Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Maša Butara (26) is an expert in digital communication. Her work at the Luna \ TBWA agency, apart from preparing digital strategies, includes content marketing campaigns for larger Slovenian and regional clients as well as digitalization projects for the internal communication and mentoring of new members of the team.
MEDIA MARKETING: Before coming to Luna\TBWA you worked as a consultant for social networks at Pristop. Guys and girls of your age (26) are still learning, but you already counsel others. Has digital significantly changed the lower age limit?
Maša Butara: Partially. We, the young, and those even youngers, feel at home in Digital, because it has followed us from high school or even from birth. The so-called digital native news and changes are coming faster, and it’s understandable that there will be more and more younger experts. This is one of the reasons why the competition will be bigger, as well as the need for good staff.
I was fortunate enough to be very active during the studies (projects, friends, learning), and the potential employers also noticed it. So the first offer for student work came pretty fast and turned into a permanent job, even before graduation.
MEDIA MARKETING: Where did you gain your knowledge in Digital?
Maša Butara: First and foremost I look for digital knowledge online. For years I have been following the various portals that follow trends in industry, innovations, technological solutions. I also pay close attention to the websites about advertising here and in the world. Unfortunately, the university didn’t offer much in terms of digital communication, and that is why we regularly organized events and workshops with experts from different fields in the Student Section of the Association for Public Relations (ŠS PRSS). A significant part of gaining knowledge happened through various lectures and conferences. SEMPL and Diggit in which I participated, regular visits to SOF, Golden Drum and Weekend Media Festival, besides knowledge also offered a good insight into market trends.
MEDIA MARKETING: Your position at Lina is “digital communications expert”. What does that mean in everyday work? What is your working day like?
Maša Butara: The thing that brings me most joy is the fact that no day is the same as the previous one. My agenda is similar to the agendas of most agency people, and is made up of both internal and external meetings – meetings with clients, reviewing current issues, brainstorming and, of course, concrete work. Most of my time is devoted to the preparation of digital strategies for our clients, covering everything from key messaging to appropriate channels that best fit the strategy, and the preparation of mechanics and activations that can be offline and online. Fortunately, offline and online significantly overlap, so the teams are not divided by strict lines.
Part of my day is also devoted to the tasks of TBWA spotter. Every day we look for triggers (events, news, innovations) that point to different upcoming trends that may be important to us and our clients.
MEDIA MARKETING: You also do content marketing in digital media for large Slovenian and regional clients. How much is content marketing present in Slovenia, and do clients understand and accept it?
Maša Butara: I believe that content marketing still has a lot of room for development and progress on the Slovenian market. In recent years, we’ve seen some very good and well-executed campaigns, some great content marketing platforms, and lots of content campaigns associated with sports sponsorship.
As far as the clients are concerned … some more, the others less Some of them want such projects, they want to be different, they want ideas and innovativeness. And some are still confined by various fears and have little courage. Fears vary. From fears of superiors to fear of failure, loss of budget, and partly fear of misunderstanding. Sometimes these fears are transmitted to us as well. Some unfortunately still think that content marketing is just an article backed up by an advertiser. But it’s not so.
MEDIA MARKETING: You also lead projects of digitalization of internal communication. How does it work in practice?
Maša Butara: At the end of last year there was a big turning point in our internal communication. All of us, who are part of the TBWA group (about 12,000 employees), have been linked through a very powerful tool – Workplace by Facebook. It’s not intended (only) for socializing, but enables quicker circulation of information and connectivity among employees who are thus more ready to tackle the world that is rapidly changing. Workplace is very active on a daily basis – we regularly share trends, news, wins. Information flows very fast, and it takes only little moderation. From aligning and guiding different groups to providing information that is important to us or the whole group. My contribution is greatest exactly in this area. Keeping in mind that our channel of internal communication is a social network, I feel really like home.
MEDIA MARKETING: What are the advantages of digital communication in relation to traditional communication channels?
Maša Butara: It seems to me that the main and most important factor is the speed, and with it the rise of two-way communication with consumers. Second is analytics. There’s less costs (work, lease, preparation), you distribute content to the right people and get their feedback so platforms we work on can be limitless. If only the budgets were the same (as for traditional), or at least a bit more optimistic.
MEDIA MARKETING What should young leaders learn from their older colleagues and apply in their work?
Maša Butara: We can learn a lot of things! The differences between us are what makes us all together stronger and the combination of several generations is what actually results in excellent solutions. Our creative department is led by Janez Rakušček, who belongs to the older generation of creatives. He is my great mentor. We complement each other well and I’m honored to be able to learn from him every day. And our owner, Mitja Milavec, has a lot of experience and knowledge that he gladly shares with us from the younger generation.
We young can learn patience, proactivity and responsibility. And the latter is what the younger generations lack the most.
MEDIA MARKETING: And what should they definitely discard from that legacy?
Maša Butara: First of all the stories about the golden age of advertising, when the budgets were almost unlimited, when recording of videos lasted for more than a week, and when you recorded even on other continents.
As for the work itself, we should shed off the fear of wild and sometimes crazy ideas where there’s some risk involved. Especially when we participate in pitches, where this fear of loss is present, and often leads to safe ideas.
MEDIA MARKETING: What advice would you give to your peers? To join you in this industry, or to try and find a better job?
Maša Butara: I would recommend our industry to anyone who wants an active job, constant challenges and days that are not the same as the previous one. Work in the agency is not “job” but “work”. If you don’t have the touch for that, the pace will be overwhelming. There’s nothing like thinking about the new mechanics or technology you could use for the next campaign during weekends. If this would be a burden to a person, and if they don’t look forward to it, then I would advise some other industry, where days are more similar, and where at 17.00hrs you can say “OK, that’s it for today” and forget about your projects until tomorrow.
MEDIA MARKETING: How do you envision the future of digital advertising?
Maša Butara: We are currently in the stage when there’s a lot of talk about analytics, big data, knowing your consumers, their interests, behavior. It is important not to ignore their wishes. They are hard to measure, and I’m also not very impressed by the creativity of use of analytics and the development of advertising. I still believe that good, great creative ideas will continue to be important. As a market, we still need more education and confidence in this area – digital advertising is not just banners and downloading of ads.
MEDIA MARKETING: What are your personal and professional ambitions? Where do you see yourself in the future?
Maša Butara: As long as it brings me pleasure and challenge, I see myself in the agency. True, you never know where life will take you, and what obstacles and opportunities are waiting for you on that road. TBWA is engraved under my skin – our vision, ideas, iconic work … I feel great here and I believe it will continue to be so. And the culture in Luna TBWA is good, relaxed. Our director Dali Bungič really strives for an atmosphere in which we can make good projects. I believe we will create many more campaigns together.
I love #agencylife, new briefs, new challenges… If I was to ever change the agency environment for something else, it will be only because of the exhausting pitches.
MEDIA MARKETING: Do you have any free time, and how do you spend it?
Maša Butara: Depends on what you mean by free time? Free time for me is the time when, during the weekend, I read all the articles that amassed during the week; when I watch some lecture from one of the major conferences (which are, thankfully, always available); or when I read a book, a professional one or a piece of nice literature. I spend the rest of my spare time with friends and family. I spend it on sport, travel and good food. I also write a blog post about it from time to time.