Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović, ekrem@www.media-marketing.com
For twenty days now I’ve been writing a diary, which is not a lot of time. I feel bad when I skip a day here and there (Monday was my second time). But there are days when you just can’t squeeze 3 into 2. Time flees and energy plummets. This was the case this weekend, when Summit 100 and the Brdo-Brijuni Summit were held in Sarajevo.
I met with several people from the region who came to Sarajevo. I was particularly pleased to see Dr. Danica Purg, president of the Bled Business School. We are ‘old’ friends, since the very beginnings of her school at Brdo near Kranj. I will never forget 1996, the first post-war year in which we chose the Manager of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Back then I published the Business Magazine, so it was logical that we would take that responsibility and shake up the managers. I strongly wanted Dr. Purg to be our guest, and that she presents the award to the most successful manager (that year it was Hasan Sarajlić). I sent her a message by fax (at that time it was still not easy to communicate from Sarajevo) and soon received a reply in which Danica informed me she was very pleased with my invitation, but unfortunately she couldn’t come because in that period she had to be in Los Angeles, where she was being officially promoted to a member of the Academy of Management as the first woman among the 200 members. I was both sad and happy at the same time. I was sad she wouldn’t be coming to Sarajevo, and pleased that she had achieved such success and became a member of the most prestigious management association in the world. Half an hour later, a second fax from Danica arrived: “Dear Ekrem, I’ve thought about it. I can go to Los Angeles whenever I want, but the first post-war selection of the Manager of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina happens only once, and never again. Between LA and Sarajevo, I decided for Sarajevo.” I can’t remember how Danica came to Sarajevo, but I know that her return by taxi, which we rented from Sarajevo to Zagreb, was like a horror movie. At one point, Danica called me on the phone from some pub near Boračko and said with panic in her voice: “Ekrem, I don’t know where I am, nor how to continue from here. They won’t let the taxi driver to drive. I can’t go on foot? There are some armed men here, everything is covered in mud, rain is falling, tell me what to do?” She was on the verge of tears. We resolved everything in five minutes, but it was a hairy situation.
Danica Purg is a great friend of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina and we should appreciate that.
Ladeja Godina Košir, director of the company Giacomelli Media Ljubljana also checked in. At the Summit 100 she moderated a panel on circular economy. I arranged with Ladeja to meet today (Monday) in the morning and go to the Hub 387 because she wanted to see the Nest 71 and Academy 387, after which we were to go to Vedrana’s salon and hang out until her departure to the airport. On Sunday evening she sent me a mail from the hotel room and asked if I was interested that she writes an article about the Summit 100 and her impressions. I was glad because Ladeja’s writing is very creative. I had just started writing the Diary. It felt really nice. I was at home writing my Diary, Ladeja in her hotel room in Sarajevo was writing a column from the Summit, Bane Brkljač was on the plane, on a flight from Montreal to Ljubljana, also writing his final text about the C2 Conference, Adnan was translating texts, Amir was designing the newsletter for ‘braking news’ that we expect this week and want to release them at the moment when we get them … And it was Sunday night. That’s how you, dear readers, get a portal with fresh news and great columns each morning. Priceless!
Ladeja sent the text later in the evening in Slovenian. I had to translate it into Bosnian, so Adnan could translate it into English, and there was neither place nor strength for the Diary.
Comments on my Diary about the PR and PR folk continued to arrive through Friday. Of course, not all agree with all of what I wrote, but they are not aware that the situation in PR is even worse than I described it. Much worse. Here’s what happened on Friday. This is probably the last time I won’t mention any names, but I can’t guarantee it next time.
PR agency that on Wednesday, 25 May, in Berlin, received the award as the best PR agency in Southeast Europe, sent us the news through their Zagreb affiliate on Friday. I reacted and said that we can publish the news only on Monday, and by then it would be old news for a live portal. They started justifying themselves by the fact that on Thursday there was a holiday in Croatia. What??? What kind of an agency gets the title of PR agency of the year and is unable to prepare news about themselves and send it to the media under embargo until a certain hour, so the news could appear in the whole of Europe on Thursday morning? How will they make an effort for a client if they are incapable of doing it for themselves? After a short correspondence, another important reason joined the holiday – they had to go through the procedure of obtaining approval. The best agency, through auto-censorship, hinders the publication of such a simple news. They received the award, whoever awarded it to them had to explain their decision. It was enough just to publish that explanation. Oh, that lovely fear. This is what people think when they say someone is afraid of their own shadow. Actually, I know what happened. Since the agencies that deal with communication don’t communicate, when they are presented with such an opportunity they have to plaster that news about the award with all that they missed regarding social responsibility, environmental awareness and yadda, yadda, yadda…
The Ljubljana branch of the same agency published the news on a Slovenian portal about the PR campaign that they worked for the Croatian Tourist Board. According to the news they published, it turns out they did the entire campaign (both creative and the PR). You can’t read that they were only ‘subcontractors’ for Slovenia and only in the field of PR. I know that the campaign was done by the BBDO in Zagreb, so I called Slaven Fischer to ask for a comment. “I will not comment, it’s beneath me. I am angry, but I will not.”
One agency sent me the news that they won an award for their client at a festival in Romania which was held from 3 to 6 May. The news came on Friday, 27 May. They say that it took so long because they had to get the client to agree with the text of the announcement.
You want more?
There was more of the same on Friday, but I have no more strength. When someone mentions me the PR departments of clients and PR agencies, even this little hair I have on my head stands on its end.
I’m off to eat my first slice of watermelon this year.
Sarajevo, Monday, 30 May 2016.
