Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
At the Belgrade Cultural Centre, on Friday night was held the global launch of the book Small tips for better future by Milena Garfield. I say global because it’s certain that the book will have to have its US promotion, given that a large part of it is dedicated to America. In addition to America, it would be good if the book saw promotion in some other parts of the world as well.
Along with Veran Matić, President of the Board of Directors of B92 and chief editor of Samizdat, publishing house of B92, Lazar Džamić and Milena Garfield, I was also invited to speak at the ceremony. Part of the stories published in the book saw the light of day on portals Media Marketing and Art & Business. In addition, in the text, in which she writes about the book, Milena mentioned me as one of the people who had a profound impact on her to start writing. If so, I’m glad. If that’s why I was invited to speak at the promotion, I’m honored.
A few hours before the promotion we all received mail from Bob Garfield, Milena’s husband. Let me remind the younger readers that Bob Garfield is the most famous columnist of Advertising Age. For twenty-five years, every week he wrote a column, and thus shaped the advertising industry in the world. Today he’s one of the most influential journalists in the US and one of the biggest critics of Donald Trump. Both Milena and Bob in the election campaign voiced their opinion and urged Americans not to vote for Trump. In all that fuss, Milena was the wiser. Shortly before the election, she published a book about America that would soon elect Trump as its president.
Here’s Bob’s message that he sent to us just before the Belgrade promotion:
“Dear Guests of my Wife,
I write to you from America, or as it will soon be known, Guantanamo West. Back in the olden days — by which I mean, November — we had such amusing and peculiar national traits, which my sharp-eyed wife observed and caricatured so deftly. This is her special gift. She has a genius for locating the odd, telling detail. (This is ironic, because she often can’t locate the correct side of a highway, or a missing sock). But please read this book now, for soon it will not matter. We are preparing to invade Mexico and, I believe, Australia. We will not be amusing at all. So enjoy our comic idiosyncracies while you still can. Hurry.
Bob Garfield”
An hour before the promotion we all gathered for coffee in the office of Gordana Gončić, director of the Belgrade Cultural Center. At one point, Milena began to bid the number of people who will come to the promotion, wondering actually if anyone will come. She was very excited and you could see the stage fright on her, so this was probably her way to comfort herself. “My mom will come, I have seven aunts and that’s it. There’s no reason to worry,” she tried to shake the stage fright. I added that Ivan Stanković and Vlado Čeh would be there, so we already have one row full. While Milena tried to get to grips with all of it, Lazar told me that he wanted to ask me something. I never dreamed that this question would be one of the greatest compliments that portal Media Marketing ever received. He told me he wants to launch a page on which to place his articles, books and, probably, his blog, and that after due consideration and analysis he wished that his site be equally simple, clear and easy to search on mobile devices as Media Marketing portal. Simply put, he wants us to do his page and to maintain it. Although we don’t deal with this kind of work for others, I accepted to do it right away, because if Lazar, a Digital genius, wants to have a site like ours, then it’s a great compliment and a credential not to be missed. Kudos Amir Sipović!
Our conversation was interrupted by Gordana who entered the office and said: “There are no more free chairs in the hall, and there’s at least as many people standing in front of it.” We went to the hall and were surprised by the large number of people who came to the promotion of Milena’s book. From the industry, I immediately noticed Zdenka Milanović, who came from Skopje, Miša Lukić, Ivan Stanković, Vlado Čeh, Mirjana Pejović, Stana and Mugdim Šehalić… The atmosphere was fantastic.
First, on behalf of publisher, spoke Veran Matić, then Milena, whose humor lifted the atmosphere and dispelled the stage fright. Then came my turn, and as icing on the cake followed Lazar’s story. Everyone commented on the book from their corner. What was common to all is the fact that Milena’s book is largely devoted to America, and to such America that has elected Donald Trump for its president. Somewhere around the middle of the book are texts on Art Management, the area in which Milena feels on home turf. It’s difficult now to retell all that was said, but it was obvious that Milena was happy because she concluded with the words: “Now I’ll have to read the book again, there’s obviously something in it.” At the end of the presentation, the pleased audience awarded the author with a long applause and flowers.
