By: Ekrem Dupanović
Photo: To students of the Academy of Fine Art in Sarajevo
Exactly three months ago, my book Hotel Yugoslavia came out of the presses – a book about advertising when it was a noble business. The first issue was gone in a matter of days, so for two months now I have only three copies left. I plan the next edition by next summer. I need to edit some things, and make some minor adjustments that friends have warned me about. Nothing serious, just some incorrect dates and that’s all.
The comments I received were very positive. Some friends, with whom I have been close for decades now, and who thought they knew me to the T, admitted they knew very little about me, and were glad they could now complete their picture of me. I’m most happy for the fact that out of 750 copies of the first edition, over 500 books found their way into the hands of young people. It can be most useful to them. I would like to convey to them my love for this business, to convince them that nothing is impossible, to encourage them to be persistent and ready for hard work. Our job has a lot of glitter, it is prestigious and sometimes coloured with glamor, but all of that comes with hard work. Simply, if you want to have it good in advertising, you have to work – you have to work hard, and you have to dream. Even today, almost half a century after entering the communications industry, I work at least ten hours a day. It’s not difficult if you enjoy what you’re doing. I enjoy it endlessly.
What came as a surprise – and this is happening since the book’s release – are the offers to become an influencer for some brands and even agencies. I received about dozen such offers over the past two months, so this makes me think it was inspired by the book. Only thing is, I’m the wrong address for such a type of deal. Nor do I think I’m an influencer, nor would I want to be one. Let the kids do this, I don’t need it. I am well aware of my potential and influence I can have thanks to the decades-long work in the communications industry and my broad network of contacts. I just don’t want to trade in influence. I believe it would be the shortest way to destroy everything I built, and many of the friendships I’ve nurtured for years. When I write something, I want people to believe it, because it is not backed by money. Even if one day I decide to do so (although I think that influencer marketing, in the form it exists today, will quickly disappear, like many other fads promoted by digital), I doubt that I would find a client willing to pay the fee I would ask for it.
These days I want to go to the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo and talk to Vedad Dizdarević, Sara Hasanefendić, Antonela Bender, Adnan Šopović, Ajša Beširević and Anđela Banović – the top students of the Academy, for whom the Raiffeisen Bank BiH will enable to exhibit their works this year at the Raiffeisen Gallery. In addition to allowing them to present their work to the public, Raiffeisen Bank has also awarded them cash scholarships. This has been going on for nine years and running. I want to write about it because it is an excellent project and an excellent example of how successful organizations can support the development of talent in art, and not because I will receive a fee from the Bank for that article.
I would like to write about the new Mercator’s campaign, My Brands are The Best Brands, because in this project I have recognized the remarkable marketing idea in which Mercator appears as a serious partner in the development of the Slovenian economy. Consumers are buying the products, and filling their Gorenje retro fridge with those brands. By collecting points, they earn an opportunity to win one of the refrigerators, or one of the thousands of air tickets from Adria Airways. This is a project in which brands buy and support one another in development. The campaign could expand this summer to all markets where Mercator operates. When you read articles like these, I want you to know that I’m not writing them in the role of an influencer, and that I do not get a fee for that. I’m just a media editor whose mission is to contribute to the development of the communications industry, and to promote everything that leads to the economic prosperity of the states in the Adriatic region. Mercator’s My Brands project is exactly that.
I will write more about meaningful things in the foreseeable future, because I think they are important. My only interest in all this is to be useful to the industry. Only in a successful industry can Media Marketing thrive as a successful medium. Without trading influence.
