Impressions from professional training “Finance for all”

Because we want to broaden aspects and knowledge from various fields, and because no successful business can be managed without a good knowledge of finance, we have provided our employees with a comprehensive training that will help them acquire a narrow knowledge of this important business segment.

Armed with the desire for knowledge, a team of four “Bild-ers”: Haris Baltic, Azra Cengic, Ksenija Ikovic and Iva Malešević, headed towards the premises of Fidelity Consulting for the rendezvous with Milos Vukovic, CEO of the company. The reason was training “Finance for All”.

This was a very intensive two-day training but had our employees are satisfied with the knowledge they acquired. They said that this training motivated them to further research various tools and statements. During the two days of learning with Miloš, they worked on numerous financial units: financial management, inflation, financial reports, rational analysis, etc. Each of these units was backed up by interesting practical examples, which were a great way to test the learned and as well to take a slightly different view on the state of the certain company. Attendees worked in various tools (primarily for the cash flow statement), which was given to them as part of package material for further use in everyday work. Although each of the units were useful, our financial managers were particularly interested in the comparative ratio analysis of two companies, which helped them see and seek for various solutions and above all, which are the key indicators of business success.

We highly recommend this training to managers of all levels, financial managers and entrepreneurs, because it will help them improve their skills with numbers and expand their knowledge on finance. But we also recommend it to the ones with less sound knowledge in this field, because they will learn a lot on the simplified examples from the practice.

Personal development and networking at the Business Café gathering

The pleasant atmosphere of the spring Business Café left us with great impressions, so we wanted to come back again. The goal remained the same: personal development and networking.

This time, (the 6th) Business Café  was held in the premises of Verde complex in Podgorica and our Milos Dimic from Marketing was there. He heard extraordinary experiences and situations of speakers,, which motivated him to be “stronger than excuse”.

Special guests were: Dragan Adzic, one of the most famous coaches from this area, coach of women’s HC Buducnost, former Montenegrin handball national team coach and TEDx speaker, Ivona Dabetic Jovovic, owner of Vision Event organization, co-owner of Aliter Technologies Montenegro and founder of the NGO Brini o sebi and Igor Majer, Project Manager at Elko Team, founder of the “Mayer” multisport academy and athletic school “Gump” and the first Ironman Triathlon in Montenegro. Even from these short biographies, we could’ve anticipated that the next few hours will be very interesting.

The idea behind the event and its purpose was revealed  in the previous blog post about Business Café. This time, we’ll focus on several main messages that Milos found interesting and worth sharing.

Dragan Adzic, the first coach from Montenegro who had achieved great success at the club and representative level, is fascinating in many ways. Everyone who follows the sport knows him for an always calm and stable nature. For Dragan, success is a question of the road. For a competition cup, he says, it is worth “only until you win it, and then, it becomes a mud.” As soon as the cup is conquered, it ceases to be important, because, one immediately seeks to achieve a higher goal. Dragan asserts that every successful person must be modest and must know that “as soon as you rise high above the earth, it’s inevitable that you’ll fall.” What gives Dragan a special pleasure is training younger generations. Speaking of the complexity of the role of a coach, he says that it’s hard enough to work on yourself, and even more difficult to work on others. From this speech we carry a message that it’s important to be modest and never think for ourselves that we’re the best in something, but on the contrary. This mindset make us want to work even more, agree?

Ivona Dabetic Jovovic used to work in the corporate world for a full 10 years. The main reasons for choosing to enter entrepreneurial waters is the desire to manage her own time and work exclusively on the projects she finds interesting. When you’re part of a company and you work in a team, it’s inevitable that, from time to time, you’ll have to work on projects that you don’t really like and find them boring. Also, as a company employee you don’t have complete control over your time. Even when you don’t have much work to do, you still have to be in the office for 8h, 5 days a week. However, when you manage your own business, there’s no place for these disadvantages. When you’re an entrepreneur, you allow yourself a break for two days in the middle of a working week, and you don’t have to justify it to anyone. On the other hand, it is true that when you run your own business, you must be present at every stage of its development. But when you know that is meaningful and it’s for your well-being and financial stability, no work is difficult. Ivona also points out that gratitude is necessary for every success, because it enables you to remain your feet on the ground, which is one of the key factors for personal progress.

