Although we live in the digital era, it has never been more important to show a human face, empathy and honesty, which creates the space for the media and the public to respond in kind. “Good” companies will have a better reputation than those that are “successful”, while only those that are good will be successful
If you have a good idea you will also have good PR, says Branka Conić, PR Director at agency New Moment. That is a recipe for success that is valid regardless of market changes.
How do you envisage the business climate for the functioning of agencies in 2016?
– Evermore company managers are taking over regional functions, while those agencies that provide support to their clients on as many markets as possible will have an advantage over others.
For the client, this means reducing costs, centralising concepts, the implementation by local teams of agencies and clients, and consolidated oversight.
Does Serbia have adequate infrastructure that would enable agencies to implement global trends and standards, and thus effectively service the needs of advertisers?
– The central infrastructure of an agency is comprised of its creative potential, ideas and a strong thought behind each of them. If we establish things in that way, young creative people from our country can undoubtedly stand shoulder to shoulder with leading experts and big names elsewhere in the world.
Last year our New Moment network alone won two Cannes Lions at the city’s festival of creativity, where over 40,000 ideas from all over the world compete, and four awards at Golden Drum, the largest regional festival.
Digitisation has contributed to an increasing number of our people creating ideas for foreign markets, thus one advert created by our creative team in Belgrade will find itself featured in the best-known media in New York.
What do you consider as being the “golden rules” of market communication?
– The fact is that the media do not want to write about products and their characteristics. They want to write about what is new and innovative because if you have a good idea you will also have good PR.
Creating content that is sufficiently alluring and attractive to media serves to draw attention and provoke strong emotions, but also to promote a company or its brand, and that is what we want to achieve in PR.
Thanks to the penetration of digitisation, an increasing number of our people are creating ideas for foreign markets, thus one advert that was created by our creative team in belgrade will find itself featured in the best known media in New York
What are the current issues of the profession and the future challenges that will have to be faced by local agencies in the fields of marketing communications and public relations?
– Companies are increasingly under pressure to operate transparently, with everyone able to contact you directly, comment on your work, have an opinion and share it with others, and that’s why control is becoming increasingly difficult. Although we live in the digital era, it has never been more important to show a human face, empathy and honesty, which creates the space for the media and the public to respond in kind. Otherwise, with cold and depersonalised statements you are yourself establishing the tone with which others will communicate with you.
“Good” companies will have a better reputation than those that are “successful”, while only those that are good will be successful.
How do your activities differ from those of your competitors and what makes you stand out on the market?
– At the heart of our company are creativity and a belief in the power of good ideas to change the world.
In the last few years, we are proud to have received awards for projects that help resolve important social problems, and here we come to one of the most important goals of our profession. One of our most awarded projects was the one to promote Serbia’s Paralympic champions, while through communication we helped to find a new home for the Children’s Shelter, and last year we tried to provide our contribution to resolving the problem of human trafficking…
On the other hand, we work for the biggest and most successful companies, for which we create a complete strategy of relations with all target audiences, and we are always expected to do that in a unique and original way.
One of our main postulates is to promote PR as a means of creating a better and more humane society.