Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Nermin Kaljača, Media Director, Direct Media BiH
At a time when the world economy is in a constant struggle with larger or smaller crises, when budgets for advertising are dwindling, and when advertisers are becoming ever more cautious in terms of investment, the task of leaders in marketing is not to buckle under the pressure of circumstances and reduce the quality of service. On the contrary, such a situation requires us to show that we understand that market conditions are not as they were ten years ago, and to offer our clients and partners ways to most effectively get the most for their investment, with the least possible risk.
In the meantime, despite the crisis, every day new media appear, the number of agencies is increasing, and for advertisers it is increasingly difficult to reach customers. An increasing number of agencies is on the one side good for the advertisers, because the supply is greater, but often the choice is more difficult, because they don’t know what exactly they are “buying”, ie what cooperation with specific agencies brings them.
The crisis in the region is a problem, but also an advantage, because marketing agencies have to offer increasingly innovative solutions.
Prompted by this, several years ago, while analyzing our work and the market, we came to two conclusions: Bosnia and Herzegovina lacks a uniform, high-quality research in order to equally meet the needs of regional advertisers, while the agency lacks a software system that would automate and standardize processes, reducing the factor of human errors to a minimum and saving time, and due to the fact that it would offer all relevant and complex data in one place, it would greatly speed up and facilitate the adoption of important decisions in the course of working processes. Soon after we initiated the project “Merlin” to develop a software system. The result of extensive work, knowledge and experience is a fully integrated, all-in-one system for media planning and buying – MediaLIGHTHOUSE media.advertising.suite which places Direct Media BiH side by side with the world’s largest companies operating in the markets valued in hundreds of millions, and even billions of euros, and gives clients the highest standard of service.
Another challenge, the lack of regionally uniform quality research in Bosnia and Herzegovina, led the market in a situation where customers mull every investment decision with an added dose of reserve and skepticism because of the crisis, which means that the cheaper options are often the most popular, and this is in contrast with the foundations of agency’s work, which clearly underline that only the best research are acceptable. Target Group Index (TGI) was the only response to this situation because it’s a world-renowned research that effectively enables advertisers, agencies and media to identify, target and reach the key audience – their customers. We decided to use our financial resources available for development, as well as our knowledge and experience, to enable Bosnia and Herzegovina the implementation of such imposing research project. We immediately realized its importance and the fact that it should not be just a new offer of the agency, but to have a broader framework that allows clients new quality of service and to revolutionize their attitude towards marketing. That’s why we did not think possessively, but we immediately had a desire that TGI should be available to all interested segments of the industry in BiH.
This complemented our offer and clearly shows that even during the crisis, in a market where budgets are a tenth of that in developed countries, you shouldn’t give up on commitment that only the best is good enough.
The software system for media planning / buying and TGI brought to Bosnia and Herzegovina are a proof of proactivity, high standards and the need for constant improvement. Only the best quality is a guarantee of a satisfied customer and a long-term and successful business relationship. We stand firmly behind the belief that very good clients not only recognize but also demand constant innovation and improvement, and that means that a good company cannot be competitive at the highest level if they do not support the idea of continuous improvement of business processes.