From the dynamic and interesting conversation of Igor Majer with moderator Slavica Nikolic, we would emphasize the meaning of the word “balance”, the importance of finding a personal “trigger” and the function of commitment. Igor was well aware that in our culture, words like: blood, beat, sweat, etc, are associated with someone who’s strong (both physically and mentally) and as such is desirable. Whereas, the word “balance” sounds lukewarm and as if it’s not good enough. However, this should change, because the balance is one of the key factors of success, he claims. In addition to the balance, each person should find an “internal trigger” that pushes a person to take certain steps towards achieving the goal. Many people want to be served with the exact formula of success, while in essence, this formula doesn’t exist. Everyone defines success in a different way and each of us possesses a unique inner motivation. Igor also suggests that you should make a commitment: “Commit yourself to the spouse, your parents, your brother, your sister, or your friends to achieve what you have planned, and you’ll see that there’s no way back.” Try committing, maybe that will make you unstoppable, just like it worked for Igor. Are you ready to accept the little Igor’s challenge and announce your goals on your Facebook profile (and commit yourself to all your Facebook friends)? :) If you do, please tell us about the outcome. :)

Further talks continued in a café in a relaxed atmosphere spiced with delicious canapés and warm drinks. The stories continue, always enriched by certain lessons, carving real fighters for decades. Therefore, make a decision to be stronger than excuse and toast with successful people at the next Business Café.

Impressions from the 4th imPRove Seminar – Make Google work for you!

You have created your Gmail account at least once and left at least a fake name. By automatism, you have thus created your own Internet birth book because Google is very curious and wants to know everything! :)

Varga is not fake!

Miroslav Varga is part of the Escape team from Osijeka. The oldest  Google AdWords certified trainer in the Google Adriatic region.  He came to Podgorica with one goal – to teach us how to make Google to work for us. With more than 2,000 hours of education and over 10,000 campaigns, he talked about a 24/7, who does not ask for sick leave, vacation or off days (?). He is very subjective and works in all countries of the world. He told us a story about the Internet today and the Google AdWords.

Nobody is perfect

He admits that nothing is perfect and that even today he wraps up the campaign with a simple conclusion: “Dear client, at least we know what does not work!” He adds, through a smile, that he was lucky for being wrong so many times, but at someone else’s spent. However, this story had a more important conclusion, that the biggest Google AdWords sacrament is actually testing. In the testing process, it’s easy to crystallize what is working and what does not. Varga told us why it’s not easy to create a good AdWords campaign. First of all, because it does not only depend on ad itself. Stay with us to learn more about cause-and-effect leads to a larger number of impressions on your ad.

Website as the foundation of virtual identity!

Estimates say you need 10,000 to 15,000 euros for making a good website. Where’s the problem? Laughing, he explained why he turned from website development to Google AdWords: you can not simply explain to people the importance of a good web site. For reminding sakes, 40% of visitors wait no more than 3 seconds for the website to load. Hence, may we allow ourselves the luxury of inadequate page loading?

A virtual personality, as Varga calls it, is getting more and more important. The first thing we do when eager to learn more about a company is to Google it, and then we go further through a Facebook search. Therefore, be sure to design your site primarily for the user, and not for yourself and under your own criteria.

So before you even think how your site is just great, take a few minutes to check. For all the irregularities on the site, Varga primarily recommends using Google tools, because at the end of the day, all sites are adapting to the Google algorithm.

Let’s get back for a moment to the question: what does Google know about me?

