Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Manuela Šola is the owner and director of regional agency Abrakadabra Integrated Communications and co-owner and director of a specialized company for two-way communication, Ping Pong. She believes there are more women in the PR industry today, “and the primary reason is that one enters this world mostly from the field of journalism. Thirty years ago women had already begun to dominate in Croatian journalism, and so with the development of integrated communications and PR, many women chose that industry. True, management is still ruled by men, and women are in the minority there, but I am convinced that this will not be the case in the near future.”
Here’s what Manuela thinks about the qualities that women have brought to the advertising industry: “Although I think the key advantages of women are above all communication skills and commitment to work, I don’t think that the dominance of either of the sexes is necessary for success in business or in any other area. In Abrakadabra we have mixed gender teams, which has proved to be an advantage. Through creative collaboration, exchange of ideas and brainstorming, and above all with two different kinds of thinking, it’s much easier to implement certain projects. What I consider the most important prerequisites for success in business are definitely knowledge, the ability to feel the market, flexibility, openness to new technologies and trends, friendly and good relationships with clients, suppliers and employees, and of course, all sprinkled with a little bit of luck. For all that, believe me, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a woman or a man.”
Even if it doesn’t matter today, it certainly mattered once. Women once had as hard a time climbing the ladder in the advertising industry as in any other. Today everything is much easier, because gender awareness and the decades-long story of human rights and gender equality have certainly yielded fruits. We ask our interviewee what it was like for her to punch her way through these male dominated channels in her career path and seek her own place in the industry: “Even while I was a student I realized that communications was the area I wanted to work in one day. Back then I worked on a wide variety of projects – from the non-governmental sector to the economy – which contributed to the fact that Abrakadabra now works for clients from diverse industries, whether they are real estate, consumer goods or high-tech companies. The fact that my first jobs were in companies that fostered excellent business values and encouraged creativity and individual development, probably had a significant impact on my decision. Through continuous learning and development, a high-level of professionalism, persistence and hard work, work and only work, we have built our success and got to where we are now. We have become a regional PR company able to bring many benefits to companies looking for our kind of PR, and we also offer integrated communications; something I call all-in-one PR – social networks and everything else.”
No agency has the form that its founders envisaged from the get-go. It’s built up over years. “I started Abrakadabra as a studio for project managing and marketing, and in the beginning I worked alone. Over time the business expanded, I started to engage co-workers and the team grew, and then we grew into the company Abrakadabra Integrated Communications which I own and manage. A year later I received the Best Young Manager Award from the Croatian association of managers Anton Nino Cerin. Three years ago we expanded beyond the borders of Croatia and launched Abrakadabra Integrated Communications in Belgrade. We were among the first to realize the importance of communications in social networks, and we launched the company Ping Pong Two-way Communications. I never forget that before Abrakadabra I worked on different kinds of projects, but the common element is that I worked on event management and partly on the communications side. Today I am a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of SMEs in the Croatian Employers Association (HUP), I am a member of the Croatian Association for Public Relations, and I was elected Ambassador for female entrepreneurship in the project European Network of Female Entrepreneurship Ambassadors, and became a member of CRANE – Association of Business Angels.
THE INDUSTRY OF THE FUTURE: “Social networks are definitely part of the communication industries of the future, because their huge impact on every aspect of life requires a completely new approach to communication. The research we conducted at Ping Pong shows that 88 percent of companies already use Facebook for business communication with clients and customers, which is a good indication of what the future holds, and that we are on the right track.”
All these positions are recognition of Manuela’s work and talent, and further support our thesis that today it’s easier for women than ever before. So our next question was about the current situation in the communications industry. Manuela Šola believes that the changes are self-evident: “In just a few years, PR has seen tremendous changes, particularly due to the development of the internet, followed by social networking, because you no longer have to wait for publication when you send material to the media. Today, two-way, or even multidirectional communication exists on the PR scene, and the most important advantage of such communication is feedback. All these are well understood and recognized by big corporations, they are now more open regarding the devising of a communication process, and now change corporate policy more easily.”
But the long crisis has not spared this industry: “The fact is that in the Croatian and even regional market there’s a large number of PR agencies that were among the first companies to be affected when the crisis struck. However, despite the crisis, more and more companies recognize the importance of PR and integrated communication and decide to invest in public relations. Abrakadabra’s success is the best evidence of the fact that PR campaigns have brought added value to services, products and brands, and that companies have embraced integrated communications. Since the crisis started, seven years ago, we have managed to consolidate the position of Abrakadabra Integrated Communications, we founded Abrakadabra in Serbia, we started Ping Pong as an agency specializing in social media, we work with 50-odd clients, we have 20 employees and soon, having covered about a dozen countries in the region, we are spreading to Russia.”
The crisis is only one side of the coin, and social networks are the other. Both sides have had a radical impact on advertising: “Abrakadabra was among the first to recognize the fact that PR is becoming more important and that the importance of social networks is immeasurable, so we opened the aforementioned company Ping Pong. We foresaw that this field would experience expansion and decided to integrate our offer of traditional PR and social media. It turned out to be a formula for success, especially because social networks are particular – you don’t communicate only with the media through them, but with the consumers as well. At one time we were proclaimed pioneers of PR on the web 2.0, but I think that we were just timely, we quickly and easily recognized global trends, and began to introduce them in the services we provide to our clients. However, regardless of the application of new technological achievements in the communication process, the most important thing is to remain credible, reliable, high quality and offer a service of the highest standard.”
All these changes that are happening today are dramatically changing strategic planning. The future has never been so important as today, because those who fail to integrate into the technological processes now may have missed the opportunity forever: “I believe that PR will continue to develop, just as we in Abrakadabra recognized that the step into the world of integrated communication, especially into social networks, is fundamentally important. So I believe in integration in every way, where there will be no separation of PR. Social networks are definitely part of the communication industry of the future, because their huge impact on every aspect of life requires a completely new approach to communication. The research we conducted at Ping Pong shows that 88 percent of companies already use Facebook for business communication with clients and customers, which is a good indication of what the future holds, and that we are on the right track.”
Maybe these are all reasons why Manuela is reluctant to respond to the question of which of her projects is her favorite one. “I have no favorite campaign or project. Although you always remember your first client, it’s totally thankless, and difficult, to single out any single project, because each has its own characteristics, requirements and challenges, enthusiasm and innovation. Abrakadabra always strives for business excellence in terms of both projects and campaigns, but also where clients are concerned, especially those with whom we work continuously, because you can immediately see how the results that you achieved improve the business of your client.”