Our call for the definition of the problems that could be solved by national associations of advertising industries of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia within a joint regional initiative was also answered by Andrea Šumanovac, CEO of Unex Group Zagreb. In a very serious analysis, Andrea recognized the many benefits of regional cooperation of advertising industry.
Andrea Šumanovac:
A big problem for activity and business in the region are the uneven rules of conduct and rules of the profession. Regional harmonization would mean a great advantage for both agencies and clients active in several countries.
Priority should be to establish the rules of conduct at the regional level so both sides, advertisers and agencies, could be able to freely and smoothly operate in the markets across the region.
Mutual cooperation and trust should become postulates on which we could build all other rules. Adopting such market behavior would allow better and easier work, and would greatly influence the ejection of unfair competition from the game, which is in the current circumstances allowed to work in a manner inappropriate to some unwritten, but essential rules of fair business conduct.
As for the media research, in this area there is also considerable chaos, so the existence of the same currency for the region would allow easier comparison and monitoring of trends. In Croatia there is a problem with the telemetry and other metrics, and we are currently in the phase of establishing the JIC, for which a public call should be announced in the near future.
Digital operations certainly require special attention and here the exchange of experiences, data and successful campaigns would be really valuable. Experiences from the region would help to finally give an answer to how to monitor and receive relevant information in this segment as well.
In addition to research, we should also share news in the media scene. Thus, when planning regional campaigns, we could immediately see what the possibilities are and what the trends in each country of the region are.
The current and very interesting topic abroad – and even Ico-D is active on this initiative in the field of design – is the speculative practice, or work without remuneration for the purpose of potential opportunity of landing a job. Ico-D – International Council of Design – is already working on this initiative in the field of design, and according to their data, most abused in this segment are resources of designers working in the advertising industry.
The speculative practice, or pitching, is a standard way of getting a job in advertising, although for most other professions it is unthinkable. (Imagine a situation where you go to several doctors for a check-up, and pay only the one whose diagnosis we like best :) ). Although it’s a common practice, it is still very counterproductive for the agencies, especially for independent designers or smaller specialized agencies.
For each segment of the demanding and dynamic advertising industry, regional harmonization would be a great advantage for both agencies and clients.
