By: Adnan Arnautlija
There’s less than two weeks left until the start of the PRO PR Conference that will be held this year from 11 to 14 April on Zlatibor, Serbia, where eminent public relations professionals will gather to get acquainted with the trends, specifics and differences of the communications market, the levels of innovation and professionalism in this profession, and to exchange ideas and experiences with each other.
Part of the PRO PR Conference are the traditional PRO PR Awards, which celebrate contributions to the development of the public relations profession, and one of the eminent communication experts that marked public relations in our region in the past year is Jernej Smisl, Head of Corporate Affairs at Pivovarna Laško Union from Slovenia.
Going towards the Conference, we had a chat with Jernej to find out what this award means for him, what he sees in the future of the PR, and what PR in general means for him.
Media Marketing: Your work has been recognized this year with the PRO PR Award. What does this award mean for you?
Jernej Smisl: The PRO PR Award means a recognition for my past work, but it also comes with the responsibility and commitment for the future.
Media Marketing: What is it that you love in PR? Wherein lies its greatest strength?
Jernej Smisl: PR for me has a wider meaning for quite some time now. The essence of it all is that people communicate, and we communicate a lot.
Media Marketing: What does Pivovarna Laško Union focus on in its PR activities?
Jernej Smisl: Pivovarna Laško Union has fundamentally changed its external communication in recent years. We have went from crisis, defensive communication into proactive communicating, which mostly relates to our brands and long term development.
Media Marketing: What changes can we expect in the PR practice in 2018?
Jernej Smisl: I believe that in very short time our region will experience a transformation of PR into the wider context of Corporate Affairs. Communication with all stakeholders will be of key importance during the transformation of media.
Media Marketing: Is there some message you would like to send to the participants of the PRO PR Conference 2018?
Jernej Smisl: Our field of work is extremely important. If it was true once that content is king, today’s opinion is that distribution is the queen that wears the pants.
