Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
On the night between Monday and Tuesday I brought one of the most difficult decisions so far – to cancel the Woman.Comm Conference that was supposed to take place in Zagreb on 25 and 26 May.
Already last week, after several e-mails that arrived from Zagreb, I could have suggested that we would not be able to provide a sufficient number of participants – enough to hold a conference at the level that we planned and that we promised to the speakers, sponsors and paying participants. However, I believed that we could achieve the optimal goal because I know that registrations for such events are sent almost always at the last minute. In this faith I ignored the messages that I received. The crisis in the Croatian advertising industry is taking on dramatic proportions. The cause of the crisis is Agrokor, which has completely stopped communication activities. Okay, Agrokor, like most other advertisers, didn’t pay their bills to agencies and the media on time, but they did pay them. Some agencies had complete dedicated teams that worked on Agrokor accounts. Now these teams lost their jobs. It even came to layoffs. It’s not only the Agrokor that left the Croatian advertising scene. Several companies shaken by the crisis in Agrokor (Franck, Podravka, Kraš …), have also suspended or drastically reduced their advertising investments. In such a situation, no one could even think of sending their employees to Woman.Comm Conference. And not only that. The atmosphere at the conference would not be what we were aiming for. There would be more talk about problems than about creating a positive atmosphere, celebration of women in advertising and communications industry.
Another misconception of mine was the concept of a regional conference. I of all people should have information on how many agencies, advertisers and media come from other countries to the SOF in Portorož, to Days of Communication in Rovinj and other regional events – few or none. But they should. Aside the Weekend Media Festival which offers its participants more than information and education. It’s a good idea, a good choice of location and a lot of work, but that is something that cannot and will not happen again elsewhere. And again – it should. At least at the Golden Drum, which last year sent a strong message to the region that they want to support the industry in this region.
In these delusions of mine I was hoping that at the last minute we would provide the optimum number of participants for the first Woman.Comm Conference.
I went to Slovenia over the weekend. On Sunday I was in Piran at lunch with Zenel Batagelj who together with Kristijan Gregorić conscientiously worked on preparing their presentations Women, it’s easy to fall in love with you, but it’s hard to understand you. We talked about the situation around the conference. Zenel, who has a lot of information about the situation in the Croatian and regional industry caused by the crisis in Agrokor, suggested that we should postpone the conference. He said that the idea is great, it needs to be developed and implemented, but we should wait for a better time. Even he couldn’t convince me, so I said I would wait for Monday and make my decision then.
On Monday I was in Kalvan for coffee with Janja Božić Marolt (Mediana), Mojca Randl (Formitas) and Mitja Tuškej (Direct Media), my dear friends. With every thought to postpone the conference, first on my mind was Janja, who really invested time and energy in the preparation of the panel Women can do anything. And more! which we planned to open the conference. How could I tell her that it’s possible that there would be no conference? When I explained the situation, Janja was first to propose to postpone the Woman.Comm Conference for some better times. She praised the selection of women for the panel and said that each of them are true leaders, full of power and desire to change the world around them. She really looked forward to do a panel with such women. Mojca and Mitja were also in favor of delaying the conference. Slowly I began to realize that we have no other solution.
From Kalvan I went to a meeting with Viktorija Radojević, a fantastic young Belgrader who a year ago came to Ljubljana to lead Mercator’s marketing and development. Chatting with such a cheerful and positive person was exactly what I needed while everything within me was sinking because of the conference. Viktorija absolutely knows her job and she wants to do it full force. She spoke to me about some ideas that fascinated me. Women like this – like Viktorija – in the best way show that our industry has a prosperous future. With the thoughts about the conference swirling in my head I was not in my element. I hope that Viktorija – if she reads this text – will understand why I was a bit inarticulate and dumb.
From Mercator, Vedrana and I went to Zagreb. On the way there I made the decision to give up on the conference, whatever the cost (and it will cost dearly, because we have already invested a lot, and even the Westin doesn’t forgive last minute cancelling). Upon arrival in Zagreb I spoke with Marina Bolanča, director of Abeceda Komunikacije, our local partner in organization of the conference. She agreed with my decision. After that I sent mail to Adnan and Amir who were finalizing printing of some materials and were getting ready to set off for Zagreb. All night I hardly slept a wink. I got up at dawn, took the iPad in hand and wrote an email to all the speakers, panelists, sponsors and friends in which I told them that the conference was cancelled. Around nine o’clock began to come in messages of support, complete understanding and wishes that we don’t give up on the conference, but only postpone it for some better times. All speakers said they would keep their presentations and come to the conference when they are called again. In the morning, I exchanged e-mails with them and canceled all other things related to the conference.
In the afternoon, we went to Sarajevo. I was thinking about what to do next. What I think would be good are conferences per markets – in Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana – and a large regional conference one day, when the time comes.
And maybe before!