Nevena Kurtović, Managing Director at Fusion Communications

Like never before, advertisers and agencies have the opportunity to listen to the consumer, the audience, and engage them in two-way communication that will lead, if executed properly, to the growth of the position of their brand, as well as brand loyalty, says Nevena Kurtović, Managing Director at Fusion Communications.

How do you envisage the business climate for the functioning of agencies in 2016?

– Every new year represents a new challenge that we face in this industry. Even though it might seem that it will be a tough year to face, I think anything can be overcome if you are armed with knowledge, hard work and dedication to your business. As the years’ pass, so trends seem to move faster, thus we all have to be versatile and to handle this and stay in touch with novelty, integrating it into our initial, core businesses.

What do you consider as being the “golden rules” of market communication?

– Fair play and innovation. I think that bold steps lead to change, thus I will always encourage that be taken one step forward. Without that, I don’t think anybody can truly communicate the full value of the brand. Listening to the consumer has become a must in any communication. We now have the possibility to fully hear the consumer, the audience, engage them and have two-way communication that, in the end, leads to growth in the position of a brand, as well as brand loyalty. Fair play among all of us in this industry can only lead to a strong market, emphasising quality and strengthening our profession.

The “millennials” are a very important target group and we all have to strive to understand them and their needs, whilst continuing to communicate properly with other target groups

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?

– I believe that new trends, and the speed at which they are changing, are a challenge to all of us. The “millennials” are a very important target group and we all have to strive to understand them and their needs, whilst continuing to communicate properly with other target groups. It is important for all professionals in the marketing industry to be in touch with the audience, to truly hear them and to create new, fresh and bold ideas.

How do your activities differ from those of your competitors and what makes you stand out on the market?

– I think we have a very strong and big market and it would be very unprofessional to talk about what we do better or, to put it in true words, what we do differently. Last year was a challenging year for us, as we had the integration of two companies – Direct Media Public Relations and Spark, BTL and event.

This led to the mutual name of Fusion Communications, offering clients integrated marketing services. I believe strongly that our employees and clients are the key indicators of our success and that investing our knowledge in them is the key to ensuring a successful and operational business.

How ready are companies in Serbia to invest in the education of their communication employees or to pay for the services of professionals in this field?

– Every professional and successful company invests in their employees and education is definitely one of the most important segments to provide growth in any sector, especially in the communications segment, allowing them to follow trends and implement them in the right way, which can only benefit the company.

What are your plans like for your further development?

– Our concentration is on creating interesting integrated campaigns and, while staying loyal to our core business – namely PR, BTL and Social Media Marketing – continuing to push forward, creating new and interesting things.