Construction firms are some of the biggest advertisers in local journals, including The Myanmar Times. Pic: Lwin Maung Maung

INCREASED use of advertising has stimulated consumer demand for construction even as more competitors have emerged, sources in the building industry told The Myanmar Times this week.

U Ko Ko Lay, director of Three Friends construction, said that developers, confronted with more competition, had started to spend more on advertising.

“We generally expect to spend 3 percent of our annual income on advertising,” he said.

Most companies prefer ad-vertising through television but say that it is very expensive. A 10-second slot in a popular program can cost from K450,000 to K500,000.

“Our advertisements can cover the whole country if they appear in two state-run television stations three times a week. Although we don’t have a financial plan for how much we spend on advertising, our goal is to make our name familiar to the public,” said Daw Hla Kay Thwe, assistant general manager of Father Land Construction.

Though advertising has always been a way of getting to the public, customer demand has risen significantly over the past four years.

U Nay Lin Oo, managing director of Gamone Pwint construction, said demand had strengthened following a three-day advertising campaign in state-run newspapers. Advertising in these outlets costs more than in private journals because the circulation is wider. Depending on the size of the ad and the page on which it appears, it can cost about K10,000 per column-inch. But the weekly journals rates are averagely K200,000 to K400,000 for a whole full-colour page.

“Customer calls will go up after just one ad appears,” said U Ko Ko Lay, whose firm spends about K30-60 million yearly.

“There are fewer construction advertisements on TV programs than in printed media because of the cost, and many developers believe they don’t need to advertise as long as they can guarantee the highest-quality work,” said Daw Hla Kay Thwe.

“We can’t give a percentage figure for the increase in media advertising, but it’s clear that public interest in construction has risen,” said U Ko Ko Lay.