By: Asja Dupanović
Svetlana Ćirović is a girl whom people from Saatchi & Saatchi Belgrade describe as a speaker able to keep the audience endlessly engaged, someone whose clients would entrust her with not only their brand and business, but children too.
Inexhaustible energy, curious eyes and intuitive approach to any conversation, problem or task make this account director an indispensable ingredient of every successful agency project and team. She is equally competent in learning and teaching, and equally successful in caring for her brands, plants, and family. According to Saatchi people, neither heavens nor anything else is Svetlana’s limit.
MM: Are you in advertising because you just have to do something or because you love this job?
Svetlana Ćirović: Marketing is my calling. I encountered the incredible world of advertising while I was still in high school and fell in love with it at first sight. I love its dynamics, its playfulness and the constant striving for something new.
MM: What attracted you to this field the most? Research shows that young people today avoid working in advertising. They think it’s aggressive and misleading.
Svetlana Ćirović: I love to try out all that is new, to explore, to learn, to seek new solutions and to develop myself. It fulfils me when truly good things get the space they deserve. There’s a wealth of content available to us today, and we can easily choose what to pay attention to and what to ignore. In this way, we can dose our exposure to any advertising message. For us, in marketing, this brings a greater challenge – how to reach the right audience, while being honest and without burdening others, because that’s the only way we can reach the consumers.
MM: You lead the projects of some of the agency’s biggest clients. How big is the responsibility of managing their budgets for a young person like yourself?
Svetlana Ćirović: For me, every project is a challenge, regardless of the size of the budget. The opportunity to work with clients from various industries makes this job particularly interesting and gives the opportunity to learn a lot. This versatility, which comes from the client side, as well as from the channels through which we communicate with the audience, make this job unique.
MM: What should the young leaders learn and adopt from their senior colleagues?
Svetlana Ćirović: Nurturing good relationships with a client is something that is definitely learned from senior colleagues, especially if they’ve been building that relationship for a long time. What I would particularly highlight is the precious work experience that is taught and transmitted “from generation to generation”. That is something that no book can convey as good as when you are actually there where everything is happening.
MM: And what should they definitely discard from that legacy?
Svetlana Ćirović: No experience should be discarded. Experience is always good for some reason: whether to repeat what we’ve learned, or to steer away from it because it didn’t have a good effect. We can learn something new from everything. We learn from mistakes, and nurture good practices.
MM: When we talk about crazy, brave ideas, there is a general opinion that the communication industry is gripped with fear. Agencies are afraid of losing a client, a client is afraid of losing his/her job. How can we conquer that fear, and how much can you, the young leaders, contribute to getting the industry out of this situation?
Svetlana Ćirović: Fortune favours the bold. In a sea of everything, the most important thing today is to be noticed and different, so people would remember you. The bolder the idea, the greater the chance to leave an impression and be recognized. The purpose of this business has always been and will always be to be new – to be different. The worst thing you can do is to be mediocre, because very soon someone else will appear to disrupt the rules of the game. Always be prepared for the unexpected.
MM: What would you advise your peers – to join you in this industry or try to find a better job?
Svetlana Ćirović: A man learns all his life, and [in this industry] this is a daily practice. If you’re ready to work on yourself, and to accept challenges, then this job is an ideal opportunity to improve your skills.
MM: What do you consider to be the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the years you’ve been living the agency life?
Svetlana Ćirović: Agency life as a whole is one big lesson. You learn so much about yourself, about others, about life, and about how certain things actually work.
MM: How do you see the future of advertising?
Svetlana Ćirović: Digital is the direction in which this industry is developing. I don’t think enough attention has been given to it, even though it is talked about a lot. TV still holds the dominant place in creation of campaigns, which, I believe, will shift over time in favour of digital media.
MM: How much free time do you have, and how do you enjoy spending it?
Svetlana Ćirović: Driven by our desires, we each shape our own free time. You’ll never have enough time if you just spend it, and not live it. I like to explore new things, to share experiences with friends, to travel, read books, watch movies, and grow flowers.
