Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Jelena Ivanović
Boris Marčetić is a member of the team that has launched the educational project IAA Serbia – AcademIAA. He is responsible for the creative support of the project. For Media Marketing he speaks about the reasons why he accepted the invitation to participate in this project, why he has opted for the existing visual identity and sends a message to the young people just entering the profession. Collaborators on the project also had something to say about Boris as a creative and their work together.
MM: You are one of the stars of the AcademIAA project. You have taken on the burden of pro bono creative support. How and why did you accept the invitation to join?
Boris Marčetić: Uhh … What kind of a question is this at the very beginning, what star?!? If someone is a star, it’s the people from the IAA who got the lecturers to join free of charge, and over 3 months of intensive program share their experience with the participants. And as far as our creative support is concerned, it’s not that big or hard work. Compared to our everyday obligations… well, it’s nice to have some creative outlet. It’s something probably all creatives do – balance between jobs where they earn money and those where they work to maintain their creative form. If not for this balance, there would be no creativity!
MM: Many had a nice laugh last week when they saw the Key visual. Why Beatles?
Boris Marčetić: Beatles’ cover shows more than 50 historical figures – actors, writers, musicians, philosophers, sportsmen … so this was an ideal opportunity to create a parallel. This is truly a rare case that so many big shots of marketing will be found in one place, where participants will have the opportunity to meet them all through conversation and socializing. I would also like to hear all those lectures! And since there was no money for paid advertising, we wanted to create a solution that the lecturers themselves will want to share on social networks in order to spread news about the program. I think we succeeded. During the first day of AcademIAA alone, the visual as a Facebook post had an organic reach of over 4,000 people, and in the first 24 hours the site had more than 1,000 visits.
MM: What will you remember this project for?
Boris Marčetić: I hope I will have the opportunity to meet the students of the AcademIAA, and that I will remember the project for some new, fresh people that I will meet and with whom I will collaborate in the future.
MM: What is in your opinion the most important thing for young people who will work in, or are just starting to work in our industry? Concretely for example for creatives?
Boris Marčetić: Well I think it’s not only important for creatives, but generally for all to understand – marketing, and especially creativity, is not taught in college classes. Formal education may be important, but it’s by no means crucial. Thus, in our agency there are people who went to school to be a teacher, a molecular biologist, a historian of art, a jeweler, and they all ended up in marketing and are phenomenal at what they do! So, the only way to learn marketing is to love doing it. If you are not sure whether creativity is the right profession for you, then it almost certainly isn’t.
MM: Given that you are well acquainted with the concept, content and goals of AcademIAA, do you have any recommendation for potential participants? Perhaps for the profession?
Boris Marčetić: If you’ve already invested over 15 years in your education, then it shouldn’t be hard for you to sign up for this course as well. If you like marketing, just one application form is enough for someone on the other side to recognize it, and to provide you with all the necessary support through scholarships, lectures, practice, or to offer you a business engagement.
As for the people in the profession, I don’t know whether this is an appropriate opportunity to send them any special messages. Maybe, if they are on the client side, they could visit our website, or call us so we can send them our references.
And what do Boris’ collaborators on AcademIAA have to say about him?
Andreja Milkić (Account Director Leo Burnett)
Boris, in my opinion, is one of the most important creative directors in the region, not only because of his impressive portfolio and awards he has amassed, but also because of his specific positive energy and enthusiasm that he carries. By carrying the visual of the campaign, with great art direction, he showed the greatness and attractiveness of AcademIAA, but also summed up the way we see ourselves. Although the list of speakers is very serious, we are here to have fun and show why it is a privilege to be in this business.
Jelena Ivanović (Executive Director, IAA Serbian Chapter)
Modesty is a virtue of the most talented, and so it is a pleasure to cooperate with Boris. This modest giant (he’s at least 2 meters tall) breaks all stereotypes of “unorganized and insufficiently practical creatives”. On several occasions he reminded us to stick to the schedule. Visual identity of AcademIAA answered our need to present a serious thing like education as something fun, not too formal, and not pretentious either.
Nevena Mijić (Account Executive, Fullhouse Ogilvy)
Boris is someone who loves what he does – who enjoys it. He doesn’t hesitate to reject the things he doesn’t support, and that is what, in my opinion, should be driving the marketing scene. Boris’ work says: “Kids, I don’t know what they’ve been telling you about Serbia, but it’s possible to work if you work right!” With the idea for key visual, Boris’ team has shown that advertising is smart, and as such it can show us its main purpose – to make us nuts. :)
Mirko Bunčić (Copywriter, Wollson)
When you work with Boris you always have high expectations. The best thing is that he always manages to surpass your expectations. I consider him one of the most modest persons on our creative scene. And it’s not a pose for him. Key visual is, as I see it, a textbook example of a simple and ingenious solution. And you haven’t seen everything yet!