Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Source: Slobodan Jovanović Coba, designed.rs
Photos: Lookman/Mevlid Boja, Slobodan Jovanović Coba
Approach to the city was quite exciting because of the wild nature through which we passed, through a narrow canyon of the beautiful river Una. And yes, the river Una which our dear hosts from Ventilator – a local association of creatives from the agencies NDM (Great Nino Kasupović, and Glas Razuma Adi Čavkić) Damir design and IDK Studio – described as something special, I have to confirm was indeed a real Beauty.
We gathered, and after a walk through Bihać – which is a charming little town – we went for a late dinner. Maybe too late, but there I met tomorrow’s speakers and exchanged impressions and experiences. Our hosts were so versed and informed about the entire advertising scene that they were just bursting out with facts about campaigns, rumors and names from the industry, some of which sounded completely unknown to me, so the questions and thoughts started intertwining: 1. Why don’t I know anything about this? 2. Where did they learn this much information? 3. Too bad they don’t have the chance to use their passion even better. 4. I’m so annoyed with this regional environment of ours, full of small and large swindlers who simply don’t allow these people to flourish. 5. Wow, Cuculić is here, he rocks… 6. It’s good, I prepared my presentation… 7. Man it’s tricky to organize meetings like this in a small environment… 8. I wonder what visitors will be like? 9. OK – I’m ready!
And we got the answers the following day.
The Creative Republic of Bihać takes place in a very awesome place. In the hall in which the first session of AVNOJ took place! So, it’s the place where decisions were made that were far-reaching and which substantially affected the history of what we call today the region, the ex-Yu, etc.
In places like this, the walls have soaked in some strange vibes and you invariably have the impression that they seep them out when needed. Topic of the conference was destination branding.
After the welcoming words of local politicians who hastily left the room, carrying the burden of some important state job, first to enter the scene was Kristina Ercegović, who in a charming way introduced us to the necessity of networking and meeting. Through an entire scenario from introduction, through small talk and finally to handing out a business card, she actually repeated for us some things that we intuitively know and do, but we almost never rationalized them and used deliberately.
After a small game where we had a chance to get acquainted with some of those present, Jovana Lea Simić and I joined Kristina and started discussing on the topic “How small become big?”, and the Little Blue Pot brand that Jovana represents, and which my agency had the pleasure to design. There came into my mind the wise words of Slavimir – shut up, work, and don’t bullshit. I uttered these words as a response to the question “How small become big?” after which the political correctness somewhat subsided.
Agency 404 from Zagreb and the piercing and convincing Martina Kolaček showed us how a team of 12 people does a real-time digital campaign for TV program The Voice Croatia as well as the results and anecdotes during several months of non-stop posting, responding, filling social networks and similar actions that are necessary for the success of a digital campaign of this magnitude. Here I was a little confused because no matter how much digital is present around me, I’ve never experienced it in such a dynamic but exhausting way.
A little bit later, Ilija Brajković from the digital agency Akcija drove the final nail into the coffin of my disorientation in digital, with his data, measurements, software, and with a fitting question – I have no idea what might come next. Dynamic changes in the use of digital platforms often exceeds the capabilities of even the agencies who need to monitor them and properly react to them. Increasingly frequent and more diverse changes seek younger and more dispersive users, but also the community managers capable to meet the challenges of a rapidly expanding market. This reminds me – is there some kind of bursting on the horizon for this digital soap bubble, or is it just strong enough to withstand the passage into its own prepubescent state?
Vanja Cuculić – a designer, somehow closest to me in terms of job description – had a wonderful lecture about a specific approach to destination branding through a project related to town of Ogulin in Hravatskoj. It all began when the local tourist board tied themselves to the name of Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, writer of children’s books and fairy tales that drew inspiration from Slovene mythology, and who was born in Ogulin.
First, the Festival of Fairy Tales was born, and later the whole city tourism organization rebranded itself in line with the Festival. Then came the Museum of fairy tales and other activities in the spatial branding of sites.
Slobodan Jovanović Coba (me), presented a number of projects of the agency which are closely related to the destination branding – from the brand of the Tourist Organization of Serbia, through the Tour Guide for Montenegro and Porto Montenegro, guides for Dorćol, Living Belgrade to the portal Designed.rs and student workshop on the topic of destination branding and finally, publishing of the magazine LUMEN, intended for business class passengers. The whole story was based on the creation of content and its correlation with the design as an explosive mix for better understanding and making sense of brands.
The final panel was also dedicated to destination branding, where among others participated PR expert Božo Skoko, and Amarildo Mulić, director of the National Park Una, which is non-stop innovating, developing their potential and striving to develop an attractive story for those looking for excitement offered by fierce combination of deep forests, hot rubble and icy river. They talked about the good examples of branding of local destinations such as Istria, Lošinj and Kvarner, but also Belgrade as a regional – and wider – iconic capital of good times and great energy.
What marked the BKR in this June of 2016 was the great desire and a series of concrete and achievable ideas for improving the quality of life in the communities like Bihać. A lot of these recipes can be well applied to a large number of similar, larger or smaller destinations. It remains to be seen whether local leaders are ready to support and push these ideas.