“Today In communications it is most important to reach an individual and address them personally”
Novaston Asset Management has been doing business for more than four years, carefully building its portfolio as an independent real estate platform.
Recognised as the “grey eminence” of marketing and PR, primarily in the sphere of shopping centres and retail parks, the company recently launched the Novaston Marketing Consultancy (NMC), with great ambitions.
“NMC is specialised and focused on retail clients,” explains Aleksandra Kožul, who has personally amassed great professional experience in the public relations domain.
– The inexhaustible knowledge we possess enables us to create and implement various positioning strategies that are harmonised with the unique needs of clients and which, of course, adhere to the highest standards.
When it comes to shopping centres and retail parks, it is a major challenge to come up with an adequate communication platform. We approach each client and project carefully and with unique analysis and custom-made proposals – that is what sets us apart and is expected of us by our clients. We are continuing in that direction in 2018.
We are in negotiations with several large foreign clients and are preparing important projects, while we continue to grow in every respect.
To what extent have a large number of shopping centres and retail parks, including your partners, “oversaturated” the field of communications in Serbia?
– There is always room for good projects and creative, socially-responsible campaigns. It is important to find the right way to approach an individual, a person. Personalisation is crucial today when it comes to communication.
This area has undergone very significant changes over the past few years, due to the development and accelerated advancement of new technologies. Anyone can be an influential communicator today. For that very reason, I believe the room for communication is only expanding and that it is up to us to find our “place under the sun”.
We are in negotiations with several large foreign clients and are preparing important projects, while we also plan to continue to grow this year
During your professional career, you’ve dealt with communications and public relations in various areas, including politics. Which area is the most challenging professionally?
– Every profession – and, it seems to me, public relations in particular – carries with it certain challenges and encourages us to present ourselves to clients in creative ways and to reach the final consumers in the most efficient way.
In this business, regardless of which branch you are working in, you must be quick and active, familiar with numerous rules and services, and often harmonise differing opinions. That kind of activity doesn’t suit everyone, but one who has once found themselves in this area will find it difficult to return to more static jobs.
Working in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, as an advisor to the deputy PM responsible for European integration, was a huge challenge for me personally and I am very proud of that period of my career.
Working for your country, being part of big projects, being at the “source” of some key decisions is truly an invaluable experience that I use in my work today. Perhaps the only difference is that in politics every situation, word, move – even the most harmless – can develop into a crisis while working on marketing and PR for shopping centres and retail parks are far more relaxed and more creative.