Kyiv Post

Businesses planning for Eurovision

21 April 2005, 00:25

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Most expect a surge in business, but for some it’s more complicated

rs who are coming to Kyiv next May, yet for local businessmen it will mean business, and for some – no business at all.

American-owned KP Publications, which publishes the Kyiv Post, expects a 15 to 20 percent increase in total advertising sales in May compared with the same month last year, said KP project manager Oleksandr Tismenetsky.

“On top of this, we plan to get an additional $12,000 from the two editions of the Kyiv Post planned for the middle of May that will feature a special supplement, the Kyiv City Guide,” said Tismenetsky. The supplement, he said, will target foreign guests and will include useful information for first-time tourists – from city maps to restaurant recommendations.

Hanif Younus, one of the owners of Pret-a-Cafe, said they are doubling their staff at both locations – on Andriyivsky Uzviz and in the Alta Center shopping mall – in order to meet and adequately serve the city’s guests. He also said new dishes, including Ukrainian specialties, will be added to the menu.

“For the Eurovision period, we estimate our profits will grow by more than 50 percent,” said Younus.

Some, like Eric Aigner, who manages the Eric’s Family network of restaurants and night clubs, are not concerned with Eurovision as far as business goes.

“Of course, we are preparing mentally and psychologically to receive lots of people, but we always get lots of people anyway,” commented Aigner. According to him, Eric’s Family will host a musical marathon featuring a hundred hours of live music, which is planned to be an alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest. “We’ll play rock, jazz, alternative music, anything but pop,” said Aigner.

For others, Eurovision in Kyiv will mean long-term benefits rather than immediate ones.

Leonora Butenko, president of Yakaboo DVD Rental Company, says that in a short term the event will most likely distract their local customer base from DVD entertainment. However, she hopes that an increased inflow of new customers into the country, spurred by events like Eurovision, will widen the company’s target customer base, which is the expatriate community in Ukraine.

Mike Willard, founder of the Willard Group, an advertising and public relations company, agrees.

“[The event] is positive news, and the accumulative effect of positive news is always good for business in emerging markets,” said Willard.

However, not everybody is happy about the up-coming Song Contest.

Brett Ousley, owner of Kiev Connections marriage agency, blames Eurovision for destroying his business in May.

“Landlords have raised prices for apartments for the entire next month, hoping to make money on the foreign guests, and my clients won’t pay that rate,” Ousley said. “So basically, I have no business in May.”

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