FOCUS ON
EVENTS IN SERBIA
2018
DI PLOM ACY
&
COM M E RC E
Focus on
EVENTS IN SERBIA
ROBERT ČOBAN
FOLLOWING THE HUMAN NEED FOR GETTING TOGETHER Up until 10 years ago, the music industry lived off the sale of sound carriers. First records, then audio cassettes, and finally CDs. Then the Internet came and the consummation of music shifted to stream and download EVENTS
owever, even in a digital age – people have preserved the desire to gather, socialize, drink a beer together – so the industry of concerts and music festivals flourished in the past decade. Maybe it’s precisely due to the alienation coming with the digital age, but live encounters among people have become more important than ever. The same phenomenon happened
H
in the media as well. Until 2008, Color Press Group’s income came exclusively from printing and selling magazines. The economic crisis started that year, and Apple launched the first iPhone model the year before, completely changing the way we consummate the media. Of course, we also followed the digitalization trend and we initiated a large number of portals. However, the fact that almost 90% of money from online advertising goes to Google and Facebook forced us to launch a third media platform – events!
4
Since the first Pro Femina Conference in 2013 until today, our company organized around 350 different events – in average, 70 events annually: conferences, festivals, book promotions, concerts, etc. We organized events in trains, royal palaces, hotels, on the streets and squares. Events became an equally important part of our portfolio as magazines and internet portals. Our readers like events because that is a chance for them to get to know each other, to meet some of their favourite stars, to learn something live and to have fun. Our advertising agents like events as well, because that is an excellent way for them to directly reach their consumers. Diversification in this direction is an excellent thing, if it remains within the framework of the media company’s basic profile. So, when a media company
Since the first Pro Femina Conference in 2013 until today, our company organized around 350 different events
owner starts a real-estate business, for example, this is a wrong kind of diversification. This business is more profitable than the publishing business, but he knows nothing about it. Some publishers from the entire region paid dearly for such mistakes. It is important to stay inside the circle of your consumers, your clients, your advertisers, in familiar waters where you can recognize a whirlpool, a shark or a rock. In our case – events already reached 20% of total revenues and 25% of profit. Let me mention just a few conferences and festivals: "Pro Femina", "Teen Talk", "Food Talk", "Digital", "Porodične firme"; "The Economist", "Novosadski Oktoberfest", "Oktoberfest Montenegro"; "Winterfest", "Božićno seoce kod Hrama", "Food Planet"; "Štrand Summerfest", "Belgrade Food Show" and many other. In order to successfully organize events, the company has to create a completely new profile of employees who will work on these projects. We needed to explain to the clients why this approach is significant for their connection with users or consumers and finally, we had to make each one of these projects economically independent and profitable, in which we were maximally successful. All this is a very difficult and complicated process – but if you like what you do and if you know the business – such diversification is a real pleasure!
Focus on
EVENTS IN SERBIA
Ž I K ICA MI L O Š E VI Ć
EVENT INDUSTRY The next big thing TRENDS
n today’s world we face the mass violating of intellectual property rights. Everything can and will be downloaded and stolen, torrent websites are being shut down abruptly one by one, and it is strange how anyone can make money from anything that involves intangible value. It is absurd that nowadays it is more expensive to buy a sandwich than to have a complete discography of the filmography of a certain author, but it is a sad truth. However, this disruption has marked the era of innovations in the world. Now films are being increasingly produced in 3D, to add value to visiting the cinema. The live experience is crucial. Bands cannot sell records, streaming money is scarce, but festivals and gigs are increasingly on the rise; events are on the rise. Events, this is the keyword now, and the next big thing to happen; festivals, congresses, conferences and sporting events. Personal presence has become crucial in a world where everyone is virtually saturated with online communication, online commenting and the virtual presence. People, all over again, in contrast to during the ‘90s and ‘00s, when they wanted isolation, want to be present; to be there at events. The event industry, thus, has become one of the highest grossing industries in the world. We can see it everywhere: music festivals are mushrooming all around, and the conferences are the second wave of... well, the mushrooming trend. And there is big money to be made there. The events industry is booming even though the market is saturated.
