By: Ekrem Dupanović
My first January mini tour throughout the region ended in Belgrade last Friday, January 11th. By coincidence, on Thursday and Friday this week (January 17 and 18), I will again be in Belgrade, on the occasion of the Direct Media party. But more about that in the Diary on Friday morning.
The day began with a very interesting conversation with Vera Lloyd-Thomas, director of the Kreativa New Formula agency, which has been operating as an independent agency on the regional market for nearly 20 years, before becoming a part of the Alkemy Digital Enabler group – one of the fastest growing digital marketing and transformation companies in Europe – last year. This agency is an ideal solution for anyone looking for an agency that is 100% oriented to growth and innovation that is essential for future growth. Its mission is to help clients from various industries to achieve their full potential in the time of transformation brought by digital technology. Kreativa New Formula today helps companies redefine strategy, complete and improve their products and services and find the most effective communication mix in line with new sales channels and new consumer behaviour.
Vera showed me a few examples of how they helped their clients achieve great increase in their sales and business efficacy. I was introduced to completely new communication solutions and once again realized that I still don’t know enough about digital, which really has no limits in improving business.
You can expect examples of best practice in digital marketing soon on our portal.
From Kreativa New Formula, I crossed the Terazije square, and entered the McCann Belgrade agency, for a scheduled interview with Jelena Ristić who recently assumed the responsibility to lead the largest and most successful agency of I&F McCann Group.
Jelena started her career eighteen years ago at Doncafe Group where she spent three years as Trade Marketing Manager. She then transferred to Carlsberg, where she spent nine years in various positions. She continued her career at Delhaize Serbia, where she was VP of Marketing and Strategy for the next four and a half years. She came to the McCann Belgrade from airline company Air Serbia, where she was CMO for a year. A very impressive career for a young woman who, answering my question why she opted for an agency after 17 years in various companies, said: “I wanted change. I was looking for new challenges and after a couple of months in McCann I was sure I found them here.”
We did a very interesting interview for the portal.
After Jelena Ristić, I still had work to do at I&F McCann Group. I met with Vlatko Dimovski, regional director, and Marija Vićić, head of corporate communications. I&F McCann Group has been our strategic partner for several years now. We summarized the results of successful co-operation last year and started talks about the strategy for this year. Vlatko is a businessman, and Marija is a communications expert. We sought the best solutions to combine these two things and make a deal that will bring new values to both sides this year. I remember the first meeting Marija and I had a few years ago. Back then she conveyed me a message from Srđan Šaper, that I&F McCann, as the leading agency group in the Adriatic region, is interested in the development of the advertising industry, and since Media Marketing promotes the industry and contributes to its development, I&F McCann Group wants to support us. It started from support and grew into a partnership on joint building of values for the benefit of the entire industry.
After lunch, Vedrana and I left Belgrade. Although we got suggestions from Sarajevo to steer clear from Romanija because of the heavy snowfall, I decided not to heed the warning. We went over Romanija. It was snowing heavily. But I like snowy driving conditions – when a car slides, and I control it with the hand brake. I learned this by driving snow-covered Europe throughout the Winter Ski World Cup season in the year before the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.
And everything goes easier with Halid Bešlić and his songs. The lyrics in one of them go like this: “If only I could have that cold water from Romanija …”. It was minus 12 C outside.
We arrived in Sarajevo about eight o’clock in the evening, very, very happy with the work well done in Ljubljana, Zagreb and Belgrade.
January 15, 2019
