By: Adnan Arnautlija
Brief received by the agency BBDO Zagreb said: To continue the success of previous image campaigns, focusing on the small things that every Croat believes to be true, and which create a stronger link between Croatian identity and Ožujsko beer.
Based on this brief, BBDO Zagreb devised a creative strategy: Croatia is perhaps a small country, but it is phenomenal. And there are many phenomena to prove that, but we are not talking about natural beauties and historical discoveries, but about the funny customs and traditions that make up the Croatian cultural mentality. One of them is joking on one’s own account, which Žuja does by claiming to be a phenomenon itself. Add some phenomenally humorous messages and you get a phenomenal campaign.
We came up with the idea… thinking about all the unusual and bizarre phenomena that Croatia is abundant with.
Our guiding thought was… to highlight that Žuja is one of the few Croatian phenomena that has been solved long ago.
During the realization, the biggest problem we encountered was… worry about the time. The ad was filmed in December, and it was supposed to look as if it was shot in June.
The greatest contribution of this campaign was… that we promoted some less known Croatian phenomena, but first and foremost local cultures and customs.
And it was special because… it was not special at all in its idea itself, but as all Žuja’s campaigns, it is a truthful presentation of the Croatian everyday.
When it comes to our project, we are most proud… of the pride we inspired in people from the region, whom we showed and visited during filming.
If we were to go from the scratch… we wouldn’t change a thing.
Throughout the process we learned… how important luck is when making weather forecasts.
What you certainly didn’t know is… that Goran Bogdan danced in the ad with a roast lamb head.
We took home from BalCannes… some morning headache.
