In today’s world, conducting marketing in one’s native language plays a crucial role in effectively communicating with the audience. On Saturday, July 27th, at the Marketing Club event, I had an opportunity to share my thoughts.

Uzbek Language and Its Historical Heritage

Initially, I planned to talk about the richness of Uzbek proverbs, but during the preparation process, my perspective began to change. Before delving into proverbs, I realized it was more important for us to learn how to use the Uzbek language itself in marketing.

Marketing is a relatively new field, and many specialists working in it are either foreign guests or our compatriots who do not speak Uzbek. Therefore, it is often noticeable that the phrases used in advertisements are direct translations, making it difficult for people to understand their meanings. Additionally, even native Uzbek speakers have not fully explored our language.

In short, we need to discover the creative aspects of our native language for ourselves and share them with our colleagues. This way, we will all understand that for Uzbeks, our language is actually more creative than other languages.

Copywriter Navoi

The Uzbek language is truly a creative language. Why? Because one of its founders, Alisher Navoi, was one of the greatest copywriters in history. Seriously.

Alisher Navoi demonstrated the richness and expressiveness of the Uzbek (Turkic) language. Despite writing in a language with a more limited vocabulary compared to his contemporaries like Shakespeare, Pushkin, and Cervantes, Navoi used more words in his lifetime than any of them.

Creator of our language was a creative person

The Uzbek language, due to its richness and flexibility, is capable of effectively conveying complex ideas and emotions. For example, Alisher Navoi not only wrote poetic works but also described future technologies like escalators and holograms among the first.

Navoi’s Escalator and Hologram

In the epic “Sab’ai Sayyor,” King Zayd orders a throne to be made for a young man. The throne was placed high, and the stairs leading to it were very unusual for its time. According to the epic, when the king stepped on the first step, the stairs themselves would lift him up to the throne.

In the epic “Farhod and Shirin,” a device discovered by over four hundred scholars was described, which could show a person anyone they wanted to see at any time.

Examples of Successful Marketing Campaigns in Uzbek language

During the lecture, I shared several examples of creative works that were created in Uzbek. One such example is an air conditioner advertisement by Texnomart. Instead of directly advertising the air conditioner, they used the phrase “Issiq sovuq qilamiz” which mens “we do witchcraft”. But word by word translation is – “we do cool and hot”. So that has a negative meaning but we turn it into an AC ad.

Another example is the recent “Bemalol” (No rush) campaign by Humans. By turning a simple, easy-to-pronounce word into a jingle, they effectively highlighted the company’s product offering. As a result, this short jingle became popular among people.

Papa John’s brand also conducted its marketing in Uzbekistan using local expressions like “Papa’ning qo’li shirin” (Papa’s hands are sweet). Usually, creating a new slogan is easier than translating text from a foreign language. Therefore, I am always pleased to see skillful translations.

Better in action

Use the Uzbek language more in your marketing campaigns. Study our people, culture, proverbs, history, and common expressions. Additionally, if you can cleverly reverse negative phrases, you can add even more uniqueness to your work.

As another example, we can mention one of the latest cases titled “Onasini emasin” (Let them be breastfeed) – this is not swearing, but doctors’ advice.”

We have seen that the Uzbek language is rich and multifaceted, and its creative potential can be used to create unique and memorable marketing messages. Contribute to the preservation, restoration, and development of our native language.

Written by: Otabek Sharapov

Otabek Sharapov is the Chairman of the National Marketing Committee under the Uzbekistan Marketing Association. He is also the co-founder and head of “605 Agency” and the founder of the “Marketing Bo’limi” channel.