Although most of us are shocked when we realize that Google knows almost everything about us (primarily our personal information we entered during login), our search history (from the very first click in the search box!), locations we visited and devices and applications we use, somehow, we forget one thing, that  we gave all the information to Google completely voluntarily. Yes, we did. Perhaps next time it would be a good idea to read those little letters and the terms of use before you click “I agree”, hm? If American films taught us anything, it is that the most important things are always written in small letters, and that, because of their ignorance, we may easily end up in fishy zone. But Google is very cautious, benevolent and dedicated to our privacy, which is why he stores all our data on 3 disks, 2 computers, on 2 tectonic plates! :) Use the  link o the Personal info & privacy section and discover everything Google knows about you.

But let’s look at it a bit differently! Since Google knows everything about us, why don’t we make it work for us?! ;)

The first dilemma: Do we need Google AdWords when we have good SEO?

When we talk about the internet market, the first and the basic thing to start is the SEO optimization. Research shows that 75% of people click on the only top 5 search results on Google, so who would not like to be in the top 5?

The basic mistake people make is running for the Google algorithm! Of course, you have to follow it, but do not follow it blindly without questioning anything.  Varga tells you: Don’t do this! Run for visitors, and then Google will run for you!

Keywords don’t have to be adapted and adjusted so that they are written correctly, by school language. Instead, aim for the street jargon. Why? Because you are not supposed to give people on the Internet too much space to “think”. You should adapt to what they are searching for, what they want to hear, and the result will not be miss out. If we expect from users to elaborate what they need and what we have to offer, sign it right away, they already gave up on us.

Now, let’s get back to our question: Do we need Google AdWords when we have good SEO? If you want to be the first in the list of searches relevant to your campaign and want to rise above the competition, the answer is “Yes“! But do not start an AdWords campaign until you optimize your site. Why? The answer could not be simpler: With better SEO optimization, the CPC (i.e., cost per click) is considerably lower!

Pay attention to the mobile!

Everything on the Internet needs to be optimized for mobile devices! 87% of users, have their mobile devices 24 hours a day. The number of searches on mobile phone is twice the size of the desktop use. The reason is the availability of the Internet on the go, i.e. access to Internet is available almost everywhere.

The basic guideline is to enable quick access to the mobile version of the site, as 53% of users will leave your site if it is loaded more than 3 seconds! So how can we not start the SEO optimization story again and all the parameters that affect it?! Remember: your site should work for you, and not in a way to refuse visitors!

What about Google AdWords?

The bravest and smartest decision you can make at the moment in Montenegro is to make a fierce online marketing effort, Varga said. In the Balkans, only 3 to 20% of the marketing budget is invested in online marketing. Regardless it is the devastating fact, it is also a window of opportunity for those who want to stand out and position themselves as market leaders.

We do not want to reveal exactly everything we learned, so we’ve outlined a few tips to keep in mind when deciding to activate your Google AdWords account:

• When you open a Google AdWords account, you receive a Customer ID – WRITE IT DOWN! Any problem that may occur, must be addressed to Google Support under that code. In other words, your case will not be processed unless you provide this ID!
• Pay attention to setting a currency, because once set currency can not be changed later
• Explore thoroughly, then create a keyword strategy 
• Pay attention to Google Ad Writing Tips
• Pay attention to the time zone
• Test minimum 2 ads to find out what does not work well
• Track reports every day … but literally e v e r y  day, because Google Analytics is an inexhaustible source of data and guidance on how and what to do next.
• Read the terms of use before agreeing to everything. :)

Little (read: complete) digression for the end: How did Varga buy me forever?

Although we learned how powerful Google can be when we want to stand out and be more visible, this was not not the highlight of the seminar for me.

As he mentioned his children during the lecture, I asked Varga on a coffee break whether anyone of them followed his path. He told me that they actually turned to arts. To my comment that art is beautiful and exalted, he told me: Well, actually, marketing is an art, too! All of us who work in marketing are in our own, special way, artists. He explained that all of us are creating and”performing” for the audience on the market. And, what is that if not the art itself?

Like every child, I dreamed of becoming an artist, but that day, more than ever before, I was especially happy for being the marketer!

