Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović, ekrem@www.media-marketing.com
Friday was a very exciting day.
The first thing that greeted me in the early morning when I opend my eyes was the news that the Brits had voted to leave the European Union. I was born 9 May 1950. It was the date on which fascism was toppled and the European Union born – the two of us are peers. However, I must admit I am not her fan, and I’ve always said that I hope that it will fall apart before Bosnia and Herzegovina becomes a member. I simply see it as a bloated and inefficient bureaucratic apparatus, which is expensive and which housed a bunch of incompetents as evidenced by the fact that the EU is not able to efficiently solve a single problem. The EU is a hostage of its bureaucracy, tens of thousands of people who have settled in it feel cozy and nice. It suits them that nothing happens and nothing gets done, and that all procedures last indefinitely because that’s the only way they can’t make a mistake and lose the sweetest and easiest bread. Europe is proving its incompetence by only slapping fees, sanctions and blackmails. The United Kingdom will surely feel this now on its own skin. The EU will try to beat it with the poor stick and punish it fiercely.
And yet, I was not happy with the fact that the Brits decided to leave the EU. UK was pouring more cash to the EU budget than it got in return from its funds, but there were other ways – through trade, City and other sources – through which it took back far more. Now Britain would like this to last at least for another two years, which is how long the ‘divorce’ would last, but the EU wants this divorce as soon as possible. Messages that Britain is receiving from within and from outside are saying that a very difficult and painful period is ahead, and perhaps even a “do-over” referendum.
We were interested how Brexit would reflect on the advertising industry, so we dug up and prepared four texts for you today.
- Maurice Lévy on Brexit: ‘I will support our people and stand by them’
- Brexit reaction: Ad industry rocked by UK vote to leave EU
- Brexit: U.K. Vote to Leave European Union Shocks Ad Industry
- Brexit vote shows catastrophic failure of communications
When I recovered from the shock called Brexit, I started thinking about Cannes and the opportunity of Imago to find itself among the lion tamers there. I received a nice email from St Gallen, from my daughter Asja, in which she wrote that she’s wholeheartedly cheering for Imago. Asja used to go to Cannes with Dragan Sakan while she led New Moment in Sarajevo, and she believed that a couple of storks can charm a lion. I forwarded the email to Damir Ciglar in Cannes. He thanked me for the message and said he is certain that they didn’t get the golden lion, because they had not received an invitation to come to the awards ceremony. “Damir, the bronze would be big as a house”, I wrote back. After that I went to the Source of Bosnia for a little stroll in the fresh air by the water, to calm the passions a bit. A mail came from Damir. Our accredited correspondent informed him that Imago had won a bronze lion, but the news was embargoed for publication until 19:00 hours. I wanted to burst from both joy and anguish. Who could be silent until the evening? There would be no serenity at the Source of Bosnia, so I went back home to prepare the breaking news. I had to report to Dunja.
This was great news for the Croatian advertising industry and Dunja had to know. And after all, Damir was her boss for the past four years. I found her on vacation. She was delighted. I also had to send an email to Andrea Šumanovac in Unex. Jana is their client. After a couple of minutes Andrea called me. “Ekrem, are you sure of that lion? I called the client, and they know nothing about it.” “I’m one hundred percent sure,” I said. Suddenly the feeling of jinx came over me. What if someone misread the list of winners? What if the news is not true? What if it was just a list of finalists and not winners? I wrote to Damir again to send me a comment for the breaking news that we wanted to publish at 19:00 hours. He replied he can’t do it because of the fuss created due to the Lion, and that he would send me something as soon as he’s able to. “It’s OK, it’s true,” I calmed down. I called Imago to see if there is anyone lucid there at this point. The girl who answered the phone at the front desk was surprised by my query. She obviously didn’t know about it yet. I asked her to connect me with Igor Mladinović, because I knew that Darko Bosnar is at sea. I talked with Igor, arranged that they prepare a statement and send it to me with the visuals. Everything came in after an hour. In the meantime, I came up with the title: “Otvarajte kavez u Maksimiru, stiže lav iz Cannesa” (Open the cage at Maksimir, a lion is coming from Cannes.)
I sent the completed text to Adnan to translate it into English, and to Amir to prepare it so we could publish the breaking news at seven. We published a post on Facebook to inform our friends to be at their computers and mobile devices at 19:00 hours, because we have hot news for them. With that my job was done. I went with Vedrana and Filip to Baščaršija to celebrate the first Cannes Lion for Croatia over ćevapćići (Damir’s Lion would have loved them :) ). I was elated. As I came to the Čaršija I realized that I was one of the few in the advertising industry today on the mainland. Damir, Davor, Nikola, Marjan, Ackerman and twenty or so of them are still in Cannes, on the French Riviera. Dunja and Darko are in the Adriatic. I called Selma Riđanović Kenović to confirm she accepts to be a member in the BalCannes jury, she says she is at the sea side. I sent a message to Vlatko Dimovski, he replies: “I’m in Greece, enjoying the beach.” Marija Vičić also got lost somewhere for a week, probably sailing some seas as well. I sent a mail to Mojca Majhen (Paideia Ljubljana) regarding the Golden Drum. Auto reply says she’s on vacation. It seems that only a few of us are doing something. Everyone else are having a breather :)
As soon as I received the newsletter on my phone, I sent an SMS to Amir to ask about the visits. He told me he would let me know as soon as “analytic comes to its senses. The portal has exploded. I’m just looking at it and we’re being read around the world.” The news of the first Cannes Lion for Croatia from Friday to Sunday evening was read by over six thousand professionals from advertising industry across the region and the world.