight into the camera, telling everyone how wonderful the product is. It's just not captivating.

Whoever only notices a stain that obvious by the time they're ironing is a complete idiot.

Billboards are passé, everyone knows that. And radio... Who listens to radio advertising? This might just be me, but I prefer to change the channel when the advertisements start. 

Belgium is not a country of early adopters. We wait carefully until a product has some sort of good review, and we think before we buy. Most of us goodie two-shoes even think too long. However, this shouldn't be getting in the way of our progress! This is the time to jump onto the social media wagon... If it hasn't passed us already. 

However, not all is bad in Belgium. It's fairly easy to introduce a new brand or product, and marketing is much the same as anywhere else in Europe. We have our set of rules, but those are mostly governed by the EU, so no worries there. That, and we've tested well on the multicultural scale. And maybe I'm overdoing the negativism a bit, some commercials are good. There's just so few of them.

So please, bring your product to Belgium, and bring your funny/witty/awesome marketing campaign too!

Sources:

http://mcnl.berkeley.edu/belgium/