This year's jury for the Sempler Awards, competition for the best media
strategies of the year in the Adriatic region, will be led by Marko Vičič,
partner and executive creative director of Futura DDB, which has become one of
the most influential agencies in Slovenia in its quarter-century operation. Futura
DDB has been named the agency of the year multiple times, both at the Golden
Drum Festival and the Slovenian Advertising Festival, while Marko Vičič received
more than one hundred national and international awards for his creative
solutions. In his words, the Sempler jury will judge the strategies according
to their sense for the right messaging and impact on behaviour change in the
target group.
How would you describe an excellent media strategy, one that would
deserve the Sempler Award?
A good and effective media strategy
is mainly characterized by its ability to integrate a target group. Today's
consumers or media users are increasingly demanding and their expectations rise
accordingly.
A good media strategy is
distinguished by three key factors. Firstly, strategic media presence should be
able to get into the lifestyle of the target group and, as such, it goes beyond
demographic definitions. Another key factor is subtlety of the message or the
use of the media mix/a certain medium, which causes the integration of the
brand into the everyday lives of consumers. The last element of great media
strategy is connection between the strategy and the brand. It often happens
that the strategy of the media presence stands out in a positive direction, but
it is difficult to find a point of contact with the personality of the brand.
As the president of the Sempler jury, what criteria will you
follow when judging the media strategies?
First of all, it
is clear that we should consider all formal indicators: did the media strategy meet the communication and
media starting points. In the second place, there is certainly "wow"
effect, as the first feeling is extremely important when in contact with the
message. Since we in the jury are rather unburdened with backgrounds of certain
strategies – with this I especially mean budgets –, it is essential to consider
the sense of the message and impact to behaviour change of the target group. Or
to simply create added value for the life of the target group, whether it is an
entertaining, emotional or totally practical moment. As already stated, strategies
that know how to combine brand personality with the personality of the target
groups representatives are always at the forefront. It is about strategies that
can use media in a creative and integrated way.
In your observation, what kind of reputation do the Sempler Awards have
in the Adriatic region? Did their recognition across the region increase in
recent years? What else could be done to increase the number of entries from
agencies and advertisers?
It seems that SEMPL goes along the
right path in the Adriatic region, because its recognition is increasing, while
the number of entries from the other countries in also rising. A positive trend
was also seen in the increasing number of speakers from the region. Since it is
a region that has a lot in common in the field of media consumption and
communication strategy, it would make sense to present good practice examples, which
have been implemented throughout the region, or examples of media strategies of
regional brands across different countries. This would strengthen the feeling
that we practically operate in the same market and that media strategies could
be prepared holistically as well.