Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Darko Crnogorac, Senior Media Planner, Direct Media Srbija
One of the things that has characterized the past 15 years, and which will surely mark every year to come where Direct Media is concerned, is learning. This is a continuous process in our line of business, as well as in most others, and in which we are not alone because, along with us, our clients, and the many people from the media with whom we work every day, are also learning. We learn from them, they learn from us, and all of us, every day, gain some new understanding that allows us to stay where we are – in the leading position in the region.
However, when we talk about education and its importance, we often forget who else is in that story and who, throughout all the years that we’ve been doing this work, has been learning and expanding their horizons with us. Of course, I’m talking about people in our immediate environment, our relatives, friends and neighbors who, over the past 15 years, haven’t been learning about trends and things like that, but they have been able to learn something completely new for them – that is, what we actually do and what our business actually is. And this is important not only for us, but for the whole industry, which has long been a great mystery to most people.
We’ve all found ourselves at least once in the situation where we were trying to explain to someone where we work, and then that someone would look at us suspiciously, because they couldn’t quite understand what our job was. About ten or fifteen years ago, the dialogue usually went like this:
– I heard you’ve got a job! Congratulations! Where are you working?
– At Direct Media.
– Never heard of them… What do you do? Is it something you trained for?
– It’s a marketing agency.
– You make ads?
– No, we deal with buying media space in all media, we make plans for campaigns, write reports…
– Oh. OK, well, what can you do, you have to do something… But how is it possible that you couldn’t find anything concrete, even with a university degree? That’s a real shame. So many years in school and in the end you can’t find a proper job. Well, hey, something better is bound to come up. Keep your chin up.
Over time, such conversations have become increasingly rare, and now the question “Are you hiring?” has replaced the questions “What is that company?” and “Do you really need a university degree for that job?” Over the years, people have learned from our stories that we are much more than a company that buys and sells advertising space, they have realized that we provide our partners, the largest companies in the market, with integrated communications services, which they are obviously happy with because they stay with us for a long time. They realize that we independently develop different tools and systems of measurement and evaluation of advertising campaigns, that we have offices in eight countries in the region, etc. Now they’re the ones talking about us, and we no longer have to, because it would sound like we’re bragging.
And for those who still – despite your numerous attempts – have not yet learned what it is that Direct Media does, and what kinds of jobs exist in the marketing profession, to them you can always just say: “Meh, I work as a salesman.”