Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Last night (Sunday) I sent my book Hotel Yugoslavia to my Belgrade printers. This morning, as I was having my morning coffee, I just didn’t know what to do with myself. It took a little while to realise that finally after four years I finished the book. The actual time taken writing the book over the four years totals two months. The rest of the time there always seemed to be something more pressing. Meanwhile, I translated from Slovenian Mitja Tuskej’s book, No friends no brands, I wrote and published a book The Best of Adriatic Creative Directors about 26 best creative directors in the region (380 large format pages) and almost finished the Creative Portfolio made up of 380 large format pages which presents all the winning campaigns in the national and regional festivals in the Adriatic region (the book will be published mid-January 2018). Publishing these books required a big personal effort and during that time Hotel Yugoslavia was pushed aside. A month ago I realised I start many things and finish few. It is hard for me to get my priorities right. I gave myself a task to finish certain things by the New Year to avoid the chaos that would be difficult for me to untangle. This book is the first result of that effort. I’ve a few more things to sort out to make the start of 2018 easier.
The book Hotel Yugoslavia is not my farewell letter!
People of my age (67) are either living in their past or the future. My past has been illuminated in this book. As far as the future is concerned, I believe that my next ten most exciting and creative years are yet to come. Health permitting, of course.
So, why did I decide to write this book?
First of all, to show how advertising was some five decades ago. Before the advent of Internet and social networks, when everything was done in a “pedestrian” manner, when we spend time with our clients and greeted the dawn in many a hostelry “bursting” with creative ideas. In those days advertising was a gentleman’s profession.
Another reason for this book is the up and coming generation in advertising. I wanted to show them there’s never a point of no return, there’s always a way around things. They have to take things into their own hands and not wait for solutions to be served on a plate. Circumstances are different today. There are teams and team work, there’s very little room for individual initiative, let alone for one person to solve everything. That was the situation I found myself most often.
I want to share with the new generation the passion necessary to do this job. Love and passion for the job. I am not sure how successful I’ve been in showing this, but if I’ve touched somebody’s emotions even slightly then I’ve succeeded.
In this book I haven’t described classic campaigns that I worked on, and there were many. Campaigns come and go. There are other things that stick in your mind and could be useful to others as an example: some projects that are done differently today from how we used to do them twenty, thirty or forty years ago. Everything’s changed, but some things remain constant. It is attitude towards work, the creative excitement. You’re either made for this job or not. I’ve never worked nine to five. This is a 24 hour a day job. Even when you’re asleep. Dragan Sakan says that great ideas come to you in your dreams. So afraid was he of not remembering his ideas he took a pen and paper to bed with him.
Today, advertising is threatened by many things. First of all, young people do not want to work in the industry. That’s shown by the research done in recent years. They think that advertising is aggressive, insincere and false. If all I’ve written about has any meaning it may spur somebody on to change how they work and be more successful and better at their job. I do hope that whoever reads this book they will find at least one thing that will make them think and help them change their practice for the good.
I am not the type of man who is arrogant enough to write his autobiography, and this book should not be mistaken for one. I wrote about my work and projects I was involved with. That was my goal. And I’m not suggesting that my examples are how things should be done. Even a mistake can be beneficial.
If this book is well received, it might encourage me to write of my exploits post 1998. It might happen in three years time, on the 50th anniversary of my life in advertising. I know no other life. Advertising gave to me all that a man could want in a job. I circled the globe twice for work, participating in conferences and festivals. I met some extraordinary people. Many became friends. They are my wealth.
I am eternally grateful to Lazar Dzamic for writing the preface to book. I‘d like to highlight one small part:
“For me, Hotel Yugoslavia is two things: a keyhole and a time machine. The former because it allowed me to know my friend better; the latter, because it reminded me of the time and the country I grew up in. Both are joined with a narrative thread that ties together the book and our shared interest: marketing.
“It is not news to me that Ekrem is driven by obsessive laying of foundations. The sexiest thing for him is the start. The English have a phrase that suits him to a T: ‘a serial entrepreneur’. A person who simply love to start new ventures. A person who gets fidgety when standing in one place.”
The first order for the book also came. Direct Media agency bought 100 copies for their business partners. Thank you!
