By: Ekrem Dupanović
Exactly three years ago, at the Days of Communication, I came up with an idea that I could write a diary, in which I would write about the regional advertising scene, about what happens in my business life during the day. Why at Days of Communication? Probably out of desire to explain to as many people as possible what I saw and heard at Rovinj, because we are all somehow confined into our own yards, and know little about what is happening on the other side of the fence.
Since I was perhaps the most informed person into the events at the regional level, it seemed to me that my writing could help us all to get to know each other better. After all, we all work in a single market. Yugoslavia no longer exists, but we remain a connected market in which we all operate. Companies cross borders, and with them their agencies, so the market is truly single.
When I see that this is the #156th Diary, and when I realize that there were almost one thousand work days in three years, I realize I wasn’t quite consistent with my writing. Sometimes I didn’t have time, other times I had no idea what to write about, and then sometimes there were overlapping obligations, and so on.
I’ve contemplated of quitting it a few times, but when I consulted with my friends, they would convince me not to do that. They say they get a lot of information from the region, they get to know some new people, etc. So, I didn’t give up, at least for now.
Last weekend I read about fifty Diaries, in no particular order. I found nothing wise in them. There may have been some interesting encounters that I described, but nothing clever in that writing. Maybe I’ll get better at it.
Here’s what I wrote in the first part of my first Diary entry, published three years ago.
Excerpt from the Diary of a Methuselah #1:
“Methuselah was a Biblical character who, according to the Holy Book, lived 969 years. Today he is a synonym for all old people in the world. God forbid I live to see even 10 percent of his age, although I can already be counted as elderly (66), especially as I now read and hear that people from advertising 15 years and more younger than me are being classified as veterans, or call themselves pioneers of the profession in the region. If they are veterans, then I am a methuselah.
As of today, every day you can read (if it tickles your fancy) the Diary of a Methuselah. I’ll try to give you a picture of what and how my associates (Amir, Adnan and Gina) and I work on during the day.
I sincerely doubt you will learn much from my scribbles because, had I learned anything in the 46 years I’ve spent working in advertising, I wouldn’t be working on a portal, 12 hours a day, at my age, but in some smarter, more profitable business. But you might pick up some information, you might get a better insight into the state of regional advertising scene, from a different perspective than from just reading the daily news. Whether you’ll learn anything, who knows… perhaps only how not to do something. But, alas, I enjoy what I do and how much I do it, and if I weren’t doing it, I’d wither like a plant.
I’m still under the influence of my impressions of Days of Communication, held last weekend in Rovinj. Perfect organization, a record turnout, brilliant lecturers, and an award show worthy of the world’s largest festivals. And, most importantly, great works that took home the Effies, Mixx and IdejaX awards. BBDO is deservedly the Agency of the Year. Žuja rules! (Žuja je zakon.)”
April 30, 2019
