ABSTRACT
Promotional activities such as they existed, were mainly shop-window displays, outdoor advertising and catalogues and brochures. Press and television advertising played only a small role. By the mid-1980s, as Gorbachev’s policy of perestroika began to affect all aspects of the Soviet economy, some companies started to broaden their advertising activities and an embryonic media infrastructure was created. The growth in advertising is reflected in the increase in the number of advertising agencies located in the Baltic States from 1995 to 1997. Despite the problems confronting advertising in the Baltic States, there is every indication that the industry which has shown huge levels of growth will continue to flourish. The early part of the 1990s saw a dramatic decline in GDP in the Baltic States reflecting similar falls across Central and Eastern Europe. The small nature of the Baltic countries is one of the significant factors which may hinder advertising development, as is the uncertainty of future of the Russian market.
