Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
My personal overhaul in Selce is over. It passed without any replacements of parts, although some are already close to such a need. Anyway, I feel like new. This isn’t PR, honestly, but I think that anyone who is over 50 years old should at least once a year visit Terme Selce and Dr. Vlasta Brozičević for some “ironing”. I went there late – don’t repeat my mistake. The sooner the better.
While I was on rehabilitation, I received a mail from the young designer Josip Marković from Sinj. He asked how he could buy the book The Best of Adriatic Creative Directors? I thought about it briefly and replied I would give him the book free, and would bring it personally to Sinj. I quickly decided not to return to Sarajevo via Zagreb but to take the highway through Split and to stop by at Sinj, and so it was.
As soon as I accessed the Zagreb-Split motorway in Otočac, I remembered the 1990 and our work on the Adriatic Motorway marketing project. A year earlier, a decision was made to build a modern highway from Italy to Skopje that would replace the Adriatic Highway. The Jadranska autocesta company was established, headed by Ante Skataretiko from Split. When the Mediterranean Games were organized in Split in 1979, Skataretiko was one of the key people in the organization. As he was very close to Artur Takač, going back to the time of the Mediterranean Games, he contacted his son Goran who was running the marketing agency IMS/Studio 6 in Lausanne (Switzerland). He wanted Goran to do the visual identity of the project and the strategy of international marketing, because the idea was to secure funding for construction from foreign investors through concessions.
At the time, Goran and I already had a joint agency IMS / Studio 6 Yugoslavia, so we got the entire project to implement. At the first meeting in Zagreb, Goran proposed that the name Adriatic Highway be changed to TransAdria, arguing that the foreigners will pronounce the former as Jadranska autoKesta. We had a ready slogan: “The money lies on the road, you just need to raise the road” (a slightly modified adage that money lies on the ground and you just need to pick it up). We started making a complete project for international promotion. We had a strong creative team. Our creative director was Vladimir Čeh in Belgrade, and art directors were Nino Kovačević and Rajka Milović from Ljubljana.
Nino and Rajka immediately started with the design of visual identity, and in two months we had a fully developed top-notch solution. Goran and I worked on the project of international marketing. As we were then also the official marketing agency of the Yugoslav government (Prime Minister Ante Marković strongly advocated in favour of the construction of the Adriatic Motorway), it was easier for us, because we had already set up a network of our ambassadors in the world for the Time of Change project. They were mostly people from the top of the Olympic sports, athletics and football with whom Goran had excellent relations.
Unfortunately, like many other great projects we were working on at that time, this one was also abruptly ended by the war. Yugoslavia broke up, and with it our agency. Only the Belgrade office remained with its local clients.
As I was driving towards Sinj I was constantly rewinding the film in my head, some thirty years back. It was a fantastic time for this job – much better than it is today.
I got off the highway in Dugopolje, and was in Sinj in about 15 minutes. I went for a coffee with Josip, through the street where Sinjska Alka is held. We drank coffee in a cafe in front of the Alka Museum. Everything looks almost perfect. Josip is a very interesting guy. His Dalmatian accent was very pleasant. I was interested in what a graphic designer is doing in Sinj? Is there work there? Josip says there is, but it’s mainly to design logos for local crafts (dental practice, pizzerias, cafes …). His ambitions are far greater. “I want to go to Zagreb, so I’m preparing a book – my portfolio – and I will send it to Bruketa, Imago and other agencies to see how I fare.” Without intending to deter him from going to Zagreb, I advise him to stay in the beauty and peace of Sinj, from where he can collaborate on some design projects, and I told him that it’s a big difference in working alone in Sinj and being part of a creative team in one of the big agencies … But Josip is very ambitious, and I believe he will soon finish his portfolio and send it to Zagreb. I looked at the first digital prints of the first pages of the book. Looks good. I promise to help him with the contacts. After 45 minutes I left Sinj and headed for Sarajevo. I’ve been thinking about Josip and what he told me for a long time – a great and very talented guy. I’m sure he will find the best solutions for his future.
After a day of rest in Sarajevo, the fuss began immediately. Branka Conić from New Moment informed me that New Moment and Y&R Dubai won three Cannes Lions for the One Book for Peace, a project they did for the Inter-Religious Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She couldn’t send me the text until after the award ceremony. Still, I persuade her to send me the text that we would publish as breaking news around 23:00 hours. She agreed. Ecstatic with the fact that the lions were awarded to work for a client from Bosnia and Herzegovina, we first publish the breaking news consisting of only two sentences: “A Pack of Cannes Lions is on its way to Bosnia. More in two hours.” The portal started to fall apart from clicks. My phone wouldn’t stop ringing because many were surprised. “What, three lions for Bosnia?” Mail after mail was coming with questions who’s the client and who’s the agency. I turn off the phone. I wasn’t checking my emails as I prepared the breaking news. I sent it to Adnan to translate it to English. I called Amir who was right at the door, going out. He takes his laptop with him so he could upload the news at the café and so he could send the extra newsletter. Žarko Sakan called from Cannes, from the award ceremony. He’s happy and says our first breaking news was a great teaser. He also said that it was only the first day, and that more lions could come for the One Book for Peace in the coming days. Dragan Rujević called from Banja Luka, who announced this to me already at the Branding Conference. He, together with his assistant Maja Bajić, was part of the regional team that worked on the project and of course he is happy. It’s late in the evening, but I send an e-mail to Melina Kamerić, the PR director of AlJazeera, thinking that I’m sending her great news about the award, not knowing that she had been involved in connecting all participants of this project since the beginning. Melina is a dragon of a woman. Awesome. And just as we were about to publish the breaking news, Branka calls from Belgrade, telling us not to release it because she has some changes. Too late. Amir had already released the extra newsletter. As soon as I received the new text I sent it to him for replacement. Adnan is doing the translation. About midnight, everything was in place. The portal re-enters the breakdown phase – hundreds of visits simultaneously. It seems to me that we could have a record visit – very exciting night. The Cannes Lions finally arrived in BiH, and three of them at once, for now.
Cannes was buzzing in my head. It was after midnight but I was still up, sending a mail to Miša Lukić asking him to write a Letter from Cannes. I also sent the same mail to Teodora Migdalovici. In the morning, as soon as I got up, I checked my mail. Miša sent a mail in the earliest morning hours, saying that he had just posted on his Facebook profile that he would prepare a text for Media Marketing after Cannes. Teodora also said she would send an article. That’s true friends for you. I was also thinking of our young lions from the region, and how they will fare at the Young Lions competition. As soon as the Festival is over, I will send them interview questions, so in the week beginning on 3 July, we will have the Theme of the Week with Young Lions from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to find out what their impressions were. My God, so much work! And the day lasts only 24 hours.
Good luck to New Moment and everyone from the region who entered their works for Cannes. And, of course, good luck to our awesome young lions.
You will read this text tomorrow morning (Thursday), and tonight we may surprise you with another breaking news. Who knows?
Ramadan is the ideal time for the One Book for Peace.
UPDATE: Just as I was about to close this document, a mail from Dragan Rujević. There will definitely be breaking news tonight. Bravo !!!
Sarajevo, 21 June, 2017.