So, dear fellow marketers, be imaginative, creative, create only the best, because who knows, maybe one day we will wake up as representatives of the tenth art. ;)

At the ceremony organized by the Montenegrin Employers Federation on Friday, November 24, companies from Montenegro were awarded the “MEF Corporate Social Responsibility Award (CSR)” for 2017, and Bild Studio won this prestigious award in two categories. :)

At the event Strong Economy – successful Montenegro, organized by the Montenegrin Employers Federation (MEF) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), a new strategic document of MEF: Report on parafiscalities in Montenegro was presented. In addition, MEF organized an award ceremony for Montenegrin companies in the area of corporate social responsibility in 2017.

In this way, MEF continued the practice started three years ago, with an aim to promote the examples of good practice of CSR in our country, as well as companies that create and implement this practice.

MEF President, Svetlana Vuksanović, opened the award ceremony of small, medium and large enterprises in the following categories:

• Care for employees,
• Care for environment and
• Care for the community

The main criteria for awarding were sustainability, innovation and impact on all involved parties, and the company that most consistently and in the best way incorporated CSR into its business in all three categories received the Main Prize.

Bild Studio is a proud winner in two categories: Care for employees and Care for the community in the category of small enterprises.

General manager of Bild Studio, Aleksandra Bošković, received the award and expressed great satisfaction for our company is recognized as the one that invests in its employees, their education and training, but also in the wider community, especially with regard to the projects: I’m here to shine, for the children from the Association of Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities, realized in cooperation with the partners of Bild Studio: Konjički savez Crne Gore, Sportski konjički klub Budućnost, UNIQA, Baba Ganuš, Ledo Montenegro and Brain Media and increasing the visibility of women from vulnerable categories of society for the Open Center Bona Fide, project implemented in cooperation with CARE International, Balkans.

We are very proud and honored to be the winners of this significant prize because this motivates us, even more, to follow the path of CSR and provide examples of good practice in this sphere. :)

You know that feeling when you go to a certain workshop, full of expectation that someone will teach you something, give a practical advice, maybe an inside information (like Brankica Stanković would), or simply offer something new and fresh. Maybe some of these fresh information makes you look differently at your job, maybe it motivates you to try new methods, or makes you think about things you haven’t tried so far, even makes you change your course of actions and lead you to a new way full of enthusiasm.
And then, on that glorious day, so full of optimism you go to a workshop, conference etc. and they tell you – just be creative and make viral content!

Whoa, whoa, wait… Are you kidding? How? With what? Out of bricks?
At the end of the day, without bricks, cement or anything similar, you good home with your tail between the legs, although your not a dog. 

Workshop about copywriting with Đuro Radovasović as a lecturer is nothing like that (a colleague of mine tells me to emphasize the fact that is “nothing like it” just in case). Opposite to “just be creative and make viral content!”, Đuro gave practical advice. Almost every one of his answers included his personal experience to the topic in question and he was open for communication with all participants of the workshop. Participants had various profiles. Some work in private companies some for the government, there were also the members of marketing agencies and freelancers were there too.

Now, for a moment lets get back to our question “Đuro who?”. First of all, if you haven’t heard about Đuro Radosavović before, tell what is it like to live on Jupiter? Didi the gas price increase over there too? It did, right?

Jokes aside (just for a moment), let me say that Đuro is a writer, columnist and of course a copywriter. Đuro got his knowledge about copywriting while working with agencies like Trumpet, Leo Burnett, United Moment and Kreativa Unlimited. He worked with companies like Master Card, Vip mobile, Lav pivo, Onogošt pivo, Don kafa, Coca-Cola etc. 

And what did the man with censored eyes teach us?

1. Books, books, books…
– Suggested books by “local” authors which are more or less closely related to copywriting. Rare and valuable editions.

2. “Analyzing communication” what does it mean?
– A practical method used by copywriters to gather ideas in everyday situations.

3. How to work with a designer?
– Most of the content written by a copywriter has to be visualized. How to be one with a designer?

4. How to “kill a pig in yourself”?
– And how to get through with all the other distractions in a modern world, which are getting in way of things that really matter and are valuable in business.

