Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Adnan Arnautlija
2017 was a great year for the Represent System. The best proof of this is the fact that a successful year was crowned with the most prestigious award of the PR profession in Serbia – Represent Communications was named the PR Agency of the Year in Serbia at the annual DSOJ awards. But winning an award is not just a cause for celebration, it is also a motivation and obligation for further progress and development, and Represent is working on that not only in Serbia, but also throughout the region.
To find out how Represent System will ‘justify’ their title this year, we talked with the founder and director of the Represent System, PhD Borislav Miljanović. Bora is quite busy these days, as the agency has recently launched its new Contento platform, which gathers a range of their services in one place, and in a couple of days they will open the Content Experience conference (June 7) where they will share their knowledge with others.
Media Marketing: Represent has been named the PR Agency of the Year in Serbia this year. What does this recognition of the profession mean for you?
Borislav Miljanović: This recognition is the highest award that an agency dealing with public relations can gain in Serbia. What makes this award even greater is the fact that it is a recognition from the renowned colleagues from the industry. For us, this is an indication that last year we learned and improved more than anyone else, and that the course of continuous improvement in the new communication technologies we embarked on three years ago is good, and we will continue pressing on.
Media Marketing: How do you intend to “justify” the recognition this year? What is Represent doing to improve the industry further?
Borislav Miljanović: We’ve been making and distributing content since forever so to say. But this year, we closed the circle from exploring, creating and distributing content to measuring its success within the unique Contento platform. Contento platform, besides The Content Studio which has been in existence for almost 3 years, also includes the Native Network, which includes 30 sites on which we can distribute quality content for our clients, and the Digital Element, an even larger business unit we have created together with several developers and professors from the University of Belgrade, which deals with collecting and analytical processing of data from the Internet and providing information that is useful and necessary to everyone who appears on the local internet (and that’s virtually all of us!)
Media Marketing: One of the contributions to the profession is certainly the Content Experience conference. What kind of “content” can we expect?
Borislav Miljanović: This year’s conference is designed differently than the previous ones. In addition to great lecturers and renowned names from Europe, the region and Serbia, who will talk about content marketing strategies, analytics, influencers and native advertising, we will also organize a series of hands on workshops where practitioners will be able to learn from professionals and relevant influencers. The idea is that conference participants leave the workshops inspired, but also with concrete knowledge that they can apply in everyday work.
Media Marketing: If I understand correctly, the workshops will let participants really employ their skills and in a way create a “final product”?
Borislav Miljanović: Content marketing is our field of development and we are doing everything to be both an agency and an editorial board for our clients. Making a quality content that is interesting, engaging or useful, and distributed at right moment, in the right places along the customer journey, is our goal for every single client.
That is why this year we decided that the participants leave the workshops with concrete knowledge, but also with the ultimate product that will enter the shortlist for the best created content. Not only will the content that the participants create will be evaluated by expert professionals, but the best will be promoted through the media. In this way we encourage practical work and reward the best.
Media Marketing: Recent introduction of the GDPR definitely shook the communications industry. Given that you operate throughout the region, how did this affect you?
Borislav Miljanović: We, like everyone else in the industry, must be prepared to face new challenges. The topic of GDPR is generally broad and widespread, and will change the approach to data protection not only in marketing and communications, but much wider. A large segment of digital marketing is based on good targeting, and user data is key to good campaign placement. The more precise we are, the more successful we are, and given the new constraints, and the hefty fines, we will all have to play by the rules, but also to be creative in finding new ways of targeting.
Media Marketing: How serious is the GDPR’s influence on the distribution of content, especially in the field of programmatic?
Borislav Miljanović: Advertisers will have to make some serious effort to ensure proper protection of personal information of their users for marketing purposes. This is especially important for programmatic, because it is essentially based on large pools of targeting data. The prerequisite for a good programmatic campaign is placement of the right ad, to the right person, at the right time, in the right place, and you can only do that if you have good data. That’s why the rewards, but also the stakes, are higher. Programmatic will now have to focus more on targeting segments, rather than individuals, in order to comply with GDPR standards.
Media Marketing: Finally, do you have anything to say to those who will come to the Content Experience, or perhaps even more importantly, to those who won’t be able to attend due to the limited number of seats?
Borislav Miljanović: Everyone who plans to engage in marketing in the future will have to have expertise in the field of content marketing, because it’s not a passing trend, but a business philosophy. And so it’s my advice to expand your knowledge as soon as possible, and learn how good stories can be told in the future. There is no successful business communication without compelling storytelling. We have been perfecting it for years, and we want to share this knowledge with other likeminded people.
