Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Mojca Randl is the Director of Formitas Group Slovenia, which includes the agency Formitas and Direct Media Communications. She has been in the advertising business for 27 years. Two years ago she felt the need for a change. She left her job and went to Bali (Indonesia) with her daughter, where she remained for a whole year. She renewed her creative batteries and energy and returned to Ljubljana. Today, she is again successfully running the Formitas Group, adapting to the changes occurring in the industry and creating a vision of development that will give the group a successful future. She believes that a golden age of advertising is coming, or rather that it never went away for those who love and know how to do their jobs.
MEDIA MARKETING: Some people think that the advertising industry is not in crisis and that its golden age is actually yet to come. Is this true?
MOJCA RANDL: It’s quite a relative question, who is in how deep of a crisis, when they fell into it and when they got out (or will get out). How deep a company or an industry is in crisis depends on its ability to adapt its strategy to market changes. The fact is that although over the past fifteen to twenty years the world has radically changed, many were not aware of it. So they did nothing to change their approach to the market. In many cases they did initiate some changes, but because of false predictions they went down the wrong road. That’s the way things were and will be, even without official announcements that the economy is in crisis. The only difference between two days ago, yesterday and today is that the world is undergoing such rapid change that running a business, or managing its greatest treasure, its brand, is becoming an increasingly dynamic task, one which requires an exceptional breadth of knowledge and thought on the one hand, and an extremely sharp focus on the other.
In this context, I also share the opinion that those who have both great breadth and a sharp focus never fall into a crisis. It’s fascinating for me to watch Interbrand’s data on the most valuable brands and make comparisons of that data over a long period of time, including the time before the recession and the time during the recession. It’s clear that those who manage their brand well, and know how to adapt to market changes, will prosper even during a crisis. At first glance, it seems unbelievable that luxury, expensive, prestigious brands – such as Mercedes, BMW, Gucci, Louis Vuitton – constantly increased the value of their brands even during the crisis! The reason is essentially quite simple: they know what they are doing.
They have the right scope of thinking and within it they work on a clear focus for their brand, within which they constantly make small changes that adapt the brand to the market conditions.
When we talk about advertising and the crisis or a golden age, it’s totally similar. If you have the right breadth, you can predict what will happen tomorrow and you can either adjust to it or go off in the wrong direction. On that note, the story of the majority of the world’s largest agency chains in the eighties is one I find interesting; they began specializing and forming dedicated agencies for creativity, media, PR, events, and later on the digital world. It was, in my opinion, one of the great errors in development. The breadth of brand management was lost, and with it the much-needed focus, because the agencies were soon unable to hold in their hands a focused brand story for their clients, and to adapt that story to the changes in the market. The teams responsible for specific brands were sitting in different locations, in different companies, with different interests and visions of the overall problem of the brand. Everyone – inadvertently – dragged the rope to their side. Agencies in this situation entered a period which the politicians dubbed the crisis. It’s natural that problems appeared in their work!
I also find it interesting when I talk to my somewhat older colleagues and listen to their stories about the late seventies and eighties, which they tell with such nostalgia in their eyes. That was the real golden age of advertising. Earnings were good and everything was nice and easy. Fees were bigger and so the pay was much higher, but the work was demanding. There was a lot of know-how, and overtime was more or less an everyday thing, same as today. There are no significant differences in that sense. You had to do every task properly, through teamwork, and with great enthusiasm. Things are pretty much the same today. Positive energy and faith in yourself, your team and the brand you work for. Knowledge and transparency are – I believe – the only guarantee that you are now, and will stay, in the golden era of your profession.
I am therefore absolutely convinced that the golden age of advertising has been going on continuously for more than a century now. Well, in our countries, for a little less time. For those who really know how to recognize the situation in the market – what’s going on in the minds of consumers and where the trends are moving – and know how to recognize the right path for their brand in all that, the golden age will never end. Moreover, due to the insanely rapid changes around us, I even agree with the idea that the best times for advertising, for the best of us, are really yet to come.
