By: Stana Šehalić
Photo: Agency of the Year Communis DDB, Ivan Stanković with associates
Over the past five and a half decades, numerous persistent, dedicated and talented individuals, aficionados of the communications industries, have laid the foundations of Serbian marketing and created a fertile ground which has given birth to today’s bearers of Serbia’s advertising scene.
Ivan Stanković, owner and founder of the marketing agency Communis, began the ceremony with a talk – the Theory of Great Need.
The guests were addressed by its President Mirjana Milošević on behalf of the Association, who stressed that in these times of change, which the Association follows, UEPS’s recognitions are a constant confirmation of the value of the best in the local advertising industry.
In his address Mugdim Šehalić, president of the jury, said that success does not come by itself; it has a price, which we will pay if we want to. Failure on the other hand does come by itself, but its price is much higher, and we must pay it whether we want to or not.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dragoljub Mićko Ljubičić, for his three decades of impressive, and in many ways unparalleled contribution, not only to the development of advertising – primarily radio advertising – but, thanks to his many talents, to our cultural scene in general.
The winner of the UEPS Grand Prix for 2015 is the campaign Dobro jutro džezveri (Good Morning Jazzvers), by MMS Leo Burnett for client Doncafe Strauss Adriatic. After several years in which the Grand Prix for the best work went to outstanding social responsibility campaigns, this year the jury’s “cup of tea” (or coffee in this case) was a commercial campaign. The well-chosen theme of the campaign, the superior, playful, witty text, and highly successful animation with an excellent choice of music, brought this campaign the highest recognition for individual work this year.
The Dragan Sakan New Idea Award was introduced in 2010 and this year also celebrates a little anniversary, five years of existence as part of the annual UEPS awards. This year the Dragan Sakan New Idea Award went to the agency Scholz & Friends for their campaign Neotpevana Pesma (The Unsung Song).
At this year’s awards ceremony, in addition to the traditional awards by categories and the Grand Prix and Dragan Sakan awards, UEPS presented for the first time awards for the most successful agency and advertiser of the year, which were established this year.
Achieving the highest individual score, the UEPS first Advertiser of the Year is the company Grand Prom, while the first UEPS Agency of the Year is Communis DDB.
