Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Photo: Ekrem Dupanović and Dubravka Jusić
Did I overdo it with the title a bit? Yes, I admit I did, but it’s not far from the truth. Superkonzum Ložionička, which opened last night in Sarajevo, can certainly stand shoulder to shoulder with the latest European supermarkets. Come and see what the latest technologies in this type of facilities are. Come and really enjoy shopping.
Anyway, how did it happen to me that I write this kind of headline? I had no time to mull it. It didn’t rest overnight. I wanted this Diary log to come out this morning, not on Monday. So while the party at the magnificent opening was just beginning, I went home to write this article – with the impressions still fresh and with the slight sense of excitement because of the many meetings that I had in the hour or so which Vedrana and I spent in the shopping center. It’s good that I didn’t write something even more serious.
This is a private diary which I write for myself, just so in a few years I could remember some things- I’m keeping it updated every day, but I share it with you only now and then, when I write about something which is very important to me. And this evening I had three extremely interesting encounters.
The first one was with Iva Balent. We have not seen each other since Belgrade – I think a month and a half ago. We occasionally exchange a message for a reason. Yesterday Iva posted on Facebook the dedication I wrote in her book, The Best of the Adriatic Creative Directors, and the pages of the book with campaigns for Sarajevski Kiseljak and Jamnica. Iva did not attend the promotion of the book in Zagreb because she was away on a business trip. “The book is sensational. Honestly I’m impressed! A masterpiece! From cover, over design, to concept … phenomenal I tell you! Congratulations from the heart,” she told me last night in the shopping center. Like a gentleman I am, I replied with my impressions of the Superkonzum and the event they organized.
I also saw Ljerka Puljić, senior executive VP of Agrokor, who, among others, spoke at the opening of the Superkonzum. After we cordially greeted each other, we recalled how twenty years ago Agrokor made the first investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was Ledo cold storage for their frozen products. The refrigerator facility was built within the plywood panel factory Bosanka in Blažuj near Sarajevo. It was a small investment, but for the then Bosnia, in which even the Bosnians and Herzegovinians did not dare to invest, each nickel of foreign capital was welcome. Ljerka was then director of Ledo company, and my agency was organizing the event for the opening ceremony. While Ljerka and I talked about it, standing with us was the mayor of Sarajevo dr. Ivo Komšić, who said that he remembers opening of the Ledo storage facilities and that he attended the event. Incredibly, after twenty years, we were all back together in Agrokor’s opening event. Last night’s opening was for an investment of seven million BAM (€3.5m).
The third meeting was with Dubravka Jusić, the new director of marketing communications at Agrokor Group, and my longtime dear friend. The last time we saw each other was at the Days of Communication in Rovinj two years ago. Then she left the VIPnet and A1 Austria. Over a coffee back then I asked her what was in her plans, and she lazily replied: “First, I’ll get a good rest, I will go to my kids in San Francisco. My cup is full, I need a long rest.” After a year and a half in the United States, she returned to Zagreb to visit another part of the family, she met Iva Balent, she had two coffees with her, and here she is in Agrokor. A super-winning combination for both of them.
In addition to these three encounters with Agrokor’s leading women, I met a lot of people from the industry. First Zvezdana Žujo, whose agency Communis organized this great event. Then Ejub Kučuk and Ilarija Bašić (agency MITA does PR for Konzum in BiH), and people from the Via Media agency, then people from marketing of Federal Television, Radio Stari Grad … Everyone who is anyone in the BiH communications industry were in Superkonzum Ložionička tonight.
I was absent with my diary for two days. I couldn’t find time to do it. After the promotion in Zagreb I just continued on to Belgrade to take a hundred or so of books to a couple of agencies to deliver them as soon as possible (they timely ordered and paid for them, so it was only fair that they receive them timely as well), and then I went to a day-long tour around Sarajevo. I like to see the expression on people’s faces when they take the book in their hands. That’s why I’m personally delivering them, although it is not appropriate for my age. But sometimes I’m like a child. I also look forward to things like a child. And you can read all about it in the Diary log on Monday.
Sarajevo, 22 December 2016.
