By: Asja Dupanović
Juna Neubauer is a media account manager at Grey Ljubljana. She has been working in media communications for five years, she loves her job immensely, and clients love her.
She has become a prominent advisor to the largest agency client (A1) and is one of the key people in the Grey media team. At SEMPL 2016 she was named “Future Media Star”. The key piece of furniture in her home is, of course, a television set.
MM: How did you end up in the communications industry? What is your story?
Juna Neubauer:
I began my journey in the marketing world with the studies of market communications and public relations at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences. Although I was not yet aware of what marketing communication is, or how the studies would help me in my life path, it seemed to be the only sensible choice. By nature, I am inclined to social sciences and I was attracted by everything that has to do with communication. Even though I couldn’t even imagine what work in an agency really meant back then, I had already decided that an advertising agency would be my first (and perhaps only) station in my career.
During my graduate studies, when the only thing left to do was to get the diploma, I fearfully realized that my studies were coming to an end, and I didn’t have any real experiences in advertising. I grabbed the first opportunity to work on a project in an agency and, step by step, I progressed to today’s position in Grey.
MM: Why media planning? How did you discover that you have an affinity to Excel and data processing?
Juna Neubauer: Media planning and love for Excel happened quite accidentally. Although I’ve always been an analytic person, during my studies Excel seemed incomprehensible and a meaningless program. I was avoiding it in a wide circle. During my student practice at an agency, working with Excel was inevitable. I learned the basics by googling, and soon realized that these spreadsheets can be your best friend. My abilities of understanding and inclination to figures was noticed by my colleagues back then, and they encouraged me to focus on media planning. Today I’m immensely grateful to them.
MM: What is your primary task in the agency? What does your average working day look like?
Juna Neubauer: My work at Grey includes cooperation with local and international clients that require accurate analytical knowledge, strategic and innovative thinking about media solutions, as well as close cooperation with the creative department of the agency. Everyday tasks are quite varied and depend on projects. Sometimes I gaze into spreadsheets and analyses for hours, and other days we hold meetings, we set up strategies and look for innovative media approaches. The combination of all these aspects of media planning contributes to the fact that my job is never tedious, and every working day presents a new mix of different tasks.
MM: What kind of projects do you enjoy working on?
Juna Neubauer: I enjoy projects that have a soul and a lot of content – those that mean something more. I enjoy projects that you later talk about with pride and which go beyond classic sales communication. Such projects, of course, demand the most time and efford, and are hence most stressful. That’s why a dive into Excel spreadsheets is a welcome part of every project.
MM: What is the greatest challenge of your everyday job?
Juna Neubauer: To overcome my analytical nature when creating new campaigns. Media planning demands great precision and immersion into numbers, so it’s often hard to make a change in the way of thinking. But it’s worth every effort, because that’s usually when the best ideas are created.
MM: Where do you see the greatest issues in the client-agency relations?
Juna Neubauer: I think that often the biggest problem is – ironically – the communication itself. Most of the cooperation goes through mails and phone calls, and despite good understanding and closeness, noise in communication and misinterpretations happen, and it ruins the mood for everyone. The deeper the client-agency relationship, the less this happens, but it is impossible to completely avoid misunderstandings.
MM: What is different for you, younger generations, today in the industry, in relation to your senior colleagues?
Juna Neubauer: There is less workaholic behaviour, ie. constant focus on work. We, the younger generations, have more appreciation for our free time and the ability to disconnect from everything when we close the office door behind us.
MM: How much free time do you have, and how do you enjoy spending it?
Juna Neubauer: I have enough free time to completely disengage and relax, and I like to spend it in inspirational things. Hanging out with the loved ones, jogging down some green paths close to home, or just chilling with Netflix are the most usual choices.
