Brand Culture in a Digital Ecosystem
After having spent 3 fully packed days at the Summer Vivaldi Forum on Mokra Gora in Serbia, we wanted to share a short synopsis encompassing some of the highlights of this event.
The conference was organized by the Mokra Gora School of Management in cooperation with the Digital Marketing Agency Homepage. It took place in the beautiful surroundings of Drvengrad (Timber Town) on Mokra Gora from June 19th to 21st.
This is an event that definitely no marketer should miss out on if you want to stay abreast of what’s hot and new in the marketing world. A mix of inspiring presentations and dynamic panel discussions on trending topics offered key insights into what is happening with our consumers and how our working environment is changing continuously. Moreover, this forum is an excellent opportunity to connect and network with colleagues from different industries and expertise fields.
DAY 1
The first day of the forum was giving an overview of the umbrella topic „Brand Culture in a Digital Ecosystem“ through different presentations and one panel discussion.
Amongst others, we heard from Bojan Joksimović of the O5 Brand Design Consultancy how nowadays a business needs to operate in order to stay relevant for consumers and that brands need to have a social aspect, i.e. a real meaning for the consumer. Focusing simply on profits is not enough anymore for a company to survive.
We also had the chance to listen to the keynote speaker Lazar Džamić, former Head of Strategy at Google Zoo, whose presentation bore the catching title „What would be written on your tomb stone?“ He was talking about the importance of the combination of context, data and content & experiences in our marketing efforts and the focus on overall Customer Experience Management.
Finally, the day was concluded with the first panel discussion of the forum on the topic „The audience is always right“. The panel was moderated by the CEO of Puzzle Consulting Manuela Stamatović and together with her fellow panelists, they were discussing how the way companies are doing business has changed as a result of the development of digital technologies. In addition, they discussed trending topics such as the importance of deeply knowing and understanding your customers, how communication with the audience has changed to become more of a dialogue and whether companies can truly impact the quality of life of their consumers.
DAY 2
The next day continued in the same rhythm, including more panel discussions. As an example, we could listen to experts debate on how brands live on the internet. That concrete panel was led by Aleksandar Nikolić, Tesla Brand Marketing Manager at Comtrade.
The second panel was also very interesting as the panelists shared their experiences on how very strict regulations have an impact on how they are allowed to promote their brands. They discussed how you can be creative and stay relevant with out-of-the-box approaches and upgrades thanks to technology and innovations. Tijana Braunović from Philip Morris International shared her best practices on how the Iqos product allows them to go a step further with their marketing activities as they are promoting a device, not tobacco. Dejan Kosanović from Mozzart shared interesting real-life examples from the gambling industry and how difficult fair play can be in a highly competitive arena.
DAY 3
The last day of the conference brought to us two completely different panels, but both of them highly entertaining in their own right.
The first one assembled panelists who are all three influencers in their respective fields. Miloš Turinski from Poslovi Infostud coordinated the conversation between Branislava Antović, journalist and blog author, Ivan Minić, online marketing professional and Milan Trbojević, founder and director of Knjiški moljac. They were debating the theme of personal branding and how it needs to be correctly approached in order to be done right. A dynamic discussion including many successful but also curious happenings from the real world opened our eyes on how much effort and time needs to be invested in order to be truly recognized and followed by an audience.
The cherry on the cake was definitely the last act of the day – the performance by the guys of Državni posao. Specially for the forum, they have created a sketch on the topic of Personal Branding. In the end, the audience also had the possibility to ask them questions about their experiences and career paths which was accompanied by a lot of laughter and applause.
To sum up, we have enjoyed the 3-day Vivaldi CMO Forum immensely. Not only because of the interesting presentations and relevant panel discussions, but also because of the chance to meet many new interesting people and interact with them in a very relaxed atmosphere.
We invite all marketers who want to learn more about marketing trends, deep-dive into consumer insights and connect with colleagues to join the forum next year. You will not be disappointed!
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