5. How to train for copywriting?
– Either if you want to stay in shape or train, alone or in a company, you can use this practical method.

These are some of the topics which were discussed during the workshop. I am not getting into details because it wouldn’t be nice to spoil the same workshop which will be organized in December (unofficially). If you are interested make sure you follow Facebook page – Copywriter Podgorica, for the latest info.

Generally, do not expect anyone to teach you copywriting in two days, or any craft for that matter. Do not expect anyone to hold you in your hand in the learning process, but do expect a real guideline, practical advice and a bit of wind in your back.

By the end of the workshop, emotions were overwhelming, crowd started shouting “We want more, we want more!”, and after some torches were lit, the staff of hotel CentreVille had to remove the crowd.

Of course, this workshop was not perfect, and there is definitely a space for improvement. But nothing is perfect, except this sunset. That is just perfect.

* All jokes in this blog post are well-intentioned.
* Bild Studio does not test blog posts on animals.

Marketing tricks – do they exist and where can you get a magic wand to turn you into an expert in this field? On Thursday, October 26, on the invitation of the Debate Club of the Faculty of Economics, my colleague Jelena Novaković and I went to our former (and current) faculty to discover these mysteries of the universe together with students. :)

EXCLUSIVE: 3 major marketing tricks you MUST know!

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We wanted to be completely honest and clarify some things at the very beginning: Marketing creates magic (or at least it should create it), but not with tricks. The secret of a good marketing recipe lies in just a few ingredients: knowledge, experience, wisdom and, of course, creativity.

How?

With the help of one of the most valuable company resources: people, especially those who are devoted and completely dedicated to their job, that is, I dared to say based on personal experience, 99% of us in Bild Studio (1% is just a statistic error :) ). Some have been working here since the beginning, few of them after a favorite project of employees in Bild, Great Summer Internship, and 50 of them are our brand ambassadors without the title of employees – interns from another precious project – Transfer of Knowledge.

How do professionals deal with marketing?

Or how do we do it, Head of the Marketing, Dženita Brčvak, PR, Ljiljana Polić, digital marketing specialists, Miloš Dimić and Jelena Novaković, and copywriters, Jovana Đuričić and me?

We balance everyday communication with a large number of people, from clients of completely different sensibilities to colleagues from other sectors and performing our daily tasks.

And how do we perform our tasks? Well, at least, answer to this question is easy to give: we don’t start anything without a thorough research; we embrace Google and get in the action. :)

We need to follow up on the news because it doesn’t make sense to announce something about the solar eclipse that happened in the summer or to create posts for social media related to the European basketball championship that ended in mid-September, right?

Also, we have concluded that it’s important for all those who are involved in marketing to keep up with the trends in advertising and to test whether they are good for their brand promotion. Video content that appears on social networks more than ever, campaigns with influencers that conquer the region, blogs or vlogs dilemma and what to use in our business, all of this will appear in search results if we type words trends in marketing 2017 on Google search bar. We advised participants who carefully listened to us to regularly search them and to pay special attention at the end and beginning of each year to the experts’ predictions about what will be new in this field in the coming months.

The research is, after all, important because of the thing that is always in the marketer’s focus: target groups, so we have found out the formula that always makes it easy for us to work: don’t imagine a group of people, but rather focus on one person, representative of the population you want to connect with and sell your product. Give her a name, draw her up to the smallest detail, both on paper, and in your head, think about how old that person is, what he/she loves and what doesn’t, what he/she wants, what their fears are, ambitions and lifestyle and you will ease your work around this very important thing.

What after all this?

In the end, we had to reassure the audience and explain that, if they’ve defined their plan, conducted research and published content, this is not the end, but only the beginning of dealing with this interesting science. The following are the analysis and evaluations of the whole process that is important for 3 main reasons:

• they help us see if we are doing a good job and have we achieved the set goal,
• enable us to gain insight into what kind of promotions and communication channels deliver the best results and
• they make it easier for us to work on ongoing or some completely new marketing activity.

