In an interview for Slovenian Marketing magazine, Srđan Šaper, founder of I&F McCann Grupa talks about his music and art career, his entry into the world of advertising, business development and negotiating the integration of Agency McCann Zagreb, the people he works with, as well as Belgrade as a new “hub” for regional business.
The people I work with usually collaborate with me for many years. They grow with the development of the company, while those just starting their professional careers serve as excellent example that this is an agency where they can thrive. So, for the important functions, I always choose “our” people first. And people must be determined, courageous, and not be afraid of making decisions.
For me it is praiseworthy that I can say to the public and customers that my colleagues are better experts than me in certain areas. And they are.
If clients in certain countries will really work with you all depends on your quality, knowledge, price and so on. Which is not so bad in a certain way, because there is the constant need to be focused and care about the quality of the agency.
Small projects, done in the short term, overnight sometimes, projects that do not bring money, are very important for maintaining long-term cooperation with customers. We are trying to invest a lot of funds and do a significant number of pro-bono projects for our partners.
We have are most successful in Serbia and Macedonia, but also in Montenegro, where we are the number one agency. In Albania, we are among the top five, similar in Bulgaria. In Slovenia we are small; we have a small media agency. We are good in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also negotiating the integration of McCann in Croatia. We present a system which is one of the few that has a clear management and organizational structure in the area from Bulgaria to Slovenia.
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The entire interview can be read in the printed edition of Marketing magazine: http://www.marketingmagazin.si/novice/mmarketing/11618/izsel-je-novi-mm
