Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Sanja Lalević Cvetković, Head of Digital, Direct Media Serbia
We live in a time in which the imperative of change and risk-taking represents the daily life of us who are dealing with digital (in all its breadth), which also represents pressure and an additional challenge to all those who until yesterday adhered to the established postulates of the analog / traditional media, and demands a shared commitment of all of us to board the speeding train.
Traditional businesses – established on ideas, structures and power relations of the industrial era that included stability and one-way communication – neglect the disruptions in the form of internet that is radically changing things, and the new model does not forgive that mistake.
On the other hand, digital natives, who instinctively understand the new reality and are not part of this tradition, drive the marketing back towards what it originally was: a direct and honest communication, this time on the platforms where the effects are instant, and responses fast and tailored to the individual. We are transcending the digital marketing, and are entering the marketing in the digital age.
As “digitals” in Direct Media, we see both sides. We have a responsibility towards our clients – the largest corporations in the region – to provide the agility of communication characteristic of a startup. In other words, we must enable them to communicate effectively in this new world, in which the consumer has the same power of voice as they do. This includes the expansion of our own knowledge and range of our services in comparison with the work of a traditional media agency, which we have long since surpassed.
To make matters even more interesting, all these changes and innovations are applied to markets such as ours, “so near and yet so far” from countries to whose levels of development we aspire.
In spite of the well-known limiting factors, we were able to make a difference for our clients and ourselves.
When programmatic was still barely talked about in Serbia, we had already implemented our first campaign by these standards, and with the effects comparable with those on the global stage. We’re an active partner to the media in developing the capacities to deliver new forms of advertising, which is often recognized by the headquarters of our international clients. Good local practices are often applied in other markets, where the change is much more appreciated.
We first and foremost applied the basic principles of operation in the digital era in our own environment: we have analyzed, then optimized, and then largely automated the work processes. The resulting savings in time is directed towards more creative approach to communications planning.
On one hand, the emergence of new trends, services and technology expands opportunities, and on the other, it makes the process of their selection more complicated and demanding. We transfer our daily training to our clients, with the goal of more efficient recognition of the potential for their application in practice.
In the last decade the average life expectancy for a company from the S&P 500 index dropped from 50 to 18 years. It is a clear evidence that coping with the changes that the digital age has brought will make a key difference between the companies that will continue to operate successfully, and those that will disappear. This is a fact from which our relative isolation from the world trends will not save us.
At a time when “keeping pace” has become a challenge in itself, we have learned that our most important duty is to provide the client at least one constant. We know how to make a reasoned choice of direction, with an attitude of confidence, and the need for that will never change.