If it was once enough to have one big idea and one dominant channel, today campaigns are increasingly created as complex systems of dozens of assets, platforms and content versions that must simultaneously remain creatively relevant and operationally sustainable. With rising internal costs, increasingly high technological expectations from clients and a market that demands constant optimisation, creativity is increasingly tested not only by the idea itself but also by the resilience of the process behind it.
In such an environment, courage in the communications industry takes on a different meaning. It is no longer only about big ideas or provocative campaigns, but about the ability to balance efficiency and authenticity, scaling production while preserving creative integrity. Agencies increasingly have to make decisions that are not visible to audiences, but directly shape work quality, client relationships and the long-term value of brands.
About what it looks like to lead an agency in a growth phase, where AI truly brings value, how trust is built in an era of scepticism and why the industry may need more than ever the courage to step out of “safe mode,” we spoke with the BBDO Zagreb team, Luka Duboković – Managing Director/CEO, Almir Okanović – Chief Creative Director, Dinko Brčić – Head of Strategy, and Ivana Babić – Client Service Director.
Luka Duboković, Managing Director/CEO
1. If you had to summarise 2025 in one strategic decision you would make again, and one you would make completely differently today, what would those two “plot twists” be?
As an agency that has grown significantly over the past few years and reached around 70 employees, we needed to establish new organisational mechanisms for more efficient department management. This especially refers to consolidating the Digital department under one umbrella that includes social, production and video.
What we would not repeat is going to too many pitches, which in one period significantly burdened the teams.
2. What made your agency grow up the most this year, and what made it play again like a child?
The realisation that we need to be more efficient, internal costs are rising, especially salaries and IT, while the possibility of passing those costs on to clients is not keeping pace.
Today a campaign consists of 20+ assets across different media/channels, and there is truly a huge opportunity to play creatively across each channel and deliver the best creative execution. A campaign is no longer one big TV spot but a collection of smaller “creatives” that together form a whole.
3. If the Adriatic industry were a publicly traded company, what rating would you give it entering 2026? And why should investors keep (or not keep) their shares?
I think they should keep their shares. Media investments are continuously growing, while the emergence of new channels means more companies are seeking expert approaches to advertising and creativity, and that certainly represents an opportunity for growth.
Almir Okanović, Chief Creative Director
4. Which idea in 2025 made you stand up from the table and say “Okay, this is why I still do this job”?
There were quite a few of our ideas last year that made me stand up from the table; sometimes to shout “this is why I still do this job!!”, and sometimes to climb onto a chair and hang myself, or at least bang my head against the wall ☺
Fortunately, we didn’t realise those latter and second-to-last ideas, but some of the first ones we did.
One of those good ones is the “Dječja posla” campaign for A1 where we spoke about online bullying and peer violence. We’re also proud of the youth campaign for Erste Bank “Zero bucks given,” then the “Jasna stvar” campaign for Wiener Insurance, as well as “Hollyday’s heroes” for IKEA. We must not forget “Baby Blues” for Libresse, and of course there’s our new campaign for Ožujsko beer which is yet to launch, so we won’t spoil it.
5. What was your biggest creative risk this year, and did it pay off?
It’s too early to say whether it paid off financially, but in terms of creative or reputational impact, I think all the campaigns mentioned above definitely paid off.
6. Which creative weakness does the regional industry persistently conceal, and what would you do if someone appointed you to “expose” it during 2026?
Unfortunately, Croatia, and the entire Adria region, is still a small environment, a small pond where everyone knows everyone and everything. So if someone appointed me chief exposer, I wouldn’t exactly overwork myself. And honestly, sometimes it seems some things are better covered up than exposed.
Dinko Brčić, Head of Strategy
7. Which common assumption about consumers did you have to “break with a hammer” in 2025 because it was no longer true?
This assumption is eternal and wasn’t only a problem in 2025.
We like to think our brand is an important topic in our consumers’ lives. The uncomfortable truth is that people care about themselves, not about us. Put simply, in a world where someone sees a thousand ads, notifications and messages daily, our ad is just a “passing image” that has a few seconds to show a real benefit (not necessarily only a rational one) or disappear into that sea. That’s why strategy must position the brand as part of their story, not as the main character expecting admiration.
8. If you had to predict one psychological shift in audiences in 2026 that will most change communication, what would it be, and why is it invisible until it happens?
I think the biggest psychological shift in the coming years will be that the average person will no longer be sure whether something is true or just well-packaged AI fiction, and that will become the “new normal.”
This shift follows technological development and happens gradually: first trust in written content declines a bit, then in photos and video, and eventually even in one’s own memory, until one day we realise our default attitude has become paranoia.
When that state becomes mainstream, we will have to find better and new ways to build trust.
Ivana Babić, Client Service Director
9. What is the most unexpected sentence you heard from a client this year, and how did it change your brief, campaign or relationship?
Maybe not the most unexpected, but certainly the most frequent, “can we make this campaign (more) with AI.” A year or two ago that question reflected technological curiosity, but this year it gained weight, expectations and budget behind it.
That request pushed us to precisely define human roles in the process. AI accelerated parts that can be automated, but at the same time highlighted how intuition, experience and sensitivity to detail and nuance remain irreplaceable.
10. If someone offered you to start 2026 with a single “act of courage,” professional, creative or human, that would completely push you out of your comfort zone and move the industry a step forward… which act would you choose and why that one?
Luka Duboković, Managing Director/CEO
I would break the rules. Because rules are made to be broken.
Almir Okanović, Chief Creative Director
There are many acts that would certainly be very courageous and would push me out of my comfort zone, but I’m not sure they would necessarily move the industry forward. For example, it would be brave to tell a client that from January 2026 we’re raising our service prices by 30%, or to tell them in a presentation “you’re stupid if you don’t take this idea.” Or even better, to tell some clients “goodbye.” But all those acts of courage would more likely end with a kick in the backside (ours, of course) than with industry progress. Although, they say a kick in the backside is also a kind of step forward…
Dinko Brčić, Head of Strategy
Google: “Beckham, Be Honest!”
Ivana Babić, Client Service Director
If I could choose an “act of courage” in this context, it would perhaps be avoiding the safe version of a campaign, the one we make so everyone can sleep peacefully and all checkboxes are ticked, because our industry is full of correct campaigns that nobody remembers.