MEDIA MARKETING: If we accept the idea that the best times of advertising are yet to come, what does that mean? Will they come in five or maybe ten years?
MOJCA RANDL: As I already mentioned, I believe that they have never ended for all those who have the right expertise and great creative power. On the other hand, I’m also convinced that for those who don’t work professionally and transparently, and for those who don’t have the ability to realize the full scope and complexity of events, and don’t know how to pack it all into a creatively colored focus for the brand, the golden age will never come.
MEDIA MARKETING: Are regional agencies ready for the golden age? What does it actually mean to be ready? To follow technology, to follow the needs of future generations, or all of it combined?
MOJCA RANDL: There are other regional agencies apart from Direct Media? (Laughs.) I’m kidding of course. I can’t judge the situation in other agencies, and it would be unfair since I can’t see them from the inside, so any assessment would be unrealistic. As for Direct, I can confidently say that we are ready, or even better, that we have already long been there. To be clear: this by no means implies that we don’t encounter problems every day or that we are absolutely satisfied with the situation in all our markets.
To me, a golden age in no way means jobs running without a hitch or that you live in some kind of a fictional paradise. That doesn’t exist anywhere.
The golden age means that you work in a team, with people who are professionals, who have positive energy, who love their work and who are dedicated to everything that is connected with the agency’s work in any part of brand management. In that sense, I believe that the regional chain of Direct Media has really gone far. In the last four years, since we Slovenes have been part of Direct, I can see more clearly that our mission has its real practical importance. Quality collaboration with clients and excellent business results for the brands for which we work lead to high levels of client satisfaction. A precondition for this is deep mutual respect at all levels of our business, within and among individual countries and – which is especially important – the respect of everyone on the customer side.
If we look at Direct Media as a regional chain, I think the international and regional companies, which have been our common denominator in many markets for years, are an indication that we have gone far both in understanding the needs of customers and in the use of new tools and technologies.
You asked me what it means to be ready. It means to follow the technology. Moreover, you need to live the technology, be part of it, get inside it and see it, understand it from the inside. Follow the needs of future generations? Of course! An excellent example of this is a project our colleagues from Belgrade created for Telenor Bank, where the bank, which has no counters or staff, through the use of virtual reality, was given a human form in the form of a virtual banker. Advanced concepts, which appeal to advanced users, require advanced marketing strategies. However, with the extremely rapid development of technology it is not enough just to follow the needs of new generations, but to be aware that the older generations are also changing their appearance and the way they work, function and live. All of us change a little every day, little by little we change our habits, needs and lifestyle.
And all these changes in our behavior affect our attitude towards brands, which means that the brands must also constantly adapt to us, in order to avoid the situation where we, as consumers, due to our changes, start looking for another brand that is closer to us and better fits our identity. So it’s not enough to follow the technology and the needs of all generations. It’s also very important to follow all the trends that spin their ‘memes’ or their ideas in our minds and the minds of all the individuals around us, who have an added strong influence on us to further change our behavior. Along with all of this, another thing is very important for our readiness. At all times we have to keep track of how our brand is etched in the minds of consumers. We have to compare the etching of our brand with that of all the competing brands. This is often forgotten in brand management. It is of essential importance that, in light of the remarkable pace of changes in consumer behavior, the brand does not lose its true image in the changed ‘mind’ of individuals.
If we know all of this, and we also know how to tie it all together into one whole, then we are ready.
MEDIA MARKETING: Let’s climb down a little from this global, and even regional level, to the personal level. Is the agency Direct Media Slovenia already prepared for these golden times? Since the answer is probably positive, what have you in the agency had to do to keep pace with the development of the profession and the technology in order to be ready?
MOJCA RANDL: I don’t think that the basis for readiness is in the ‘program’ of work or that there are some clear rules or guidelines by which to make a model for tracking the profession, technology and all that it takes to be ready.
