Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
After a short work rest in Sarajevo, Vedrana and I were again on a trip to Zagreb, answering the invitation of Kristina Ercegović. It was for the jubilee 50th Business Café, that invited ten guests who in the previous years had left the best impression on young entrepreneurs who are the audience of this unique event throughout the region. I was one of those who had the honor to be invited. Although I’m quickly getting fed up with driving on snow covered roads, it was an invitation I could not refuse. I still feel guilty for openly telling Kristina several years ago that I don’t believe in her project, or her methods of motivating and educating small entrepreneurs. But Kristina believed in it. She worked hard for the past nine years and succeeded in expanding the idea through licenses across the region. At the 50th Business Café, at the Academia Hotel, on Thursday evening, there were 280 entrepreneurs from across the region!
Since I was already traveling to Zagreb, I arranged several meetings to rationally make use of the time which I already told you is my most valuable resource in previous diaries. I left Sarajevo in the morning. Quite considerable snow was falling as I departed. That evening, I told Kristina that even she wouldn’t go to her own Business Cafe in such a weather. But I had to do it, because I gave her my word. But the drive was somewhat slower because of the snow.
The snow stopped as we crossed into Croatia, so I stepped on the gas, so I wouldn’t be late for the first arranged meeting with Ivan Kovačević, digital director at the Bruketa&Žinić&Grey agency. I had arranged an interview with Ivan, and I arrived on time.
Ivan was a digital director at Agrokor for six years, and when the company came into difficult times, he and his entire team went to the Bruketa&Žinić&Grey agency. Ivan is a great digital marketing specialist. Half of the work his team does is for the local clients of B&Ž&G, and the other half is for international clients coming either directly or via the Grey Network.
He told me some very interesting things, giving me an opportunity to learn as we speak, but it’s sometimes difficult to follow him. We did a great interview from which, I hope, many readers will learn at least something of that which I’ve learned as well. Particularly interesting is the part in which Ivan talked about new technologies, which he is a great fan of, about business solutions with the use of innovative methods that have not been used yet, about large databases and how much they help us to find creative solutions and in what way, and so on.
I left Zavrtnica to go to Imago Ogilvy and meet with Damir Ciglar. Finally, we managed to find a term that suits both of us. This year has had a great start for Imago. Damir is very satisfied. We agreed on our cooperation so I was satisfied as well. We talked about the new Creative Portfolio coming out next month. Damir thinks this book is an extremely significant project for the regional advertising industry. He ordered quite a good number of copies for the agency and their clients.
From Imago I went to the Academia Hotel, where we arrived half an hour before the Business Café. It was just enough time for a quick refreshment in the room. The atmosphere was fantastic. Many young people from the world of business – all of them entrepreneurs. Kristina seated us at the table with several other guests from “my” crew – people who were previous guests, and this evening was to receive a special recognition for the high ratings they received from the audience. There I meet with Manuela Šola, Nikola Žinić and many interesting people. My seat was next to Nenad Bakić, an entrepreneur who is the board president of Varteks since recently.
Later on, during his conversation with Christina, I heard a term that I immediately decided to adopt as my new mantra. It say: Brutal delegating. That’s what I miss. Because of the lack of talent for delegation, I’m suffering from a chronic lack of time. Already in the morning, immediately after waking up, while I was still in bed, I sent three messages with delegated tasks to my associates. It’s a nice feeling when you shave off operational tasks from yourself and get an hour or more to deal with the wider picture. The Business Café lasted about two hours. Talk after talk, and every one of them was a fantastic inspirational story. Story of ups and downs, with the conclusion: everyone falls, but only the winners stand up back again!
Bravo Kristina!
After the Business Café I talked to the entrepreneurs, I answered their questions in an informal conversation. I was mostly approached by those who follow the portal, who know what I’m doing and they shared some positive comments. One young woman (she asked me not to name her) approached me – one of our greatest fans. She said that about a year ago, when she decided to set sail in the marketing waters, Media Marketing portal changed her life. She learned everything about the industry in the region, she mastered the agency names, and the names of key agency people. She knows everything. As a show of gratitude for what we do, she presented me a perfectly packaged box of chocolates. She asked me not to give it to anyone, but to open it by myself. When I came into the room and opened it, there was no end to my surprise. The box was full of neatly arranged chocolates, and the central one had my image painted on it, taken from a photo taken by Dule Drakalski at Golden Drum three years ago. I’m a bit embarrassed to write this because I am a humble man, but I simply couldn’t but share this. Thank you very much.