At the cocktail after the presentation I discussed the Woman.Comm conference in Zagreb with Mišo Lukić. He was scrolling through his packed calendar on his phone. He’s free on 25 May. The next day he has a presentation scheduled, but he said he would try to postpone it to be at the conference for both days. I’m very pleased, because Miša is one of the best speakers in the region. He also promised a special theme for the conference. We arrange a meeting soon in Belgrade where we would define our agreement on strategic cooperation. Finally, he promised that he would soon send us answers to the interview questions that I’ve sent long ago.
Lazar tells me about the topic he chose for Woman.Comm Conference: Digital is from Venus – why the digital space is inherently female. The list of speakers is slowly filling up. We will have a great conference.
There were a lot of people, a lot of contacts, and a great atmosphere that night in Belgrade. When the party started breaking up, Veran invited us to a dinner at the Writers Club. The crew included Lazar and Dana, Gordana with her husband, Jordan, Veran, Milena, Vedrana and I. A perfect dinner! I made the final arrangements with Veran that Samizdat B92 will be publisher of my book Hotel Yugoslavia, which should finally come out in late March. It is really time that I unload this commitment from my back so I could devote my time to other projects.
At the dinner, Milena treated us with a real show. She told us the story of how she managed to NOT learn to drive a car for 15 years, despite all of Bob’s efforts and hard work of several instructors who had given their best, but to no avail. Once she phoned Bob while she was driving. He screamed: “Milena, you can’t make calls while driving. If you have to make a call, pull over and then do it.” Shortly afterwards, Milena mistakenly made an exit to the number 6 highway. She panicked, not knowing how to get off the highway. She pulled over and called Bob to help her. When he realized that she was parked in the middle of the highway, making a phone call, he began to howl. “You mustn’t stand, drive.” Milena said: “Why are you screaming, did you not tell me to stop when I’m on the phone. If you continue screaming you’ll wake up the kid.” When Bob realized that she was standing on the highway while the child was sleeping in the back, he lost it. As soon as the stage fright and the pressure of the promotion subsided, Milena relaxed and put on a real show, which was not a problem for her due to her theater and acting experience.
Midnight had long passed when we left the Writers Club. I was beginning to feel fatigued. I got up early, did some articles before departure for Belgrade. Upon arrival I signed agreements on the book The Best of Adriatic Creative Directors for students with UniCredit Bank and I&F McCann – then the promotion, and the dinner. It was enough for one day. We arrived at the hotel tired but happy and full of impressions.
In the morning, we planned to go to the Kalenić market to buy pickles and fresh vegetables. We like to shop at Kalenić market and in the Zagreb market, so whenever we are in Belgrade or in Zagreb we treat ourselves with this little pleasure. As Ivan Stanković and Zdenka Milanović live nearby, I arranged a coffee with them. Ivan gave me some smoked cheese. He remembered how I brought him and Frano Lasić some Livno cheese when they were on Jahorina. I also agree a topic with Ivan for the Woman.Comm Conference – Male-female relationships in advertising. I know it will be fun. Ivan is an extremely witty man and he masterfully infuses his humor in all his public appearances. Zdenka also came. She and Vedrana drank tea and enjoyed cakes at the other table while Ivan and I were talking about male-female relationships. Typical guy-talk. After I joined Zdenka and Vedrana. Zdenka is fully under the impression of last week’s conference which Coca-Cola organized for its people in Rome. She showed me some videos on the phone. Everything seemed perfect. As I watched, I decided that we will also hire a director for the Woman.Comm Conference in Zagreb. The best one. And I already know who. Since I agreed with Brigada from the Bruketa & Žinić Group, that they would do the branding of the conference for us and the production, I need to inform them that we will need more video screens to the left and right sides of the central screen, so we can broadcast announcements of speakers.
After meeting with Zdenka and Ivan, Vedrana and I depart for Sarajevo. On the way home we were retelling Milena’s adventures behind the wheel and didn’t even notice how quickly we got home. It was beautiful in Belgrade. Thank you Milena, Veran, Gordana, Lazar, Mišo, Ivan and Zdenka for everything. Also, thank you Nataša Kuzmanovski (UniCredit) and Marija Vićić (I&F McCann) for the books for students. Earlier in Belgrade I signed contracts for the same project with Milica Marković (Direct Media), Žarko Sakan (New Moment) and Ivan Stanković (Communis). I hope that soon we will round up the sponsorship for all 1,500 books that we intend to give to students across the Adriatic Region.
(Order book “Small tips for better future” by Milena Garfield here)