Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović, ekrem@www.media-marketing.com
There are days when we say: “It was a mad house.” That was my day today. Very dynamic, exciting and successful.
Since I knew that at 11:00 hours I had a Skype conference waiting for me about the Golden Drum, I got up early to “feed” the news to the portal in order to be free for the rest of the day.
At 11:00 hours, at Valicon, in Ljubljana, gathered Zenel Batagelj, friend of the Golden Drum and host of the meeting, Mojca Briščik, director of the Slovenian Advertising Chamber (SOZ), Špela Oblak and Ana Ivandič, members of the Board of SOZ, Mitja Petrovič, advisor for strategic development of the Golden Drum and Lučka Peljhan, director of the competition program of the Golden Drum. I also participated in the debate via Skype. The aim of the meeting was to reposition Golden Drum and determine its development strategy in the next three to four years. To be honest, it’s been a long time since I participated in a more constructive and positive meeting than this one. It was a meeting of people who are, above all, friends of the Golden Drum, all of us are tied to this festival by some memories.
Zenel prepared a good introduction in which he put forward several proposals related to the slogan of the festival. The proposals related to the issues whether this is a festival of advertising or of creativity. We compared the Golden Drum with some other festivals of its rank and concluded that part of their competitive advantage comes down to the cities in which they take place, the cities in which people like to come. Then we said, OK, we’ll move the Golden Drum to Ljubljana, and when we briefly went through all the advantages of Ljubljana, as one of the most beautiful small metropolis in Europe, we concluded – that’s it. A festival at Ljubljana Castle, which dominates the whole city skyline of Ljubljana. Then ideas started pouring. I can’t talk about all these proposals right now, because some things are not yet fully concluded, and it wouldn’t be fair of me to disclose them publically, but all of them go towards making the Golden Drum a unique festival – an event to which people from all over Europe will want to come. We talked about the program innovations as well. For me, the most interesting part was that we started talking about the ‘return’ of the Golden Drum to the region, about its programmatic convergence with the advertising industry of the region. The move to Ljubljana represents this in geographical terms. Lučka proposed to reorganize the competition program, which would include the Golden Drum Adriatic awards under a special evening event. And, finally, there was talk of a large party, which is yet to be officially named. Whether it’s named the Adriatic party or the Balkan party, the idea is that the whole regional industry gathers around it and participate in its organization. It will be a party to remember.
Three hours flew by as if they were 15 minutes. Really nice talk. I was in a bit of an unfair position, because Zenel provided a nice brunch, and I had to fend for myself. Since Mojca was sitting ‘next to me’ (to the camera), when chocolates came to the table, I told her: “Mojca, pass me one.” She mechanically reached towards the bowl, then turned and smiled. I had a Kit-Kat on my side, so we ‘toasted’.
The Golden Drum will be held from 18th to 21st October 2016.
Soon there will be more good news about the Golden Drum, which has now entered a new stage of its development.
Just as the meeting was ended, a call from Viktor Nikolić, president of the Serbian Association for Marketing Communications (UEPS). I already wrote about his initiative for UEPS to organize a meeting in Belgrade, where national associations of Slovenia (SOZ), Croatia (HURA) and Serbia (UEPS) would gather. It’s a bit difficult to adjust the schedules with all the people because the presidents are mainly agency people and have a lot on their plates. Anyway, Viktor and Stana Šehalić, Secretary-General of UEPS, and by default Victor’s right-hand, suggested 10 and 11 of June, the only two days when Davor Bruketa, President of HURA, can come. Since from 8 to 12 June I am at Pohorje because of Blogomanija, they ask me what will we do. I take five minutes and call Davor. When he started listing me all his obligations, and why these are the only two days he could do it, I realized that it will be easier for me to wait out the storm called Vedrana when she hears about this (to her Blogomanija is very important as it concerns her profession, beauty and cosmetics) than it will be for Davor to cancel his presentations. Thus Blogomanija has been reduced to two out of four days. I call Mojca Briščik, who should attend the meeting as the director of the SOZ. Tomaž Drozg, president of the SOZ, will not be able to travel to Belgrade for objective reasons, so the Board of SOZ will on Wednesday decide who will accompany Mojca to Belgrade to represent the Slovenian advertising industry. I report to Viktor and Stana to put a closure on things. It’s confirmed, the meeting is on 10 and 11 of June.
Sarajevo, 19 May 2016.
