Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Most of last week I devoted to Creative Portfolio and further development of this project. Compliments for the quality of content, design and graphic production of the book are coming from the whole region nonstop. Everyone who saw it praised it.
On Friday, I had a meeting with Lamija Al Hasan and Eldin Herenda from Herah Studio. We’ve sat down to agree on creating a website which would house the digital version of the Creative Portfolio. This will enable us to add audio and video content that the book couldn’t do justice. We’ve taken screenshots from the videos, but they can’t tell the story of the video. A couple of days before that meeting, Lamija and Eldin showed me some of the websites they worked on. As I loved the design and content, I suggested that we make a website for the Creative Portfolio. I’m expecting the first proposals from them with impatience. With a dedicated website, the book will become whole. It will not be a simple project, but I think we’re all aware of the challenge and that the result will eventually turn out great.
I received an invitation from Robert Čoban from Novi Sad, to come there on June 8 and participate in the Food Talk panel at a conference organized by the Color Press Group. I gladly accepted the invitation. I like to attend Robert’s conferences. This will be the third time. He has a great event organization team, and it is a pleasure to socialize and work with Robert and his people. I like Novi Sad and I always look forward to visit it.
In the evening I went to the BHTV. Zvezdana Žujo and I were guests in the show Finally Friday, hosted by Maja Čengić and Dejan Kukrić. I’m not saying this because of our appearance there, but Finally Friday is one of my favorite TV shows. We were told we would talk about brands, how they are created, nurtured, made popular and what are the opportunities for Bosnia and Herzegovina to have its own brands. Both Zvezdana and I prepared for a talk on brands. In the afternoon I even refreshed my thoughts with the book No Friends, No Brands by Mitja Tuškej. Upon entering the studio, Maja said, “I sent you the topics and questions, but I know that you will turn the story to your side.” It happened to the contrary. Maja and Dejan did not ask a single question about brands. We talked about the business we are doing, and about my book Hotel Yugoslavia. It was a very pleasant and relaxed conversation – one of the best experiences I ever had in television shows.
I’ve spent the entire Saturday in nature, near Sarajevo, at the property of our friend Dina Mutevelić. I took the opportunity to breathe with my full lungs and gather energy for the road to Ljubljana on the next day. Dina and her daughter Nina were great hosts. We spent a beautiful day in nature.
On Sunday morning we set off for Ljubljana, where we were to hold a promotion of the Creative Portfolio in the Maxi Club on Monday afternoon. On the way we stopped by at Printera to pick up more books.
In the afternoon we arrived in Ljubljana and immediately went to Maja and Mitja Tuškej. In the garden of their home, surrounded by an incredible amount of greenery for an urban environment, we talked in sections. Maja and Vedrana have their own topics, and Mitja and I have our own. After an hour, Asja and Tara, our daughter and granddaughter arrived. They arrived directly from St. Galen for the book promotion. This was important because I was working on the Creative Portfolio together with Asja. Asja joined Maja and Vedrana because they always have a common topic – bioresonance, for which Maja is an expert. Mitja and I continued our chat on topics from our industry, while Tara ignored us all. We all enjoyed it.
We spent Monday morning in a family atmosphere. At about noon, I went to the Maxi Club to bring books, and was greeted there by fifteen women from Mercator’s marketing team, who were arranging the presentation hall. Everything looked very good already. Visual communications from the entrance to the Maxi Club were perfect (check out the gallery at the end of the text). I went down for a coffee at the Maxi cake shop, still under the impressions of what I saw in the Club. I’ve been through a lot in life, but rarely was I treated so great as the last few days by Mercator, their marketing team and even their Board, who prepared this promotion of the Creative Portfolio. I went back to the hotel to get changed, and I shared my great impressions from Maxi with Vedrana and Asja.
