By: Ekrem Dupanović, [email protected]
Photo: Nataša Trslić Stambak
I received a reaction to the Diary published this morning, from Nataša Trslić Stambak, CEO of Grayling for South East Europe. The reaction relates to the part that refers to the agency Grayling, as a ‘subcontractor’ to BBDO’s campaign for the Croatian Tourist Board. I will cite Nataša’s message in its entirety:
Dear Ekrem,
I am glad that you are writing a diary, but despite the fact that a diary is a subjective form, if you publish it, it would be prudent to check the accuracy of the information relating to persons and companies you mention in your texts.
In terms of Grayling, you cited several incorrect information. For example, Grayling in Slovenia doesn’t actually work for HTZ. As for the Out of Office campaign, if anyone is a subcontractor then in this particular campaign it’s BBDO. Yes, they have created the idea and sold it to the HTZ. Everything else: conception, technical setting, design of activities on social media, collaboration with bloggers and PR support – all this and in 11 markets in Europe and the United States – was done by Grayling. I would just remind you of the famous saying that idea makes 1%, and implementation 99% of success.
Unfortunately, you haven’t even bothered to check all that, as it would have undermined the concept of your text. I can agree that the situation in PR in the region is poor – as many are boasting with a PR expert title, although they don’t deserve that. However, such malicious texts without verified information certainly don’t help to improve the situation in the field.
In the future – I urge you – feel free to contact me even on holidays, and on Sunday, and in the evening … the accuracy of information related to the agency and our clients always comes first for me.
Best regards,
Nataša
In our correspondence this morning I apologized to Nataša (and I do it publicly here as well) and promised to publish her comment as a correction. She said it is not necessary, but I still want to publish it, for me as well, for my moral integrity and my hygiene. In everything that Nataša wrote she is right, except in the part where it says that I didn’t check the information I received as it would undermine the concept of my text. It would mean that I premeditated to unleash some more fire on PR, where possibly accurate information would spoil my intentions. Not true. I never wrote that way about anything, so why should I do it with PR. After all, PR doesn’t need enemies. It is its own worst enemy such as it is.
So once again, I apologize to Nataša Trslić Stambak. Along with apologies I also have one question. Nataša, why haven’t you commented on my writing yesterday about Grayling as an Agency of the Year in South East Europe that has not provided us the news about the award on the night that it was presented, and not even the next day because it was a holiday in Croatia, but only the third day? You reacted to BBDO, and not to mistake of your own agency that is unforgivable in communication.
Today we had our first breaking news and interview, for which we sent two extraordinary newsletters. The news and the interview were about the strategic partnership between the Imago advertising agency and Ogilvy&Mather network. This caught a lot of attention so we had almost record number of visits to the portal. In the future, whenever we have similarly important news, we will make sure to get it to you ASAP.
Sarajevo, 31 May 2016
