Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Sabina Suljović is the Director of Marketing Sector at Konzum BiH. She’s been with the comppany for ten years, and before the split of Mercator and Konzum she was the head of marketing and communications. With the experience she has she sovereignly rules over the communications landscape, spreading positive energy among her coworkers and agencies with which Konzum collaborates.
Media Marketing: After the separation from Mercator, Konzum conducted a repositioning in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian market, which brought many changes. The first one relates to the mission of Konzum. What does it state now?
Sabina Suljović: After separation with Mercator, Konzum changed the complete business concept. We have conducted very detailed and extensive analyses, and drew concrete conclusions on the basis of which we set clear goals for further business. Thanks to a widespread network of more than 170 stores we are available to our customers in all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina every day. We offer a quality and rich range of goods for everyday household consumption at competitive prices with constant recognizable actions and quality service. The business concept is focused on the needs of daily shopping, and this is the key change that we have made. In connection with this, our new mission was created, according to which Konzum is the neighborhood store. I would like to quote the key thing: “We are small enough to meet our customers, but big enough to offer quality assortments at competitive prices. Customer satisfaction is at the forefront, and offering daily products is our priority.” We have left behind a very turbulent period, facing daily with great business challenges and significant decisions, but I can proudly say that we have achieved a positive business trend and positive results.
Media Marketing: The vision is new as well. How do you envision the future of Konzum on BiH market in the next three to five years?
Sabina Suljović: A difficult year is behind us. We’ve made a pivot that has brought us positive results. Now we need to sustain them and continue pressing onwards. Every new day brings new challenges. We are making small steps and push the limits every day. I believe we can achieve our plans because they are based on realistic grounds. We will strive to maintain the existing positive business trend and to be the first choice for day-to-day shopping to our customers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is our vision.
Media Marketing: The marketing strategy is new. You have a new slogan: Good day, every day! What is the message for your shoppers?
Sabina Suljović: Tagline ‘Good day, every day’ was born out of a logical sequence of decisions that we made with the change of business model. Daily shopping is the main reason for choosing this slogan. Like a true neighbors, we wish our customers good day, every day, and offer them what they need most every day, and to show that we are there for them every day.
Media Marketing: Now that we’ve tackled the new mission, vision and tagline, we come to the new marketing campaign and the iconic Jasna Diklić as it star. How was the idea for this campaign born, and how did you manage to get Elmir Jukić on board – one of the best BiH directors?
Sabina Suljović: After separating from Mercator, we thought we needed a strong marketing campaign and, in cooperation with Communis and Mint agencies, with whom we have built quality business relationships for many years, we created the Good Day, Every Day campaign. Things fell into place on their own. So the idea to hire Jasna Diklic as the character of neighbor was accepted without much doubt. We thought she was an actress who could really match this character and, even with the amount of humor we wanted to bring into communication, credibly convey all of our messages. I can freely say that Jasna played the character of the neighbor exactly as we imagined it in the stage of the scenario preparation. Also, there was no doubt about the choice of director, and I think that with Elmir Jukic we got excellent quality TV spots, as well as the satisfaction of working on the set and the incredible dose of positive energy that was radiating from the entire team. We look forward to continuing the cooperation and recording the new wave of TV spots which we plan to realize during the summer.
Media Marketing: You are the head of a marketing team that leads the key communication processes. Do you have the necessary support from the management?
Sabina Suljović: Without the joint engagement of complete management, it would not be possible to plan and realize the repositioning of the company in the market. We are supportive of each other every day, we work together to analyze, give ideas and, most importantly, decide together and accept responsibility for everything done. This is a model that we follow and it works very well.
Media Marketing: You’ve been with Konzum marketing department for ten years. That’s more than enough to get to know the advertising scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Do you have the necessary support from agencies and the media, and how would you rate cooperation with them?
Sabina Suljović: We have developed close cooperation with agencies and the media. We have been working together for many years, have gone through many business challenges and with great dose of understanding we have succeeded in finding common solutions. I have already mentioned very good cooperation with the Communis and Mint marketing agencies, and I would like to emphasize the great support provided by our media buying agency Yes Media. Agency and media support wasn’t lacking even in the period of crisis, and that is precisely, in my opinion, a sign of solid business ties. We came to solutions together, even when it seemed impossible.
Media Marketing: In one of our previous meetings, we talked about the necessary changes for the advertising industry in BiH to improve. We even discussed jointly working on starting those changes. What is it that you would change first? What do you see as the greatest issue?
Sabina Suljović: I think that strong will and objective view of the facts are crucial for starting changes. This means it is necessary for everyone to start from themselves. With a lot of smaller steps we would show that together we can make great things. We at Konzum are looking forward to such changes and we are ready to bear the initiative and support in mutual interest.
Media Marketing: When we take into account the action prices of the day, your job has an unusually dynamic everyday pace. Do you have any free time, and how do you spend it?
Sabina Suljović: Every business day for me is very dynamic. There are a lot of obligations, and short deadlines on top. With a good organization and a quality team that performs most of our work completely independently, we are able to answer all our business challenges on time and within working hours, so there is enough time for free activities. I think it is very important for the whole team that we all have enough free time and spend it in the best possible way in order to be motivated and rested when we tackle new challenges. Additionally, positive energy is always there, which is an important driver of good business decisions. So the slogan Good Day, Every Day was also infused into the company, among the colleagues. We live and work with the desire that all of us at Konzum have a good day, every day!
