Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Although the annual holiday season is in full swing, the volume of my work does not diminish. On the contrary, I’m in fifth gear. Last week was very dynamic. In addition to writing texts for our portals, I’m trying to finish two books by the end of August: Creative Portfolio 01 and Hotel Yugoslavia – On advertising when it was a gentleman’s business.
After the great success of The Best of Adriatic Creative Directors, published in late December last year, I began to explore what other books could be of use to the development of the communications industry in the Adriatic region. Our industry is based on creativity, and it is a pity that the best creative works end up only in the folders of agency archives and the archives of the festivals where they won the prizes. Although digital is conquering more and more space, a book is still a book, and it will still be for at least next ten years. Thinking about that, I came to the idea of writing a book with all the works awarded at national and regional festivals (in chronological order): Golden Drum 2016, Sempler 2016, UEPS Awards 2016, Days of Communication 2017, Slovenian Advertising Festival SOF 2017, EFFIE Serbia 2017. The Creative Portfolio 01 will, therefore, include the period from the Golden Drum last year to Golden Drum this year where it will be promoted. By volume, the book will be identical to The Best. It will have 380 pages. It will feature 180 works by 67 advertising and media agencies. I sent mails to agencies which enthusiastically accepted the call to work together on the book and the works are slowly coming in. There will be a lot of work, I know it will not all go smoothly, but I’m almost certain that the book will see the light of day at this year’s Golden Drum, which will be held from 18 to 20 October in Ljubljana.
Finally, the time came to finish the “Hotel Yugoslavia” book, mainly thanks to Alma Duraković who is tackling the proofreading. Four years I’ve been standing in place. Two or three times I tried to do something rushed, but Alma did not accept short deadlines, and I did not want anybody else to proofread. Two months ago I sent her everything I’ve been writing so far. Last week she told me that she had finished those and is waiting for new texts. In order not to seem irresponsible in front of her, I continued to write the texts, and now it is going well. It just had to start, and I have been procrastinating on this start for four years now. If everything goes as planned, the book Hotel Yugoslavia – On advertising when it was a gentleman’s business should appear in mid-September.
When on 2nd July Vedrana and I went to our cruise, I brought the book The Greatest – My Own Story. I bought the book a few days earlier, intending to read it on board. I read, and read, but I did not read it to the end. Had I fallen off the ship into the sea, it would be easier to brave the waves than it is to tackle the 600 pages of the Muhammad Ali book in eight days. I finished it on Tuesday night and just as I was thinking what could I read next, now that I mustered the reading stamina, my postman delivered a book that Jure Apih sent to me from Ljubljana. The book bears the title Vihrave misli (Windy thoughts). The book contains texts published by Jure since 2004 in the most popular Slovenian daily newspaper Delo. With the book, I got the message: “I’m sending this book to you as a gift. I wrote it so that someone would take it in their hands and open it. Not anyone, although I do not mind, but it’s important for me that it is opened by some of those people I care about. Go through it, if you deem it worthy. Jure.” My book arrived around noon, after I worked on the Creative Portfolio for seven hours (from 5am). I’m buried in books over the last days. Jure Apih succeeded Muhammad Ali on my bedside table. I started reading Jure’s texts already the first night. Jure writes very beautifully. He knows so much about our profession, so he writes with ease. Simply and deeply, he strikes the core of the problems of our industry. I’m enjoying the read, and if I find some space in my humble time economy, I would love to translate it so that people all over the region could read it. It would be worth it. Thanks Jure.
On Thursday Vedrana and I hosted a dinner for Dubravka Jusić (Marketing Director of Agrokor) and Viktorija Radojević (Director of Marketing and Development at Mercator). Given that Mercator is returning Konzum’s sales facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina into their flock as of 1 August, Dubravka and Viktorija came here to settle the marketing part of business. As Konzum retains a part of the sales facilities, this means that Agrokor will now have two teams in BiH. One that will take care of Konzum, and the other which will lead Mercator’s marketing activities. During the dinner I invited Zvezdana Žujo, director of Communis, to join us.
On Wednesday, Jure’s book from Slovenia came. On Thursday came Viktorija, and on Friday Tomaž Bergoč, Executive Director of UNICEF Slovenia and his wife. He brought with him two bottles of Kristančić’s black wine, which was sent to me by Janja Božič Marolt (the day before Vedrana and I received a huge bottle of champagne and two glasses from Zvezdana Žujo, for our 40th anniversary, and Janja’s wine is for the same occasion). From Janja I also got a hat on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Mediana. It’s the only cap that I will wear, because it suits me nice. With this big head of mine, it’s hard to find a hat that suits me. It’s a baseball cap and it nicely protects me from the sun. We took Tomaž and his wife to the Vijećnica, for an exhibition of Mersad Berber, and then we sat in the pleasant shade of Hotel Europe’s garden, and talked for a long time. Very interesting people. We were grateful to Janja for giving us the opportunity to meet them.
On Friday, the “onslaught” from Slovenia continued. Vlado and Eva Kreslin arrived. Vlado is guest of Damir Imamović at his concert within the Baščaršijske Noći festival. By tradition, we went for ćevapćići at Hodžić restaurant, and later we walked around Baščaršija and talked. On February 8 next year, when Slovenes celebrate their national holiday, the Prešern Day, I would like to arrange a solo concert by Vlado Kreslin in Sarajevo. Vlado has guest appearances at least once or twice a year in Sarajevo, but has not yet had a solo concert. It would be a natural thing that I, as his longtime friend, organize it for him. And I will. Damir’s concert was perfect, just like the block in which Vlado was guest. The way the audience welcomed him shows that the idea of a solo concert is sound.
Sarajevo, Sunday, 23 July, 2017
