Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović, Photo: lunch at restarurant Dida, Selce
The first week in Terme Selce was strenuous, but very successful. I feel significant improvement in the physics and statics of my body, but it’s actually the next week that should actually give the real results. On Thursday evening, Dr. Vlasta Brozičević took me out to dinner. We spent the least time talking about my rehab, and much more about some things through which I got to know Dr. Brozičević better. I knew she was an excellent physician, but until this dinner I had no idea about her great love and inclination towards art. In fact, Vlasta believes that medicine is an art and that, therefore, there are unbreakable bonds between her and classic arts. Therefore, in the area of Terme Selce there are often exhibitions of paintings of famous artists and their guest appearances, as well as concerts, poetry readings … We had dinner on 9 June, amid the World Oceans Day. Dr. Brozičević told me about her intention to organize a big stage-music event next year on this day, for which she already has a written scenario and dialogues. This event should include performances of 12 famous arias of the sea. Dr. Brozičević knows which are the arias, who would perform them, which orchestra would be playin, and who would be conducting the orchestra. I won’t go further into this, as I don’t want to say something ahead of its time. In any case, I didn’t ask Vlasta for permission to write about this in my Diary. Oh yes, she also told me about the concept of Healthy city. I know a lot about the concept of smart cities. It is now a trend in our region as well. But this was the first time I heard about the concept of Healthy cities. That seems logical. We should all be healthy first, in order to be smart. Or does the smarts come before health? It seems to me that health is a priority, and when a city is healthy, it’s easy to be smart.
On Sunday, I treated myself with a trip to Bale to buy olive oil from Grbić. Then I went to lunch at the nearby Menegthi estate where I had lunch with Srđan Šaper and Vlatko Dimovski during the Days of Communication. It was a lunch to remember.
All the time in Selce, I’m thinking about the recently held one-day conference in Belgrade, McCann Talks, which sent one of the most important messages to the regional communications industry. It was said by Sagor Mešković, communications director of Exit – a festival that each year directly pumps €15 million into the Serbian economy. Sagor said that regional connecting of creative industries could be another key to development of the national economies of the region.
The idea of creating a single market of the Western Balkans was, I think, first promoted about two months ago by the then prime minister and now president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. It’s something that a few days ago was discussed at a regional conference in Trieste by the European Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn, when he said that the single market of the Western Balkans would significantly contribute to strengthening the economy of each country in the region, and all the countries together, providing better flow of goods and capital and successfully attracting foreign investment.
Is there anything more logical than this? I think not. As much as some resisted the term Region and Adriatic region (before all Croatia), the fact is that the companies of countries that are formed on the territory of former Yugoslavia sell most of their goods and services between themselves. Is it because they are the best quality, because they are most affordable, or we got accustomed to them from the time of the common state (Vegeta, Cockta, Cedevita, a range of waters, different manufacturers of meat and milk, Gorenje, Končar...), we’ll leave that to someone else to analyze. But the fact is that without mutual exchange of goods and services we would all be poorer. Markets of Western countries are more closed to goods and services of countries in the Adriatic region than our markets are closed to goods from countries of the European Union and the rest of the world. International trade chains have entered the markets, and in their stores they prefer goods from their countries or their own brands that did not originate here. It’s time that we create our own regional market, determine the rules and protect our brands and their manufacturers.
For long now there is the trend of global agency chains that go around the world following their clients. No serious agency will leave its big client in any significant national market to local agencies. Or rather they will, but only if the owner of that local agency is the holding company. Following this logic, the agencies from the countries of the region should also follow their clients and open their agencies – or join forces with local agencies on project basis, and give them a piece of the pie, still firmly holding their hands on the main channel of communication with the client. Herein lies the value of Sagor’s message from McCann Talks – pooling the creative and communications industries.
There were two attempts for the advertising industry to reach agreement on the model of mutual cooperation at the regional level. I have written many times that it all came down to 10% discount on the registration fees for participation in events of national industries. That’s next to nothing.
In my opinion, two things need to be seriously addressed:
1. Strengthening national associations using the experiences of neighbouring countries. Exchange of experience should become standard practice – meetings of national associations, and not once a year, but once every three months at the operational level. The industry is changing daily, and we must adapt to these changes if we want to keep pace with the world, which improves day by day. There are many things that need to be addressed and equalized, but these quarterly meetings should be regular for at least two years in order to feel the benefits in all markets.
2. Some sort of regional coordination should be established. Let’s say that one national association takes on some sort of presiding over the regional industry for a period of one year – something similar to what the European Union is doing every six months. This association, in that year, would proposed the initiatives, organize meetings to discuss the state of the regional industry, propose trends, communicate with international associations, initiate the adoption of the rules of market performance and business, support the development of the media involved in monitoring the communications industry , promote events, etc. There are many things that such regional coordination could do. And it will have to happen. If it comes to the creation of a single regional market, and the chances are that it will, then the advertising industry cannot remain aloof. It would be best to go first. But for that to happen, first the national associations must become stronger, in terms of staffing and professionalism. Then, we should initiate the organization of associations in Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which there are only associations of media industries which act more as trade associations, where trade goes on between the TV measurers, agencies and television channels. That’s not it.
A big problem will be the affiliates of global agency chains that are responsible for particular markets, and don’t care about anything else. Here the advantage is in the court of McCann and Publicis One. McCann because all its agencies are owned by I&F McCann Grupa, so decisions about them are not made in New York or London. And Publicis One because the markets of 30 countries, part of which is the Adriatic region, are managed by Miša Lukić who has already managed to unite in creative and operational sense all the agencies (Publicis, Saatchi&Saatchi, Leo Burnett) and media agencies in the region under a single regional management team, yet they all maintain their local identity.
And last, but not least important (in fact maybe the most important) issue is animosity towards agencies from other countries, which is our inheritance from the recent past. An agency from Tunguska can come to Zagreb, but one from Belgrade will have more difficult time – and vice versa. We got to rid ourselves from this for the benefit of all, first of all our clients, who actually don’t have much problem with that as agencies do. If the agencies exist because of the clients, and they all together exist because of consumers, then this is something they need to do.
Maybe everything will be easier if and when Vučić and Han put into practice the idea of a common market of the Western Balkans. Thus all those who want to step over the borders and start business in neighbouring countries will get their full legitimacy.
Selce, 11 June 2017.