Everything is – in some mysterious way – much easier. It takes positive thinking and positive energy, love for everything we do, respect for each other, a little talent and a lot of passion. When all that is united within an agency team, things roll on their own. Passion for work and honesty towards self and all your coworkers within the agency and beyond, are values that are invincible, especially when you combine them with youthful enthusiasm and a desire to go further, and the experience and maturity that ‘older’ members bring.
It’s obvious that for me and my colleagues, who got into advertising in the early 1990s, it went pretty well within the Formitas agency and later within the Direct Media agency. I’m certain that we have talented associates who work with passion, who build their own personality through continuous learning and who do their work with maximum responsibility.
EVEN DURING THE CRISIS LUXURY BRANDS CONSTANTLY RAISED THEIR VALUE. Those who manage their brand well, and know how to adapt to market changes, will prosper even during a crisis. At first glance, it seems unbelievable that luxury, expensive, prestigious brands – such as Mercedes, BMW, Gucci, Louis Vuitton – constantly increased the value of their brands even during the crisis! The reason is essentially quite simple: they know what they are doing.
MEDIA MARKETING: You spent the entire last year in Bali, where you ‘ran away’ from everything to recuperate. Was the ‘getaway’ actually motivated by the desire to have some peace to think about the times ahead and create the best strategies?
MOJCA RANDL: It was really a little longer vacation after 25 years of work. Admittedly, I initially didn’t plan for it to last for almost a year. Because of my daughter’s school it lasted a little longer than planned. My goal wasn’t to think about the times to come or to create strategies for tomorrow. I simply came to a decision that it was time for some changes. But the year that I lived in a completely different reality, a reality that is very different from our European reality, most certainly brought me a new, more optimistic, more moderate and pragmatic view of what is happening around us. It was certainly a very positive experience.
MEDIA MARKETING: Mitja Tuškej, who is head of operations at Direct Media in Slovenia, visited you in Bali. Was it to persuade you to come back, or had you finalized the strategies that would be the champions in the times to come?
MOJCA RANDL: Mitja and his wife Maja have been my friends for 30 years. And, to be honest, I couldn’t begin to imagine my year-long experience with Indonesia without us having at least a couple of days together in that new reality of mine. They came for a vacation, and we spent ten very full and relaxed days, talking about anything and everything, but nothing had any decisive influence on my return or any new victorious road into the future.
MEDIA MARKETING: It’s 2015 and the old marketing mantras have been changed into new, more complex ones. It’s no longer storytelling, it’s storyshowing. What’s the difference, which is more difficult for the agency and which is better for the client?
MOJCA RANDL: Isn’t the new marketing mantra for this year storydoing? (Laughs.) I am thoroughly convinced that as for the ‘telling’, ‘showing’ or ‘doing’ – those details of the fact that the essence of branding is associated with the root of those words – the ‘story’ – are rather irrelevant. A brand that doesn’t have its own story also has no strategy. And that story must be ‘done’, ‘told’ and ‘shown’. The story simply has to be lived. Maybe the true marketing mantra is ‘storyliving’. I don’t think the differences and nuances of all those terms are that important, or that it’s a question of what is more difficult for the agency and better for the client. The important weight of the brand’s story is that, if it’s good, it must remain unchangeable in its essence. A brand that wants to succeed can build up its market position only through a story that is essentially unique in comparison with that of the competing brands.
