The jury for this year’s Sempler Awards for the best media strategies of the year, which will be awarded on the 27th November 2014 at the conference on media trends SEMPL in Portorož, is led by Vesna Beganović, the founder and CEO of the communication agency Via Media from Sarajevo, BiH. In assesing the submitted media projects – last year there were 75 entries from the countries in the Adriatic region – she will be joined by the eight jury members, well-known media and communication experts from the region.
We asked Mrs. Beganović, which criteria will the jury follow when assessing the entries, how the objectivity and credibility will be ensured and what does a Sempler Award mean for an agency.
The Sempler Award is a competition for the best media strategies in the Adriatic region. How would you describe an ideal media strategy? Which elements should it include to be exceptional in every way?
I don’t believe in perfection, but I do believe in efficiency. An efficient media strategy has to narrow the marketing focus, know every detail of an ideal customer, position its business and attract media attention. And use the branding techniques on social media as the most successful brands constantly reach consumers via online world. When creating the strategy, one has to be consistent, have a sense of the right message in the right time, and in additon it has to monitor, report and evaluate the success of each activity. Last but not least, the perfect media strategy should find the customers in the places where it surprises and connects them.
As a president of the Sempler Awards jury, what will you seek for in the submitted entries?
As a person characterized by hardworking, creative order, focus and discipline, I won’t be too strict juror, but I will certainly try to understand the context in which the campaign was created and take into account the realization of the objectives, defined in the brief, communication effectiveness, the concept and its creativity, the power of idea, the understanding of local relevance and creative use of media.
Every jury member has his/her personal preferences on what he/she likes although this should not affect the final result. How will you ensure the objectivity of the jury members to choose truly the best media strategy – and not the most creative one as this is not the aim of the Sempler Award competition?
All the jury members are distinguished experts who have a lot of experience and they also look after their personal reputation within the community, which is directly reflected in their professional objectivity. In the first place, the responsibility of each jury member is to take into account the objectives and measurable results of the media campaign, which is also the aim of the Sempler competition.
What happens when the jury assess the media campaign in which any of the jury members participated? Is this jury member excluded from the judging for the time?
The rules of the Sempler competition specify that the jury member cannot vote for the entry that his/her agency submitted. The member who was involved in the assessed project leaves for the time of judging it. The lobbying among the jury members is not allowed.
What does the Sempler competition mean in Adriatic region? What kind of reputation does it have and what does it bring to the winning agencies?
Sempler has a long tradition, it has gone through ups and downs and survived in all the turbulent times as a quality constant. It is important to benchmark yourself to the others in the region because in strengthens the competitive spirit which »sharpens« our profession and encourages agencies to be even better. Any prize won has a motivational impact on the team in the agency and offers an excellent opportunity for the promotion of the agency’s quality.
* Vesna Beganović has founded the communication agency Via Media in Sarajevo, BiH, in 1997. Since 2012 she is also a partner in the media agency Via Media Reach. She has many years of experience in marketing and consulting, and her area of expertise ranges from branding, strategic planning and marketing communications to consulting at the European Union, EBRD and The World Bank projects. She is also the author of the Branding conference (Branding konferencija) concept.
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