The ninth edition of the Weekend Media Festival 2016 ended on Sunday, 25th of September. Bild Studio’s all women delegation, consisted of Aleksandra Bošković (General Manager), Jovana Mrkaić (Lead Marketing Manager), Ksenija Iković (Head of Design and UX) and Dženita Brčvak (Project Manager), embarked on a long journey to one of the most beautiful towns in Croatia. As we expected, they returned thrilled, full of impressions and with stocks of Franck coffee.
This year’s Weekend Media Festival hosted more than 4,000 visitors, 500+ journalists, 350+ students and 120+ speakers from all over Europe and ex-YU region. With a total of 130 applicants in nine categories, SoMo Borac is established as one of the leading regional awards for digital and creative campaigns, initiatives and individuals. Twenty members of the jury voted for the best Facebook pages, digital campaigns, websites, mobile applications, and digital activist. Director of Bild Studio, Tarik Zaimović had a privilege to be part of SoMoFighter jury second year in a row and to vote for some of the best creative and digital campaigns in this part of the world. Voted by the majority, this year’s SoMoFighter went to:
SoMo Face: Degordian, Ožujsko beer; SoMust Have: Executive Group, Carlsberg Serbia, Tuborg brand; SoMo Content: BBDO Zagreb, Jamnica Sensation; Digital Mix: Imago Ogilvy, Jana; Community Manager of the Year: FCB Afirma Beograd, Grand Kafa Gold, Atlantic Group; Viral blockbuster: Fabrika Sarajevo, Dubioza Kolektiv; SoMo Tech: Infinum, Croatian Postal Bank; SoMoRitanac: No Ordinary Agency, #CrazyEnoughToChangeTheWorld; Digital of the Year:Maja Blumenšajn, TV Nova, Nova TV.
The organizers worked hard to promote speakers and topics, both before, during and afterward the festival. Thanks to the convenient #WeekendMedia app, we could easily have this 5-day event on display, schedule lectures we wanted to attend, read all about it as well as to inform ourselves about onsite services. The especially inspiring lecture was given by Goran Vlašić, an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics: “Unleashing Creative Potentials“, who was talking about limitations and obstacles that are preventing our ability to be creative 24/7, or even when we want it;
“Export Report” panel was a great opportunity to hear about the outsourcing experience of regional agencies;
“Pitch Sauce – How to Present Your Idea” – was the lecture about mysteries of good presentation and good exposure; “Global Brands” – introduced us to story of a Heineken, Coca-Cola, Schneider Electric, McCann Belgrade, how and why big brands adapt to the local market; and last but not least, “Service Design” – which is slowly entering our region through larger companies that understand the importance of this newly and customer-based approach to the service customization. Luka Baranović (Croatian Telecom) pointed out that the consumer is no longer the one who is in focus, but the human being, for he might not be your client, but may have encountered with your product in an indirect way. The interactions are designed and we must abandon a one-way communication with the consumer. Marzia Arico (LiveWork, Netherlands) states that there must be close cooperation and ongoing interaction with a consumer. We have put together some recommendations from panel discussions we attended: Service Design, From Insight to Implementation, Strategyc Design, Psychology of Everyday Things and Design of Everyday Things.
In addition to the above mentioned educational program, what distinguishes Weekend Media Festival is the attention devoted to encouraging socialization of participants through parties, a little longer coffee breaks, – and the overall event organization is filled with a lot of interesting content.
While we thought we were the only representatives of Montenegro on this event, Noyz (Mario Đorđević) from Who See was also there, having fun on one of the festival’s parties, while Dedduh (Dejan Dedović) was preparing for Saturday’s panel “Digital chaos” on mediatization and digitalization of music.
Aside from being part of a jury, we had an opportunity to present who we are and what we do to the regional colleagues who haven’t heard for Bild Studio before, through the presentation on the topic: “Montenegrin experience – How to do large projects on a small market“.
Aleksandra Bošković explained how important are key ideas and a good team to achieve entrepreneurial success. However, the commitment to work is not enough for market success. The next step must be relying on the existing network of contacts and use every opportunity for presenting your business ideas – through conferences and seminars, lectures, connections with professors from relevant universities and so on. This practice is crucial to enter the global market.
Aside from competitions and thought-provoking lectures and workshops, #WeekendMedia proved us once again as a great opportunity for networking with our regional colleagues. Exchange of experiences, knowledge, ideas, as well as challenges we face with and ways we overcome them, is an everlasting source of inspiration for our future work and professional growth. Campaigns that were presented during two regional competitions BalCannes and SoMoFighter served us as an inspiration for getting new ideas on how to improve existing projects, how to introduce innovation and creativity in mainstream campaigns, as well as to learn new things about behavior and habits of consumers from these respective countries. Visiting this year’s #WeekendMedia, we also had a chance to explore best of Croatia: Istar sunsets, first-class vine “Malvazija Istarska”, “Tomislav” beer and Franck coffee we couldn’t get enough of.
Given that 2017 is the year when Weekend celebrates its 10th anniversary and SoMo Fighter turns 5, we better prepare for surprises on next year’s #WeekendMedia!