I am under the strong influence of a book written by my colleague and friend Mitja Tuškej, which I believe will come out this year. He writes precisely about that – about the importance of the story of a brand that is unique and essentially unchanging. It is this immutability that is the most difficult task for both the agency and the client. The tendency of both is changeability. “Let’s do a pitch and change the agency.” We hear that more or less every day. The administration or management of a company are changing, and each new change brings new ideas about what needs to change in the strategy of the brand. On the agency side there is great danger of a kind of preoccupation with maximum creativity, which is absolutely necessary, but at the same time very dangerous if there is no clear focus on the story that the brand follows. All this leads to a rapid and, ultimately, fatal disintegration of the brand’s story. Mitja willingly, and with utmost respect, always cites the example of the brand Volkswagen, which has told, shown and lived its own unique story for over twenty years. Volkswagen are completely focused and clear in their story. They build their story with attributes, and particularly with the values and personality that incredibly clearly and truthfully reflect the lifestyle of their primary target group. And they don’t deviate from that. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they don’t change their messages, that they don’t develop their models. On the contrary, they are doing all that all the time, and at the same time constantly adapting their creativity, their channels of communication and their investments in the market. But even with all of this, they don’t change the core of their brand, their own story. The results are clear. According to Interbrand data, over the last seven years VW has increased their brand value by over 100 percent!
In all of this it’s very important that anyone who is in any way connected with the brand, and that means all the client’s employees, everyone in the agency working for the brand and everyone else who is in any way connected with the ambassadorship of the brand, know the story of the brand, know what they need to say and show, and how to live with the brand and for the brand. And once again, it is very, very important to constantly check and control whether all the elements that create the story of the brand are still properly recorded in the minds of consumers. It truly isn’t easy, and it demands a vast amount of knowledge from everyone who work and live for the brand.
MEDIA MARKETING: In the past, agencies sold creativity and work as services to their clients. It seems that the time has come to introduce a third component – knowledge. Are we ready for new ‘aces’?
MOJCA RANDL: Agency work is increasingly interdisciplinary. Maybe once, the basic idea in some agencies was to maximize creativity and work. My experience is that we have always been trying to give our clients as much of our knowledge as possible. Nothing works without it, of that I’m absolutely sure. I think that along with creativity, commitment and knowledge, additional essential elements for today and tomorrow are partnership, courage, deep mutual understanding and respect. That is how we strive to build our partnerships, many of which have been ongoing for many years, such as our cooperation with Fructal and Špar, for example, and many other clients who understand what deeply intertwined cooperation means. It’s a prerequisite for any successful work, among all of us who do work associated with a brand, either in the agency or with the client.
MEDIA MARKETING: Direct Media Group has grown from the largest media agency in the region into the largest communications system. Is this a race with no end? Do we develop not to secure prestige, but to stay in the game?
MOJCA RANDL: That’s part of the development and acceptance of the challenges of change. For a long time now prestige has not been something that any agency should yearn for. We did become the biggest communications “one stop shop” in the region, and now a media system that offers clients a multidisciplinary service. Without false modesty, I may even say that today we can consider ourselves innovators in many areas which a few years ago were not dominant in our business. But the essence has remained unchanged, and that is that our expertise and service are continuously upgraded. So it is a race, yes – but with ourselves.
MEDIA MARKETING: Is technology so terrifying and so revolutionary that it changes the rules of the game so often, even in such a complex industry?
MOJCA RANDL: There is nothing frightening or revolutionary in technology, or anything else for that matter. I’ve been in this business for 27 years. Changes have happened. They happen all the time and are part of our daily life. It always was and will remain so. Things go on, only the pace of change is a little higher than it was. All changes are a challenge, a new possibility, new knowledge, a new opportunity for growth and new development. It’s no big deal! I deny absolutely that we should be afraid of anything. There is no revolution, all we’re talking about is part of an ordinary, albeit very interesting, evolution.
MEDIA MARKETING: What is your dominant feeling in terms of the future? Fear or hope? And why?
MOJCA RANDL: Neither fear nor hope. I know that the future will be cool, just as the present seems to be. On the path from the past to the present and into the future we face challenges, we hit barriers, and it is up to us to make the decision about whether we go further, or cower in fear in the shadows and remain in one place.
Changes are the drivers of the development of the world, and of each of us individually.