Qamalladin Media - Merchants of happiness
What is the market for Kazakhstani blogging services? Abylaykhan Kamalladin, the founder of one of the first companies specializing in digital advertising, told us about it.
At some point, realizing the demand for blogging services, Abylaykhan Kamaladin created the company Qamalladin Media, managed to put it on its feet, plunging into a new and rather complicated field of activity. "Initially, we didn't set a high mission. Our mission was to help bloggers. If you knew what a mess was going on in this field: clients were cheating bloggers, bloggers were cheating clients. Intertainment was just emerging; we had to create a market. I was the manager of the YouTube project "Alma-Ata-Nebraska" at the time. But even the millions of viewings of prank calls did not allow us to sell advertising for 300-400 thousand tenge. And now such integrations cost up to 5 million tenge".
The future director of the agency understood that the work - the field is unploughed. In 2016-17 there were plenty of youtub-bloggers, and managers were woefully short. Each blogger sold ads independently, showing the client his character. The customer would make claims, and the blogger could just send him to a known address. Communication was not working, and Abylaykhan set out to establish it. It was profitable for the market and business, with the development of the interteam the agency had an increasing volume of orders for "Alma-Ata State Nebraska".
At the start of the project, the slogan was born: "We are merchants of happiness!" The creative slogan was inspired by the nature of the team's work, which monetized voyeurs carrying fun and joy. "Integrate happiness and watch vines," Qamalladin Media urged.
"We're not selling bloggers, views or traffic. We sell accountability," the businessman explains. - Our customers know that Qamalladin Media will answer for any force majeure or default by our bloggers. We pay penalties or compensate for shortcomings with bonus projects".
Adapting to the fast growing market, the agency willingly works with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), but Qamalladin Media requires documentation, arranging everything in accordance with the law and paying taxes.
Abylaykhan has a talent for communication; it was his skill to communicate with people that helped him achieve success. And tenacity! Russian colleagues, marveling at the Kazakhs' vigor, wonder whether koumiss gives you energy. But we just grew up in such conditions, we have seen a lot, we have seen corruption and chaos. And we have learned to move and act".
The development of the bloggers' market involves a lot of difficulties and nuances. You need to be able to find a common language with bloggers, who have a complex nature and their own idea of business. At the same time, Abylaykhan is sure that if any difficulties arise, you need to look for ways of solving them rather than complaining about the problems. Being pioneers of the market is not easy at all, you have to create everything from scratch. "Our business is built on risk. Risk is in our blood!" - charges the young businessman with enthusiasm.
Abylaykhan has big plans - to enter the market in Vietnam and Turkey. The businessman's ambitions extend beyond the CIS countries: "We are already selling bloggers from Armenia to Ukrainians, and this shows that we are ready to take risks and responsibility. Our partners know that we will never let them down. Ahead of us is to increase the pool of clients and bloggers, and to create an official representative office of Tik-tok in Kazakhstan.
Abylaykhan believes that nomads are inspired by their belief in a brighter future. Our ancestors instilled in us the ability to adapt and survive under any conditions. This quality helps modern Kazakhs not to get lost in the crowd, but to brightly express their talents in any field. This ability is inherent in our DNA, says the businessman.
Interviewer: Erlan Nukenov, @erlannuken
Photo: Aidyn Ahmet, @aidyn_ahmet