Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
The Branimir Center in Zagreb hosted the Digital Takeover Conference, an innovative educational platform of 24sata and a central point for digital communications which gathered more than 500 participants and digital experts. The biggest digital conference in the region, the first of its kind in the first quarter of the new fiscal year, launched the themes of digital transformation and the importance of investing in digital advertising in the regional market. Participants of the conference were addressed by the leading digital experts who shared their practical knowledge and skills in a series of interesting lectures, workshops and one panel, and all agree that the Internet is an unavoidable and dominant media.
First among them was the General Manager of Uber for Central and Eastern Europe Rob Khazzam who focused on the positive experiences brought by digital transformation, particularly in the field of urban mobility, with the case studies from countries which are pioneers in the implementation of modern regulations. In his lecture, he emphasized that digitization represents the use of technology to make life easier. Thanks to Uber, 1500 people have jobs in Croatia, and their goal is to increase that figure to 10,000 in the next few years.
Nikša Gopčević, Director of Digital Services at Styria, explained how you can emerge from a crisis victorious. He pointed out that they recognized the crisis in the industry as an opportunity for a new focus and digital transformation of ‘old industries’, and announced a new ambitious project of innovations in the field of content personalization and automated editing of covers, which should be completed by the end of the year.
“Everything begins with a good idea. However, you have to be able to recognize it at the right moment, in which you must send the right message, targeting the right people,” said Google’s expert Damian Huba at the beginning of his lecture. In his lecture he addressed the recognition of the right moment, the right time and the right user, warning that users should in no way be burdened by ads, because it has a negative effect. Also, it is important to invest in creativity of messages, because the creativity is achieved by a detailed insight into statistics, on the basis of which you then make decisions about the creation of certain messages. The advertiser must know the right group of users to whom they want to convey a message, and then determine the right time to send it, and most importantly, they must determine what the message is.
Matej Lončarić, head of the video department of 24sata, talked about influencers as new idols of young people, as well as about influencer marketing. Lončarić spoke of the extraordinary successes of the YouTube channel JoomBoose which brought together the best YouTubers of the region. This concept has spread to Austria, and Lončarić also announced a new project – the first YouTube series in Croatia and beyond.
The central point of the program was a panel on “Creating a Culture for Digital Transformation in Your Business” which gathered the leading Croatian names from the world of Digital: Davor Bruketa from the advertising agency Bruketa & Žinić OM, CEO of agency Drap Davor Runje, director of the corporate department at Croatian Telecom Nina Išek Međugorac, cultural entrepreneur and investor Nenad Bakić, while the panel was moderated by Karlo Stojčević, CEO of agency Red Point and member of the Management Boards in agencies Pixsell and Newsroom. Discussing the changes to be made in order to implement digitalization, as main problems Runje highlighted sluggishness of people and the culture that this has created, which is hard to change. In terms of technological lag in Croatia, Bakić said that Croatia is radically opening, and will quickly reduce the distance it currently has in terms of the rest of Europe or the world, while Davor Runje believes Croatia is not that late, and that what appears in the world today, is already in Croatia the day after. Išek believes that there is a gap between generations. The older part of the population needs help – from the system or companies or whatever – but they do need help to overcome the fear of technologies and to facilitate their ability to see what technology can bring. All initiatives that go in this direction will help the society to become technologically literate sooner. Panelists also spoke about the impact of digitization on the society, so Bakić said that the EU today is kind of an enlightened absolutist for Croats, who has helped them improve, and that as a society Croatia is changing for the better. Bruketa pointed out that his moment of transformation was during the campaign of Ivo Josipović, when he found out that you can influence society through completely informal channels. He also pointed out the success of the STEM campaign of Nenad Bakić, which made STEM education a buzz topic of the entire society.
Lecture about how Viber became one of the most important players in the digital (r)evolution was held after the panel by Director of Marketing Activations for Europe, Evgeniy Roshchupkin, who pointed to the trend of evolution of conversation from text to expressive communication.
The official program ended with a lecture by Prof. Klemens Skibicki on the phenomenon of “mental transformation” in which he pointed out that it is necessary to forget everything we’ve learned over the age of mass communication in order to understand which structural changes are caused by digitization, why it is happening and where will it go further. Internet of Things is just beginning, he said, while mobile and social networks have already advanced, and all the while companies have not yet grasped the full extent of these changes. Professionals have to adapt to the digital world in which the usual hierarchy no longer applies.
Algebra, educational partner of the conference, made sure that not everything will rest on lectures, so it provided participants a chance to develop practical digital skills. The common theme of all Algebra’s workshops held at the conference is closely linked to the areas for which the Algebra College educates new professionals, which are also the main focus of the conference – business management through digital transformation and digital marketing.
The conference also included award ceremony Digital Takeover Business Leaders in Croatia. Among the recognized leaders are: Croatian Telecom (Largest Investment in Digital Technology), Meshpoint (Best Corporate Responsibility Project), HEP (Progress in the Use of New Media), Nanobit (Achievements in the Development of Gaming as an Export Product), Zagrebacka Banka (Innovative Approach to Digital Advertising).