Sponsor and organizer of the promotion was Mercator Slovenia. The more I think about it, the more logical the link between the advertising industry and Mercator seems – it’s a connection between what Creative Portfolio is and what it stands for, and Mercator as the region’s biggest food retailer. In the Creative Portfolio we presented 152 campaigns that were awarded last year at national and regional creative advertising festivals. The goal of these campaigns was to bring consumers to stores and encourage them make a purchase. The best and most enjoyable place for shopping is Mercator, or rather the best neighbor as their slogan says. That is why I think that Viktorija Radojevic, the marketing director of Mercator, didn’t accept the cooperation on the promotion of the Creative Portfolio on a mere whim. The better the advertising does its job, the more people will buy, and hence Mercator will have more customers, supplier’s good will leave the shelves faster, and all of us will be more satisfied for it.
Viktorija came half an hour before the presentation. I thanked her for all she has done for the Creative Portfolio and its promotion, and she responded with a singularly unique, unrepeatable smile.
Then we went to the Club, which now looked absolutely perfect. Everything was branded with the cover of the book, with very discreet Mercator brand placements. An important element of decoration were crates of apples and ornamental plants – recognizable elements of Mercator’s shops and symbols of fresh and healthy food Mercator offers in its stores.
Not all of those who were invited came, but literally everyone I wanted to see was at the promotion of Asja’s and mine book. Nobody was missing.
On behalf of the host, the promotion was opened by Iztok Verdnik, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Mercator. Iztok said a few words linking Mercator and the communications industry. He recalled the content and importance of the Creative Portfolio as a witness of creativity in the year behind us. And I hereby want to publicly thank him for everything he said at the promotion, and for supporting us.
After Iztok, Asja took the microphone. In perfect Slovenian language (she attended high school in Ljubljana), she briefly introduced the book’s content, and then thanked everyone who contributed to the book to make it as it is – excellent.
“The book was designed by the incredible Žare Kerin from the Futura DDB agency. I still remember dad’s elated call from Ljubljana to tell us that Žare agreed to design the previous book, The Best of Adriatic Creative Directors. I knew I heard his name before, but in essence I did not know who he was. When I asked dad why he was so enthusiastic, he said, ‘When it comes to design, especially book design, Žare is the king!’ Now I know that too. Thank you, Žare, for your magic.
DTP for the book was done by Marjan Božič, whose accuracy is almost scientific, also from Futura DDB. For someone like me, working with someone like Marjan was a real pleasure. He uncompromisingly returned all the files to agencies that did not comply with the super high standards of the book. I adore his endless patience and I absolutely look forward to collaborating on the Creative Portfolio 02,” Asja said, adding: “Since dad chooses only the best, the book was printed in Sveta Nedelja in Croatia, in the Printera print house. I wish to thank the entire team who worked on the book. They’re all awesome!”
Since Creative Portfolio is dedicated to festivals of creativity in advertising, Mojca Briščik, the director of the Slovenian Advertising Chamber and the president of Golden Drum, continued the story. Mojca emphasized that the Creative Portfolio is undoubtedly a mirror of the development of creativity in the region. “All of the best works gathered in one place, in one book, allows an overview of what others have done in the past year. In the right hands, this book will undoubtedly inspire creativity and the emergence of new successful stories that we will admire in the years to come. All of us who organize festivals with a competition program, want to see more of books like this one, so I eagerly look forward to the Creative Portfolio 02.”
Aljoša Bagola, Creative Director and partner at agency Pristop – Agency of the Year 2017 in Slovenia – was also among the speakers. He pointed out that advertising is good because of such opportunities and such books. “Agencies are not aware of how important something like this is. They think it is implied. But nothing is implied. This book is a mirror of the identity of the entire region and what this group of people have done is invaluable – the hundreds of hours they invested in this are invaluable. We must support festival organizers, and we must support all efforts similar to the Creative Portfolio project.”
Finally, it was my turn to say a couple of sentences. I used the opportunity to once again thank Mercator and everyone who came. I announced that we would be creating the Creative Portfolio website, and some other novelties in the book that will testify about creativity in 2018, and which should be promoted in January 2019.
With tasty snacks and a glass of good wine, we stayed there chatting for an hour after the promotion.
Very satisfied and full of impressions, two nomads, Vedrana and I, hopped into our car and went to Belgrade, where I was to meet the day later in Publicis One with Anđelko Tripkovič, and in Direct Media with Milica Marković. But more about that in the Diary on Monday.