The end of the calendar and business year is once again an occasion to talk with leading people from media, advertising and PR agencies about the goals achieved in the previous year, plans for 2025, as well as the “environmental factor” in which those same plans should be implemented. This time the honor went to Branislava Cagronov, Regional General Director of the company ONE…The interview was conducted by Nenad Danilović, editor-in-chief of Advertiser Serbia
Please rate the success of your agency’s work during 2024
– I can say with pleasure that behind us is a successful year in which our clients grew, but we also grew, both in terms of business and innovation. This year is also significant because of the transformations that took place at the beginning of the year when the ownership structure in our region changed, and since then we have been operating in Across Media Groupwhich is part of the company Across Finance.
We continued active cooperation with industrial organizations such as IAA, IABbut also with festivals. Our colleague Aleksandar Djordjevic is, in addition to having already been a member three times EFFIE Serbia jury, this year he was a member of of the global EFFIE jury… Our colleague from Sarajevo, Nermina she was a member of the jury at SEMPL 2024. We actively participate in shaping and improving our industry. We are especially dedicated to the education of younger colleagues, cooperating with IAA Academy, FEFA facultyin cooperation with Center for career developmentin 2024 we organized a summer school called “Where Creativity Meets Numbers”.
We were part of it UM Global Impact Day-aa global project launched to encourage and promote equality, diversity, sustainability and overall physical and mental health. As a regional team, in all the cities where we operate through various activities and initiatives, we gave our “impact“, his contribution by providing support to the local and wider community.
We also worked on ourselves, through the improvement of existing services. We have advanced strategic cooperation with influencers and the development of data-based solutions that ensure maximum return on media investments. We have been developing new services. For example, we introduced -“StrAItegy”, a service supported and strengthened by AI tools, which aims to quickly create specific content and its effective implementation that is fully aligned with the previously defined strategic setting.
We are especially proud of new partnerships with companies from the categories of consumer goods, culture, delivery services…
How do you assess business conditions in 2024, were they better or worse compared to previous years? What is it that marked the business of your agency when it comes to external conditions, i.e. the economic, social and political environment?
– Business conditions were not worse this year, but they were more challenging. This year was very dynamic, which has already, in a way, become normal in recent years. Speed, innovations, trends, data, technology, and in the center the consumer. Global and local factors increase the feeling of uncertainty and caution among consumers, which affects their attitude towards brands, and therefore our customers and us. We have media inflation, the rise of AI, digitization and automation of business, employee turnover and more.
As a company, we are in the continuous process of adapting our business in order to respond to the challenges of the market, and at the same time we are building strong partnerships with clients, based on common values and mutual support.
Was the year 2024 marked by some significant problems that affected the work of the entire media space rental industry? Do you see any positive changes when it comes to the functioning of the media space rental industry?
– Positive changes are reflected in the constant development of technology, which directly affects the communications industry. This encourages us as an agency to constantly learn and improve our way of working. As a result, a new UM global position was adopted, which is based on the fact that unique experiences, specific cultural features, human inspiration and knowledge are the key to creating successful media strategies, of course with the skillful application of artificial intelligence as support.
Which country in the ex-YU area do you consider the most suitable for work when it comes to the area of media leasing?
– It depends from which angle we observe. The largest markets, such as Serbia and Croatia, are also the most developed, they have the most local research, industrial tools, and implemented global technologies. Therefore, these markets have the most opportunities for creating innovative campaigns, based on data, as well as for monitoring and measuring the achieved results. Accordingly, the budgets for advertising are larger than in smaller markets. On the other hand, smaller markets are also interesting because, although they have smaller budgets, more modest availability of data, communication channels and a lower return on media investment potential, the pressure of advertisements on consumers is lower, which ensures their greater visibility, as well as clearer profiling of the target audience. If we analyze in more detail, the size of the client is also important, e.g. it is easier to work with smaller clients (who have smaller budgets) in smaller markets.
All these differences are most clearly seen in the work that we do to our many regional clients, whom we always advise to localize centralized strategies through a specific tactical approach in each market where they operate.
Have you started using artificial intelligence products in your daily business? Please give your opinion on that usage.
– Seeing the advantages of using AI technology is our focus, both at the global and local level. Our agency network has developed customized AI tools that help employees in their daily work to create faster and better solutions for both our clients’ campaigns and their business. A good example is MyBota personalized AI assistant that uses Google technology and enables routine tasks to be completed faster, freeing up time for our teams to focus on important aspects of projects where the human mind, our experience and creativity are more powerful tools.
By testing various AI tools and their application, we determined that generic solutions have numerous advantages, but we believe that creating a successful and unique appearance of a brand on the market requires teamwork, the human mind, knowledge and experience, as well as a complex overview of all the elements that make up the brand, its environment and the influence that environment has.
Meaningful and effective and efficient communication is created driven by people, empowered and supported by technology.
What is a good media strategy today?
– We believe that the components that make up a good media strategy simultaneously ensure a stable and strong future for companies, brands and products.
From the point of view of communication, the focus is on building the uniqueness of the brand, which will be presented to consumers in a clear and interesting way, through a narrative in which they themselves can easily recognize the brand’s distinctive values. That is why it is important to build closeness with the brand while respecting the peculiarities and specific needs of each consumer, which points to the importance of further personalization of communication based on culture, personal values and beliefs.
Today and in the future, there will be an emphasis on the fact that brands really act in accordance with the values they emphasize in communication, evidence that they really “live” what they “talk”. There are a lot of choices, but less and less trust. This is why honesty and action are a necessary ingredient of successful campaigns.
A good media strategy is clear in every segment of its implementation, uses all the advantages of today’s trending media channels, continuously adjusts the focus with the support of technology, data and tools.
Who is a good media professional today?
– The one who knows how to use the best of both worlds – automated intelligent technological solutions and a unique approach that is the fruit of human knowledge, experience and creativity – in order to grow the brand and the business of the partner.
What trends do you expect in the field you work in?
– Predictions are in favor of the fact that technology will continue to have the greatest impact on the advertising and marketing communications industry, both directly and through the businesses we cooperate with.
The fastest further progress, which is almost unfathomable, will happen first in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning-ain the domain of personal assistance, application in industries and customer service. At the same time, new opportunities will be opened for brands and agencies in the fields of “data-drivenmarketing, automation for the purpose of further growth of efficiency, as well as in the domain of interactive experiences.
The most exciting chapter in the era of marketing is definitely on the horizon, which we will actively build together.
Author: Nenad Danilović
Izvor: Advertiser Serbia
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Source: www.advertiser-serbia.com
