By Sandra Babić
At its peak, the agency – founded in 1945, during the war – employed more than 130 workers and had branches in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Belgrade, Sarajevo, and Skopje. Its client list was truly impressive, as it handled advertising campaigns for many prominent companies and brands across various regions.
“I have to be completely honest and say that I only heard about Ozeha when I saw an ad looking for a ‘designer with an affinity for photography.’ Since I was involved in photography, I saw my opportunity, took it, and got hired,” said Slavko Henigsman, one of the country’s top designers, describing his first encounter with the Advertising Institute of Croatia (Oglasni zavod Hrvatske – Ozeha) back in 1970. Ozeha was not the only but certainly the most successful and the first full-service marketing agency in the country, operating successfully for a full fifty years, from 1945 to 1995.
Soon after joining, the young and inexperienced Henigsman realized Ozeha’s strength. He went on to create some of the most recognizable visuals for domestic companies and honed his marketing skills, which, as he says, later benefited his independent design career and freelance work for the agency. Today, Henigsman is one of several former Ozeha employees who, along with designer Alira Hrabar Bekar, are working to preserve the agency’s legacy.
Although most of Ozeha’s work is now buried “somewhere deep in Jakuševec,” a group of enthusiasts – including Hrabar Bekar, Henigsman, advertising expert Igor Lah, and the late Josip Šintić, head of Market Research – organized the first Ozeha exhibition at the Croatian Designers Association (HDD) in 2016. As Hrabar Bekar explained, the exhibition stemmed from the need to highlight the existence of an agency that did more than just poster advertising. Ozeha offered a comprehensive approach to clients, including advertising and sales strategies as well as market research – already in the mid-20th century.
Designer Slavko Henigsman and Mohandas Pilar (Deit campaign)
A European and Global Standard
“In the 1950s, agencies in our market were highly specialized – for example, in media advertising, poster printing, illuminated sign production, or trade fair exhibition setups. By 1954, Ozeha already had a Propagandist Service, a Photo Department, an Advertising Film and Radio Announcements Department, and, by 1956, a Market Research Department,” explained Hrabar Bekar. She and Šintić were committed to establishing basic facts about the agency’s structure and operations, especially since its archives no longer exist. They also aimed to connect creative works with their authors – designers, photographers, advertisers, and copywriters—since this aspect of history had been largely overlooked in Croatian design. Each new exhibition has brought fresh discoveries.
Caption: “Krampuses” by Slavko Henigsman
Currently on display at the Museum of Prigorje, the fourth exhibition, Ozeha: Design with Feedback/Destination: Sesvete, will remain open until February 28. This edition focuses on Ozeha’s projects for the Sesvete industrial sector, including the Badel and Sljeme factories. Previous exhibitions were held in various parts of Croatia, reflecting the agency’s extensive reach. At its height, Ozeha employed over 130 workers and operated branches in multiple cities. Its client list was truly remarkable, covering major brands and companies such as Sljeme, Badel, Istravino, Agrokoka, Vupik, Borovo, Eva, INA, Dona, Nara, Franck, Kraš, MTČ, Podravka, Zvijezda, shipyards 3. Maj and Uljanik, refineries in Rijeka, Sisak, and Zagreb, Jugolinija, Torpedo, PIK, as well as Pepsi and Slovenia’s Deit.
Caption: Exhibition Ozeha: Design with Feedback/Destination: Sesvete, Museum of Prigorje