You can read more about the Business Cafe in today’s News section.
Next morning I had my first coffee in the Esplanada with Krešimir Macan (Manjgura), with whom I did an interview at the end of November and lost it, I probably erased it by mistake. I even took my phone to have a “forensics” check-up at Apple in Sarajevo. Even the geniuses there couldn’t find it.
Now we agreed to do the interview again. I worked on radio for fifteen years, and these things used to happen there. From this experience, I know that a repeated story can never be as good as the first one. This second interview with Krešo is proof that this rule doesn’t always have to apply. We made a great interview – great. Krešo is one of the most giving interviewees in my journalistic career. He knows all about what he does (public relations), he talks perfectly, he has mastery of the facts, he uses great sentence structure, he is nice to listen to… He is one of the people because of whom I seriously think that the interviews on the portal should also be in audio format. This will be one of the themes of the annual meeting I have with my team on Tuesday. Now there’s six of us (five permanent employees and one permanent external associate), and there will be more. Adnan and I are no longer alone.
After Krešo, I was joined in the Esplanade by Mrs. Sandra Mlakar, whom Kristina Ercegović recommended as editor of the extended edition of the Hotel Yugoslavia book. The first edition ends somewhere around 1997. Now I would like to add to this 20 years since then. Next year I will mark the 70th anniversary of life and the 50th anniversary of my work in advertising so I would like to have a “new” book – or an extended old one. And I’d like Mrs. Mlakar to be the editor. We talked for an hour, a very interesting hour in which Mrs. Mlakar presented her view of the previous edition of the Hotel Yugoslavia, and expressed the readiness to edit the extended version when I add the rest of the content. She also deals with the distribution of books through a network of libraries, so she also accepted to be a distributor for Croatia.
Two coffees later, I ordered an orange and grape juice. My great friend, Kristijan Gregorić (regional director in Valicon) joined me. He’s my thyroid brother (both of us found new quality of life when we got rid of our fatigued thyroid glands). Kristijan had just returned from Thailand where he spent two weeks. He tells me fairy tales about that trip. I told him I’ve also been contemplating a trip to Thailand for years, but I’m a little scared of such a trip.
If I leave this chaos and constant war with time, and immerse myself in that peace and adopt some Buddhist principles of peaceful life, I’m afraid I will not go back. Christian says that this fear is justified, and that in Thailand a person gets a unique experience that they cannot find anywhere else in the world. Kristijan’s phone rang. It was Zenel Batagelj (Valicon). I took the phone and answered. Zenel recognized my voice. Both of us were glad to hear each other after a long time. I continue to exchange information from the region with Kristijan. He travels a lot around the region, exploring, so he knows everything.
From the Esplanade, I hurried to a meeting at HURA with Dunja Ivan Ballon and Silvija Kovačić. We needed to arrange all the details about the jury meeting of BalCannes, which will meet in Sarajevo, and which we (Media Marketing) will host. We arranged the term. The jury will meet in Sarajevo on Saturday, September 14th. We also agreed that the HURA would determine the composition of the jury by June 30 so that we have enough time to prepare. I am very proud that BalCannes jury’s first session outside of Rovinj (or online) will be held in Sarajevo. I am very happy about this. I look forward to the possibility to present the Bosnian-Herzegovinian advertising industry to the jury, which is most likely to include nine of the most eminent representatives of agencies, advertisers and media from the region. I promised Dunja that already the next day I will start personally working hard to ensure a record number of entries for this year’s BalCannes.
I left Zagreb very happy. After about twenty miles of drive, the snow was picking up. The road was slippery, and I drive pretty fast, so I had to really keep attention in order for our Peugeot not to veer off road. Vedrana and I arrived in Sarajevo exactly at midnight.
Note to those who don’t know it. Vedrana and I always travel together because I’m just an employee in the company, in which Vedrana is the owner and director. The other thing is that she is the best wife and the best co-traveler in the world.
January 28, 2019.
