Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Špela Žorž is the director of the agency Grey Ljubljana. She says that advertising is her first love, and that the passion never waned. She started in Luna, moved to Renault Slovenia where she was responsible for the ATL activities and stayed in this business for a year and a half. Then she returned to Luna, where she spent the next eight years. She left Luna briefly to join an investment firm where it took her just four months to realize that this job was not for her. She wanted to go back to advertising and then came to Grey, where she spent some time at different positions until four years ago she took over the helm of the agency. Grey HQ gave her full freedom, and said: “Do what you think is best!” Back then, four years ago, Grey employed 16 people, today its staff is more than 40 strong.
Was the increase in volume of business, and number of employees, a result of what you were said when you took over the agency – to do what you want and think it’s best?
It’s partly a result of that. That was the time when Grey changed globally, and it helped us a lot because then they made some moves that also helped us as we took over the culture that Grey set globally. We were one of the first agencies in the network that tried to adopt the culture that Grey defined worldwide. We had nothing to lose. We started to work differently and we succeeded – all of us, as a team. There were a few people (Petra, Sabina, Ana, Matija, Tomaž …) that I could rely on since the first day, and we immediately agreed that we would make a great story with Grey Ljubljana. And we managed to do so, together.
And then new clients started coming in?
Yes, but slowly. The first really big client that came was Gorenje, followed by Triglav Insurance. That was a big turning point. We worked well, clients were satisfied, and I think that helped a lot. Then the things started slowly rolling: Bayer came, then Mars, then Žito … Then everything turned on its head when we got Si.mobil. When the pitch for Si.mobil was announced, we knew that if we won that everything would change, because there wasn’t a pitch of that magnitude on the Slovenian market in the previous ten years. So we went to this pitch ready for anything – to work 24/7, to not have vacations (because the pitch was in the summer), we knew that our entire future depends on success on this pitch … We knew that this was a game changer for us and we entered into this process, ready for anything. It was difficult – I will not lie and say that it passed so easily – but in the end it was worth it.
There was support from Grey in this pitch?
Yes. We had Jon Wiliams from London, Mark Pritchard from Russia and Joanna Bakas from Berlin working with us together on the pitch. They helped a lot.
And how are things going now?
It’s going great now. We’ve been working for Si.mobil for a year now and I think we got to know each other well, and today we believe each other so much that we can now start doing truly great stories. You need to know the client and build mutual trust. Without it, you can’t do great stories. The first year is the honey moon period, everything is new, everything is good, all is well, but in the end you don’t know where the client stops and you begin.
What happened after Si.mobil?
We needed a lot of new people! We didn’t have enough staff, and we had to start working for Si.mobil immediately… It was crazy.
Now there’s more than 40 of you. Is that enough, or do you still need more people?
We still need more people. We are still growing, because we also got a lot of media jobs, not only creative. Now there’s an ongoing process of integration of media and creative business because that’s necessary to create great stories. We have seen at Sempl the great results coming from agencies that work both media business and creativity. When everything is in one agency, only then can you make really great things. And we, as a WPP agency – which brings the media (Group M) and creativity (Grey and JWT) together under one roof – I believe are super equipped for the needs of our clients.
How do you see the advertising scene in Slovenia today?
Advertising scene in Slovenia is small, because the market is small. This is best seen when we compare our, Slovenian works, with works on a global level … In Slovenia, the benchmark is low. I’m sure there is more creative potential in the agencies, but somehow we aren’t utilizing it. And I’m sure that the clients would like to see more creative works, but obviously they are not getting it somehow…
Perhaps the problem is that today we do more work for the same money. This ultimately means that we don’t have enough time to seek a brilliant idea for each project, which would raise the bar… In the end, we settle for an average campaign, which is OK, but will never win at Cannes. Clients are also satisfied, but I think that all of us (agencies and clients) in this business should be more ambitious.
Slovenia is a small market, but you have several big agencies.
Yes, we have a number of big agencies. And I find it great because of strong competition, and competition is a good thing. Each agency has a different culture and other values. It’s the same with clients. They have different cultures and different values. When agency and client who foster the same values come together, you get a winning combination. We have a lot of agencies here in Slovenia, because we have many clients who have different energies. I believe in energy, I believe in values and I believe in culture. I think these are important in our business. Si.mobil and Gorenje are clients with whom we can cooperate successfully exactly because of that energy, because we are the same. Or Laško and Luna, Pristop and Telekom… They are also winning combinations, they work super well together. For me it’s a signal that each of us can work well with the right client. This is something that we should all find. That’s all I want – to have clients with whom we can create great stories. We don’t want to have hundreds of clients, we want only those with whom we understand, with whom we are partners.
Is there fear of losing clients in agencies?
Fear of losing clients is always there. But just look at agencies that have lost major clients. Did they go bust? No, they’ve recovered, gained new clients, recruited new people and work perhaps even better than before. There’s no need to be afraid. The future is ours and will be very beautiful. I am very optimistic.
Is there enough work for everyone?
Work is there. The very fact that we have several major agencies shows that we do have work and that we can survive. We could live better if we had more time, but we don’t, because we don’t have enough money to afford it. It’s the catch 22. I think every agency in Slovenia knows that we’re in some kind of gray area and I’m sure that every agency is looking for ways in which we could do better, each agency has its own approach. Pristop now has Indigo, they went into data mining and that’s great, good for them. Luna is doing its thing, we are trying something third, Publicis has consolidated so they will also find some models of their own, Futura is very ambitious and always wants to do better and bigger work. The only question is which of us will first find the right formula – who will have more energy in this race.
Do you feel more as part of Grey in the region or part of Grey on the European level?
There isn’t much difference between the region and the European level, so I absolutely feel part of Grey at the European level. The region (CEE) and this smaller ecosystem of ours (Adriatic) in which we live has changed a great deal over the last few years. I think that a significant influence on this was Nikola Bubanj, CEO of Grey Adriatics&Balkans. Now we collaborate much more than before when we jealously guarded the Slovenian ideas from Croats and Serbs, and vice versa.
What’s the current position of Grey in the region?
Situation in Serbia is very similar to that in Slovenia. Grey is a full service agency that has been going through major restructuring over the last few years, in order to offer more integrated solutions with a focus on digital and shopper marketing. And Grey Zagreb had just consolidated after they stopped working for Vipnet. They got new clients and again started to grow.
You seem quite fresh, energetic and dynamic. You’re not tired?
Not yet. Advertising was my first love when I was 23 years old. Mitja Milavec recognized this love in me and gave me a chance.
You’re not the only one. Mitja gave a chance to many people.
That’s right. Mitja Milavec is one of the few people in our business who can inspire people, has a strong enough charisma to be able to lead and take them where they would like to be. If you have enough energy, at the end everything will fall in its place as it should, so I will always be grateful to him. To go back to my energy. I’ve been in this business for 17 years now, and for 17 years this has been the best job for me. It seems to me that we in Slovenia, including the agency Grey Ljubljana, haven’t yet done everything that we need to do. There’s still much we need to do, and what we will do.