Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Friday began with a meeting at the Zagreb printing house Printera, in which we printed both The Best of Adriatic Creative Directors and the Creative Portfolio. I talked with Mirko Koren about some other graphic projects in this year. And, of course, the Creative Portfolio 02. We agree on some new technological features for the book to make it look even more attractive and more productive. The printing house is located in Sveta Nedelja, some twenty kilometers from Zagreb, which is just enough for people to be more relaxed and in better spirits, so all the deals seem to go more smoothly. We are planning to print Media Marketing News in late summer which will announce our projects for the rest of this year and the next one. I was given the paper samples, from which we will choose the paper to print on back in Sarajevo.
From Printera we went to Ljubljana. The first meeting was at the Futura DDB Ljubljana agency with creative director Žare Kerin. For the first time since the release of the Creative Portfolio 01 we were doing the analysis and discussing some changes for the next year. In the analysis, we haven’t found a single even the smallest error, but this book every year has to be slightly different and, of course, better. Žare showed me the design of the front page for the next edition. I am very pleased. It will keep its minimalism, but will be quite different from the previous one. It will be a surprise. There will be a lot of work in the press for Printera, because there will be a lot of gold print, but that’s the least of my worries. They are the press masters.
The second part of the story with Žare was related to his exhibition in mid-September in Bihać, during the Creative Republic. Everything just fell in place. Žare wants his first solo exhibition to be in Bihać, and Nino Kasupović, the organizer of the Creative Republic, was dreaming of something like this. It’s going to be a great exhibit. Žare is in a very good mood, and we agreed on how to divide tasks. Even the fact that Žare will come back from his holiday in Spain only a day before the be exhibition won’t throw a wrench in our plans. Everything will be ready even before his departure. I will be in Ljubljana on the 23rd and 24th of August at the meeting of the presidents and directors of the national advertising associations, and then I will look at the prints, we will send them for laminating, and Futura will arrange the logistics – customs papers and transport. While leaving Futura, I was thinking about setting up the exhibition in Sarajevo after its premiere in Bihać.
From Futura I went to Luna, at the invitation of its CEO Dali Bungič, with whom I met at Ljubljana’s promotion three weeks ago. She invited me to come and sign books for Luna’s creatives and clients. I did it with pleasure as author and as a friend of the agency. The atmosphere was great, Dali placed fifteen books in front of me, and I wrote personal messages to everyone. I was honored to have done all this at the table in the ‘park’ of Mitja Milavec, one of the founders of Luna. Mitja’s ‘park’ is in the corner of a large garden surrounding Luna’s very beautiful building on the outskirts of Ljubljana. A very inspirational place. A man simply wishes to have such a corner for creative thinking. I envy Mitja on having this option. It’s always nice to talk with Dali, but this time we did not have enough time on our hands. Vedrana and I were supposed to leave to Izola for lunch organized by Janja Božič Marolt and her husband Jani.
This time last year, Vedrana and I went on a cruise on the occasion of our 40th anniversary. On our way to Genoa we stopped in Ljubljana and organized a dinner for the close circle of our friends at the Pen Club. Since it was a lovely gathering, Janja said that we should make it a tradition, so this year she invited the whole group to their house on the hill above Izola. Only Viktorija Radojević couldn’t come, who had to go to Belgrade for a Mercator workshop, but retail was still present there. Janja Štular, marketing director of Spar Slovenia, joined us. Vlado and Eva Kreslin, Mitja and Maja Tuškej and Mojca Randl were all there. Retail was also present through Konzum. I knew that on Friday evening Konzum was filming a new commercial in Sarajevo, and that Zvezdana Žujo (Communis) would be on the set. When Janja mentioned Zvezdana at some point, we called her via Viber and Kreslin and I sang ‘Žute dunje’ song for her. We had an unforgettable lunch which stretched into dinner too. We said goodbye around midnight. Perhaps all this would have lasted even longer, if Janja and Jani didn’t have to get up at 06:00hrs on Saturday, because a golf tournament was starting at Bled at 11:00hrs, and they were participating in it. I’ve known Vlado Kreslin for 23 years, and I know that in situations like this he rarely grabs a guitar and starts singing. The moment he got up and went to the car to take out the guitar, I knew that the real party had started. And so it was. He “broke” hist voice, even though his concert in Novo Mesto was to begin less than 24 hours from then. Apart from it being a really great evening, I will remember it for at least three more things. I will remember it for the most beautiful view that stretches from Jana’s and Jani’s estate all the way to Trieste. When the night fell, Trieste seemed to be close as the nearest neighborhood. I’ll also remember it for meeting Jani. He is a great host and a great master of grilling. And last, but not least, I will remember it for meeting Jana Štular, whom I respect greatly ever since I saw the “Start it Up Slovenia” campaign which was done for Spar by Formitas and Direct Media Ljubljana, i.e. Mitja Tuškej and Mojca Randl (and they are still working on it).
We ended the evening with a promise to meet again next year, at the same time, at the estate of Vlado and Eva Kreslin in Prekmurje.
After somewhat longer sleep on Saturday, we headed for Zagreb. We had reserved a room in the Sheraton. A quick dinner and then the Croatia-Russia match. Madhouse! Zagreb was burning. We listened to the firecrackers from the Bana Jelačića square until late in the night. Fatigue prevented us from joining the festivities. We slipped into deep dreams full of impressions and happy for the victory of the Croatian national team.
On Sunday at 11:00hrs we were to have coffee in Sheraton with Iva Todorić. An hour before that comes a message to come to Iva’s home, because the weather was nice and it would be better to spend time at the garden of Kulmerovi dvori than in the hotel lobby. We took a cab and went to the foot of Sljeme mountain. This was the first time at Kulmerovi dvori for us. The place looks truly impressive. Iva took us on a tour and showed us everything. And then the unavoidable selfie with a beautiful view of Zagreb.
We stayed at Iva’s place almost three hours. You can guess, of course, that we talked about Agrokor, but very little. Time will tell what happened before, and especially after the company was taken over by the Croatian government. We talked more about what people are doing today, and their plans for the future. Iva has returned to work, with a very clear vision of what she would like to do in the future. We could even collaborate on some projects. She was interested in how Media Marketing is doing. Here I have to say that Iva was the first person who showed me already at our first meeting that she fully understands the mission of Media Marketing, and expressed her readiness to support us in everything. As soon as we started the meeting, she asked me if she could send me the emails of all employees in Agrokor’s marketing sector to send them a newsletter. “They have to be in tune with everything in the industry and the best way to do that is to read the Media Marketing portal,” Iva said. On the same day, we received about 600 email addresses, and the next day our visits had increased by 600 people. No such gesture has been shown so far to MM by anyone else. Unfortunately, later events around Agrokor have made it impossible to develop some other forms of cooperation. “Never say never. Who knows what time will bring,” Iva said as we sipped coffee today. And I believe we will. Much of what we talked about I can’t mention in this diary. Actually, I don’t know if it would be interesting to you. It was a sincere and friendly conversation about anything and everything.
Zagreb, July 8, 2018.