I
6
POWERFUL CONSUMER, BORING HYPER-CONNECTIVITY Global hyper-connectivity has empowered the individual – you only need to go on Twitter for two seconds to see how important everybody thinks their personal opinion is. We are all becoming increasingly aware of not only the ethical and environmental values of things, but also what intangible value each thing and experience has. The first thing that every brand asks when it wants to create an event is, ‘How can we create an experience that will allow us to earn more money from more people?’ and that’s the first error. In reality, the brand experience today is “how can we create an experience that will allow us to build a relationship with our customers, and ensure their loyalty?’, and the answer to that is the intangible value that the modern consumer seeks; connection. The flaw with our permanently online world is that real life community and connection is becoming second-hand, when it is truly matched by nothing. We’re inventing technologies under the guise that they’re helping – online shopping, Beacons which geo-locate nearby sales, bots that instantly generate recommendations – whilst forgetting that this only further isolates the individual consumer, instead of bringing that connection and uniting the masses into a community. And suddenly we got bored of it. And this is where events jump in, since they are a first-class experience. FACTS & FIGURES Let us talk some figures. In the UK, the value of the events industry is constantly rising and it is some £50 bil-
lion in 2017. And in further encouraging news for the industry, business visits were the best performing sector of the visitor economy in the first half of 2018. This has been the best performing sector of the economy, the most resilient one. At destinations across the world that stage events there are benefits of employment, regeneration, inward investment, trade development and knowledge exchange, as the industry’s creativity and unrivalled expertise generates business, educational, recreational and social opportunities for all of us. “The most noticeable trend in 2017 was a massive move towards more experientially-led events. Clients are no longer satisfied to just sit their delegates in the conference room – they want an experience that their delegates will remember, so the activity side of our offering has gone through
The event industry is one of the highestrising sectors of industry, and it not only contributes to the economy, but also to the community
the roof.” - says Ian Edwards, Chief Executive of Celtic Manor Resort and International Convention Centre Wales. The hottest trend is using event apps - the amount of event apps has grown 20% year on year. 76% of event professionals who do not use an event app intend on adopting one in the next year. (Event MB, 2017) And this also applies to other corners of the world. The future is ensuring the valuable loyalty of the empowered consumer by giving them something more, something emotional, social and real. That’s what events do. And that’s why events will never go out of fashion.
Focus on
EVENTS IN SERBIA
A DAY FOR DIPLOMATS IN LORIST FAIR Long-term goal of Novi Sad Fair is a stable and balanced development of all resources that increase the qualitative, quantitative and spatial potential of the Fair
C O R P O R AT E
ovi Sad Fair’s mission is to integrate potentials of the state, the city, enterprises, science, wider community and employees and thus affect the promotion, development and internationalization of the economy.
N
Start of the autumn season at the Novi Sad Fair is always reserved for Lorist. This year, Lorist will be held from October 3 – 7. For more than 50 years, it presents the offer for hunting, fishing, tourism, ecology and sports. How much has it contributed to positive im-
age of Novi Sad in five decades? — Lorist fair is marking 40 years of membership at the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry – UFI this year. So, almost from its very beginning, Lorist has attracted worldwide attention, which makes Novi Sad stand out as well, as the host city. It has resisted times of crisis, different regimes, and it was always interesting and engaging to key people in the country. This is confirmed also by the fact that President Tito visited and opened it on several occasions in the past. Even today, high representatives from all lev-
SLOBODAN CVETKOVIĆ General Manager of Novi Sad Fair
Lorist has attracted worldwide attention, which makes Novi Sad stand out as well, as the host city
8