Our presentation came to an end and it was time for the participants’ questions. Guided by the idea that people don’t ask anything when everything is completely clear to them, mainly because you have told already known story or when you were so boring that they want you just to disappear as soon as possible, we have been amazed with enthusiasm and numerous questions related to marketing specifics, advertising news, situation in Montenegro in this sphere, client’s understanding for marketing and we tried to figure out how long does one hashtag live. :)

We finished our presentation, but we stayed longer to hear the presentation of HR sector of Societe Generale Montenegro bank and we didn’t repent, because the curious spirit of the marketers was fed by new knowledge from another area.

Thanks again to the organizers for the invitation and we are looking forward to new opportunities for the exchange of knowledge, because, as they say: Knowledge only multiplies when shared. :)

AllWeb Albania is a digital marketing conference which is being held in Tirana for the second year in a row and, as a concept, it was created and held for the first time in 2012 in Macedonia with the aim to provide a unique experience, quality content and sharing knowledge between participants and speakers.

On October 12, my colleague Ljiljana Polić and I, went to Tirana, specifically Tirana Business Park, ready to hear 14 inspiring lecturers.

New project – New learning

Heimo Hammer, Austria’s Mr. Digital, the founder of Kraftwerk, a full-service digital creative agency, opened the event with a message that it’s not the product itself is not primary, but the identity. As we already know, you don’t sell a product, but a whole philosophy, and when this is confirmed by someone who has 27 years of experience in teams which launched over 2 000 campaigns and more than 2 500 digital projects for clients such as Red Bull, Coca Cola, Opel, and Lufthansa, you know this the way to go.

Non-data-related marketing is a “no-no” in the 21st century

Anke den Ouden, Microsoft‘s General Manager for CEE region, followed up by saying that, if we want to make an impact, we need to understand the whole consumer’s journey in the decision-making process. It is important to analyze patterns of behavior because data are crucial in the marketing.

We all agreed that it’s unacceptable to do a non-data related marketing today and prepared for the lecture of the founder of the SpringTab. Peter Szanto said that data are not smart or stupid, but we make it look like that and encouraged us to use digital marketing techniques even more. According to research, 98% of people feel disturbed when they see an advertisement that they don’t really want to see. If you don’t want to be one of that disturbing kind, get to know your target group, your existing and potential customers, introduce yourself and give them a personalized experience.

Give consumers a chance to understand your product

“We are not there just to sell, but to give consumers the opportunity to understand our product”, pointed out Kentan Makwana, Executive Director of Enterprise Lab. Whether you will do this through free samples or trial period, it’s up to you.

When we talk about the data, it’s not ok to ignore the numbers, so here’s something that took over our attention:

• 50% of the market doesn’t understand the values you are sharing. Hence, your task is to  stimulate them,
• 40% of the consumer market don’t know product specifics and need to be educated,
• 7% of consumers are not ready for you and they need more consulting
• 3% of them are already your customers; stop selling to them, serve them instead.

Is it time for VR and AR?

And how can you do all of this? Well, there is simply no better way than creating the right content. Ivan Brezak Brkan, founder and editor of Netokracija, talked about content marketing, the most powerful weapon of digital marketing. That investing in content makes sense, he explained to us through the examples of Coolinarika and Buildingbody, online platforms whose aim is to provide content that informs, educates and then, after all, sells. “Invest in new things, it’s time for VR and AR”, that’s his advice.

Enkeleid Zotaj, IT director at Raiffeisen Bank, a technology leader with more than 15 years of experience, told us that digital is not a solution, but a tool for creating the most important thing – consumer experience. Nathan Ott, the co-founder of The GC Index, taught us about digital transformation and leadership and how to develop strategies for transition from analog to digital sphere of business.

Make a video that you would actually watch

It was about time to hear Darko Buldioski from the New Media MK marketing agency and Program Director of the conference. This time, the video content was in focus. Video format is one of the latest trends, especially on the social networks, and the secret of creating viral video is to make a content that we would actually watch and enjoy. One thing that may have surprised us is that in a duel between shorter and longer video, longer came out as a winner.

