Jelena Fiškuš (HURA): We Need to Adapt Faster to New Technologies and Changes in Consumer Habits

The Croatian Association of Market Communication Agencies (HURA) recently presented a new Management Board, led by the internationally most awarded domestic creative director Jelena Fiškuš. This co-founder and creative director of Studio Sonda has taken the lead of the association whose members represent more than 80 percent of the domestic marketing market, and in the next four years, she will be joined by newly appointed members: GroupM’s director for Croatia and Slovenia Rajna Cuculić, SeekandHita founder Mario Frančešević, co-founder of the Communication Office Colić, Laco and partners Kristina Laco, and co-owner of the Šesnić & Turković studio Marko Šesnić.

What will be your first steps or topics you will tackle?

– Some topics are timeless and always worth working on, such as strengthening internal organization and relevance and improving the conditions in which we operate. For some, we want to get information in black and white from the members. One of the first steps is a comprehensive in-depth study of their needs and desires, which will be conducted by an independent research agency. HURA is a stable and prosperous association thanks to the previous management led by Anđela Buljan Šiber and those before her, led by Davor Bruketa and Damir Ciglar, and the excellent professional team led by executive director Dunja Ballon. They have created excellent and healthy foundations, and the new management has the privilege of maintaining continuity and refining those nuances that bring change.

The previous management, in which you were a member, operated in quite challenging times. What moves are you most proud of?

– We managed not only to maintain stability but also to ensure progress. HURA has grown by sixty percent, to sixty member companies, and has become the holder of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) license. In less than two years, IAB Croatia has gathered 95 member companies, and its projects are a new force in the digital market. ‘Communication Days’ have confirmed the position of the most visited domestic gathering of market communication industries, and so far we have had three representatives in the jury of the largest creativity festival ‘Cannes Lions’, which says a lot considering that we stand alongside experts from markets incomparably larger than ours.

What was the volume of the domestic advertising market in the past year?

– The total revenues of HURA’s member agencies, which account for more than eighty percent of total advertising budgets in the country, reached nearly 307 million euros last year, an increase of about three percent compared to 2021. Among all the data, I am particularly pleased with the one that states that 2022 saw a seven percent increase in the number of employees.

What trends do you notice in media investments?

– These trends reflect the need for adaptation in a world dominated by technological advancement and changing consumer habits. We see an increase in the importance of digital platforms, but television still holds a strong position. In this, our board member Rajna Cuculić is a great expert. According to her, there is a clear need for diversification and premiumization of the media space to allow advertisers to stand out. The industry is striving to shift from theoretical visibility of messages to actual visibility and interaction with the audience, which requires greater investments in research and measurement, and artificial intelligence simplifies processes.

In which segments is there the most room for improvement?

– I want to make it clear how important our profession is not only for the market and economic aspect but also for the social and cultural. It is necessary to work on educating our clients, and ourselves, about how the profession is developing in different markets and what benefits it can bring to brands and society, what trends exist, what campaigns and tools we can use, and what we can do if we allow ourselves to step out of the average and uncompromisingly insist on quality.

With Sean Poropat, you founded Studio Sonda and became the internationally most awarded creative director. What is the secret?

– There is no secret. The key is to recognize in time what you love and what you are good at, and then work, work, work… I am proud when someone from our industry realizes projects that bring about some change: from smaller ones, for example, a family farm that, thanks to its products and services and collaboration with us, has secured work for its future generations, to large projects that protect the planet or help large brands show that they understand the time we live in.

What stage is the Sonda creative center in?

– A dynamic development and continuous growth. Since its opening, we have been intensively working on establishing and developing programs and activities, and so far, thanks to the support of various institutions, we have had the opportunity to collaborate with nearly four hundred children, young people, and adults who have attended our workshops and lectures and have been inspired and developed their creativity with us. As part of the ‘Designed by People’ program, people without prior experience can design a market-relevant product, which we have so far achieved in collaboration with Elan and Kraš, and this year we launched ‘SeaStar Hero’, a new category for cleaning the seabed. We have helped young people in branding their own family farms and crafts, organized exhibitions, workshops for children with special needs, provided support to colleagues in implementing STEM workshops, established a number of collaborations…

Do you think that the domestic market needs more such centers and does HURA have an interest in realizing similar projects that would help raise new creatives?

– We have decided on the Creative Center as a testing ground that should, after some time, show how creativity affects the development of a community and how, when properly managed, creative processes can be transformed into incredible concrete projects. But creativity can be encouraged in various ways: through projects, education, within the educational system, etc. In this context, HURA is already doing a lot: there are ‘Communication Days’, creative competitions, regulation of the profession, educational workshops like ‘HOWtoWOW’, etc. We will continue to do this even more and stronger.