Along with the digital transformation of its businesses, the I&F Grupa has transformed itself in order to offer clients its own vast analytical and technical resources, and to help them translate data into effective communication with consumers. In so doing, the agency follows the best global standards, offering an integrated response to its clients, a one-stop-shop for all their needs
Today, I&F Grupa and its departments work closely with their clients on the joint creation of products and services. This is a new trend of cooperation in which marketing and businesses create strong brands based on the deep understanding of a plethora of digital data about consumer needs and desires.
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Katarina Kostić
Deputy CEO, Mediabrands See (UM) |
We Believe & Invest In Data
As of this year, Polaris, our business unit specialized for data analytics & research products, will help clients in a better understanding of the story behind numbers and data, in order to communicate more effectively with consumers
Every human decision is influenced by emotion. This is why stories sell and why we need a good one. But without understanding how, when and where to communicate to consumers, we will not be able to drive the maximum success of the story. On top of everything, we really need to understand our clients’ business and their challenges before any action is taken. The best way forward is to ensure maximum collaboration between all participants in the process, from creating to delivering stories. In this process, consumer data and all other metrics enable us and brands to delight customers and engage them with brands stories. In a way, data and insights are where stories and logic integrate.
At UM (part of IPG Mediabrands SEE) we have always believed and invested in locally relevant data in order to support our internationally developed tools so that we could utilise them in the right way. We also manage a big portion of clients’ marketing activities and as a true partner, we need to understand client’s operations and business beyond planning and buying media.
In order to help our clients achieve higher effectiveness of media & marketing activities, Polaris has started operating within I&F Grupa as of 2019. Polaris is specialized in data analytics & research products. Our goal is to connect data and technology even further, supported by our vast knowledge and experience, and become ‘first call’ for the clients whenever they have a problem within marketing.
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Jelena Jazić
Managing Director, McCann Beograd |
People & Tools To Support Change
As businesses change in line with the digital revolution, our agency has everything they need – a creative solution to business problems supported by data
As a person who came from the position of a client to an agency, I’ve had the opportunity to look at this issue from both perspectives. Integration is the path for all agencies and teams to take; it is inevitable primarily because it reflects the needs of the consumers and market surrounding us.
Agencies are to a lesser extent already present in the process of business transformation among clients, but not to the extent required. During the past few years, McCann Beograd has been working on the joint creation of products and services with clients, and the role of agencies in this process is invaluable because they primarily represent the area where marketing and business come together in the best possible way. Agencies are not and will not be included in the part related to financial consulting. That part of the job is not ours.
At the same time, all industries and companies are on the path of transformation, driven by the needs of the digital “revolution”. In line with these, we at this agency now have a vast amount of data, processed to yield a deeper understanding of consumers and categories; we have people and tools that allow us to predict trends or cause changes in consumer behaviour. This is what business partners need: a creative solution to business problems supported by data.
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Relja Jović
Chief Digital Officer, I&F Grupa / Drive Agency |
The Message is Primary, The Channel is Secondary
It is good for every agency to be digital, but the breadth of digital, and the depth of its individual zones enables and justifies the existence of specialised agencies
Considering the number of people who are consumers of digital channels, and the fact that the penetration of these channels is virtually complete, it is good for every agency to be digital. On the other hand, the breadth of digital, and the depth of its individual zones enables and justifies the existence of agencies that deal exclusively with this discipline, or its individual parts.
It is important to realise that the communication that agencies deal with is, by its very definition, is intended for the recipient, while it often happens that this is actually somehow forgotten in the conversation about channels. Users have no active awareness of the channel through which they receive a message.
A trend was seen increasingly globally, and which I firmly support, is one that sees the global agency scene returning towards the direction of the so-called “one-stop-shop” service, where a client can get all services in one place, but this requires that agencies really have experts for each area of communication.
If the client needs so-called 360 communication, which starts from establishing a communication strategy, defining the “consumer journey”, setting up a creative platform, developing creative platforms around channels, devising a media strategy, media planning and realising the media plan, and then measuring success, it is clear that a client needs an agency or agency group that can provide all these services in an integrated way and, more importantly, can manage all processes and knowledge during the campaign in an integrated way, with the aim of further improving the flow of communication.