els of government – city, provincial and republic, come to Lorist and relevant ministers are most often its honorary guests. Among participants and visitors are high economic, scientific and political delegations from many countries. What we have been organizing for the past three years just before the opening of Tourism Fair is the Diplomatic Day. Last year we hosted representatives of 25 diplomatic missions in Serbia. Representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Brazil, Bosnia Herzegovina, Cyprus, Croatia, Montenegro, Guinea, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, Qatar, Korea, Congo, Libya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Tunisia and Ukraine responded to our call. On this occasion, we promoted possibilities for cooperation between domestic and economies of other countries, through active participation in events of the Novi Sad Fair, with accent on Agricultural Fair and all the benefits it brings. Exhibiting at fair in the age of modern technologies and social networks doesn’t seem as the best choice for promotion of companies, and yet, the fair industry survives. Number of exhibitors and visitors at the Novi Sad Fair has been on the rise over the past
Focus on
EVENTS IN SERBIA
several years. Which contents are the best invitation to come to fair? — For years back, the fair industry cannot be imagined without conference activities, expert conventions, lectures and practical professional improvement. We have the upper hand here because of the Congress Centre Master, which is in function of the events that we organize. However, to survive means, among other, to keep up with the times. New technologies and web surrounding cannot be neglected. For some time, we have been organizing international B2B meetings for the exhibitors. Applying for participation, complete preparation, choosing partners – all this is done online and the fair event is where the pre-prepared businessmen meet to agree on specific cooperation. We will take a step further at the Tourism Fair this year. With support from the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, and in cooperation with the German Evintra
Agency, we have the Hosted Buyer Programme, where exhibitors can establish cooperation with tour operators from abroad. Thanks to this, we will have exhibitors and participants coming to the Fair from Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Czech, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, India, Hungary, Macedonia, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Croatia, Ukraine, United Kingdom… Lorist International Fair, which include fairs dedicated to hunting, fishing, tourism, ecology and sports, are the first in line of events that will be organized at the Novi Sad Fair by the end of the year. What comes after them and are there any new events? — We organized the Car Show last year after a three-year break. Good turnout of exhibitors and excellent interest of the visitors included it in the event calendar this year as well, in the period
from October 24 - 28. The specialized Sjaj Exhibition will greet jewellers and watchmakers from November 1 – 4, while Beekeeping Fair of the Danube Region will be held on November 17. Novi Sad Fair’s capacities allow for organization of various events, both in fair halls and in the open area, as well as in the Congress Centre Master. Along with the fairs we prepare ourselves, we also organize events in partnership with companies, associations and individuals. This way, this autumn Novi Sad Fair will host the Milling Bakery Confectionery Packaging Expo, Novi Sad Oktoberfest, Serbia Hair Open, Serbia Fashion Week, Traffic Solutions Expo, etc. We will also host the First International ICT Expo with conference and accompanying program SEE-IT SUMMIT 2018. It will be held from November 7 – 9, and it will gather the IT sector in SE Europe.
T H E G OA L
DEVELOPMENT In the upcoming five-year plan, the goal for Novi Sad Fair development is the qualitative development focused on strategic improvements of fair and conference activities, with intensive technical and technological support.
Novi Sad Fair has existed for almost a century, Agricultural Fair is being held for almost nine decades, Lorist Fair have lasted for more than 50 years. How do you plan to keep and increase the number of exhibitors in the upcoming period, and offer sufficiently attractive programmes that will continue to attract visitors’ attention? — In the upcoming five-year plan, the goal for Novi Sad Fair development is the qualitative development focused on strategic improvements of fair and conference activities, with intensive technical and technological support, which will provide the human potential of the Fair with conditions for making a differentiated offer for professional participants and the widest audience. Quantitative development of fair and conference activities will be focused on the making of new events and forming of strategic alliances to boost business activity in the domain of core business. We base our spatial development on revitalization of existing capacities, by respecting the principles of energy efficiency and rational management of facilities, and on construction of new business and exhibition capacities. Novi Sad Fair’s mission is to integrate potentials of the state, the city, enterprises, science, wider community and employees and thus affect the promotion, development and internationalization of the economy. Through constant innovation and willingness to open to new programmes, topics, partners and markets, Novi Sad Fair is creating a harmonious ambience for exchange of know-how, ideas, products and services, and makes the company’s operations sustainable.
9
Focus on
EVENTS IN SERBIA
DIGITAL 2018
EVENT
Fifth regional conference on trends in telecommunications and the media, “Digital 2018”, organized by Color Media Communications, gathered more than 700 speakers, participants, the media and guests from the entire region and abroad, on September 6 and 7 in Belgrade
he conference was officially opened by the Minister of Culture and Information, Vladan Vukosavljević. – Digital media and social networks have taken precedence, especially among the younger generations – Vukosavljević underlined, adding that the Ministry is planning a number of activities to return the Cyrillic in the digital media. Speakers at the opening were the Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Serbia, Dennis Keefe, and State Secretary
T
H. E. Denis Keefe, UK Ambassador to Serbia
10
at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Tatjana Matić. – In preparation for this conference, I have thought about the evolution of digitalization. It is my subjective impression that the main changes happened in the past four years – Ambassador Keefe pointed out, after which he shared his interesting digital experience in that time period: - I opened a Twitter account, wrote blogs in different languages, conducted dialogues on networks, met “trolls”, photos from my
Kenechi Belusevic, Discovery CEEMCA
Transfer of information used to require days, and even years, today it’s measured in seconds
Gregory Dorcel, CEO Marc Dorcel Group
phone ended up in many newspapers, my Embassy received its first app, and I even started using Instagram. Digitalization is imperative for our future. Transfer of information used to require days, and even years, today it’s measured in seconds. Our operators know this best. Revenue from telecommunications recorded a steady growth and it makes for 4.3% of the total GDP – Tatjana Matić pointed out, after which she added the novelties that happened in the field of digitalization in this sector. The second day of the conference was opened by Branko Ružić, who said on this occasion that state services exchanged documents around 500,000 times through eZUP information system, i.e. that this is the number of times that citizens didn’t have to go to different counters and bring documents. “Officers did that for them, from their computer, by accessing key databases such as MIA, registries, tax administration, PIO, cadastre, National Employment Service, Central Registry of Man-
Branko Ružić, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government of the Republic of Serbia
Focus on
EVENTS IN SERBIA
Dejan Ćirjaković, Državni posao
Tatjana Matić, State Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications
Yiftah Curiel, Director of the department for digital diplomacy at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Marija Matić, Media Planning Director, Direct Media
datory Social Insurance and court documents,” Ružić says. Canadian Ambassador Kati Csaba said at the opening of the second day of the conference that the citizens are carriers of technological development of the society and the state. She said that Canada is facilitating the work of the economy and functioning of the society through technological innovations. Program of the conference traditionally began with a panel, where the speakers were CEOs of telecom leaders of the region: Ranko Jelača, Telekom Slovenije, Marek Slačik, PPF grupa (Telenor), Slobodan Đinović, Orion, Predrag Ćulibrk, Telekom Srbija and Dejan Turk, Vip mobile. During the two days of the conference, topics of discussions in 9 panels and 13 case studies included transition towards on-demand channels, generation Z, copyrights in a digital age, political consults in the region, e-sports,
Michael Moriarty, CEO of AMC Networks International - Central Europe
Vladan Vukosavljevic, Minister of Culture and Information in the Government of the Republic of Serbia
economy of sharing, the entertainment industry, fake news, digital marketing, digitalization of culture, safe internet, domestic IT scene and many other topics. Some of this year’s participants are: Kenechi Belusevic, Discovery, Michael Moriarty, AMCNI, Gregory Dorcel, MARC DORCEL Group, Marija Matić, Direct Media, Marijana Vukašinović, Telekom Srbija, Solen Lagranze, Ginx TV, Severine Garuso, Thema, Vuk Guberinić, CAR:GO, Dejan Ćirjaković, Državni posao, Srđan Vuk Stankov, Exit Festival, Tomislav Ricov, Weekend Media Festival, Iftah Kjuriel, Ministarstvo spoljnih poslova Izraela, Jelena Jovanović, Privredna komora Srbije, Mirko Topalski, Eipix Entertainment, Nenad Milanović, Coing, Vukašin Stojkov, Startit. Milan Šolaja, Vojvođanski IKT klaster, Srđa Popović, CANVAS, Branimir Brkljač, Mokrin House, Tanja Tatomirović, Microsoft, Marko Mudrinić, Netokracija, Nenad Milosav-
H.E. Kati Csaba, Canada's Ambassador to Serbia
ljević, njuz.net and many others. "Digital 2018" conference was supported by: FOX, Viasat World, Epic Drama, AMC Network International, Direct Media, A1 Telekom Austria group, Telekom Srbija, Discovery Channel, AMS osiguranje, VOX Electronics, CarCo, Smart Water, National Geographic, Thema A canal + Group Company, Ginx Esports TV, Grand kafa, Tuborg. FA C T S
TWO DIGITAL DAYS ”Digital 2018”, organized by Color Media Communications, gathered more than 700 speakers, participants, the media and guests from the entire region and abroad, on September 6 and 7 in Belgrade.
Vuk Guberinić, CEO CarGO
Séverine Garusso, Thema
11