Be drivers, not passengers in digital marketing

And then, the presentation which was highly expected. Robert Petković, Analytics Lead from Bruketa&Žinić&Grey, presented the power of Google Analytics for measuring the progress in order to be successful in planning the sales, customizing content etc. A number of sessions and users, average duration of the session, bounce rate and % of new sessions are just the beginning and the basis, but this is by no means sufficient for a comprehensive performance analysis. It is necessary to observe, analyze and understand cause-and-effect relationships, such as which channel preceded the one that led to the conversion.

We agreed with Robert that there is no digital marketing, but only marketing on different channels; the one that solves the problems and the one that doesn’t. The last lecturer, Paul Papadimitriou, had very inspirational speech and motivated over 250 marketers and entrepreneurs, conference participants, to dare to risk and create magic, because “people don’t really care about how something is made, but they want to see the magic when you show them your product or service”.

Easy to say, but is it so simple when it comes to realization? Inspired and enriched with new knowledge, we are ready to create not only the new experience but a true magic.

Are you? ;)

Photo: AllWeb Albania

September usually brings us a bunch of new projects, new clients, new ideas, pre-press, preparations for meetings and one big preparation, the one for team building. For this cause, the last atom of Bild’s power is given. Because, after all, we need to collect enough events and anecdotes to talk about until the next gathering.

This year, the destination for team building was, again, Long beach in Ulcinj. More precisely, the Hotel “Otrant”. Long beach in Ulcinj offers a lot of opportunities for various activities and inactivities (e.g. enjoying in the warm sand and the Adriatic Sea) that will remain memorable (in GBs, too).

That Friday we all had the same plan for the weekend – having the best time ever! Whoever goes to Ulcinj, goes to the Viber group, too. Because no joke or funny photo of a sleepy colleague at five in the morning should be missed. The voices are ready, the strings are tuned, the beer is cooled and the excitement in the bus hits the ceiling.

With a rich buffet dinner, our happiness grew some more. Around 10 p.m, fresh and satiated, we started partying on the first sounds of electronic music. By the early morning hours, we listened to the music of our DJs: Darko, Dragan, Marko and Jasna, who made the great atmosphere and spread relaxation and enjoyment through every bit. Sounds of dance, funky, house, deep house, disco, psychedelic trance and techno kept us awake until 5 a.m. That was Jasna’s first performance as DJ, although she is a big fan of tech and house music. However, with the previous preparation and help of our other DJs, Jasna put fingers on the black box, at everyone’s pleasure. 

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, so were we, ready for a whole day relaxation. Beach, swimming pool, spa, greenery – something for every one of us. Daily chill on the sand with a view of infinite blue, playing cards, chess, volleyball or jumping into an interesting social game “Human board”, in our translation “Who’s gonna win the Jack?”.

In the evening, partying again – different and more dynamic than the previous one. We started with salsa dance and continued with bachata and reggaeton moves. Our kind friend, Duda, a longtime artist, gave us dance lessons. So, soon we started to compete who’s better. The best and most interesting was selected by the thunderous applause and have won a cup. With lots of creative, humorous and positive energy, Latin-American dances were mastered.

A little break while the stage is set for our bands were about to hit the floor. Bass guitars, drums and wonderful voices of our frontmen took us to the midnight hours sharing with us the sincere parts of their souls. Feeling proud of the excellent interpretations of our performers from both bands, we accompanied them with exclamations and great applause. DJs took over the stage and rocked until the dawn.

New awakening and energy that does not quench. We’re still there and don’t wanna go away. Use the last minutes to chit chat, relax and make just one more photo, and then… another one. The sounds of the wheels in front of the hotel, laughter and sounded voices from singing – and we are ready to return.

Dear ravers, until the next team building, we send you our best regards. :)

after all, we need to collect enough events and anecdotes to talk about until the next gathering.

Ok, we live in a digital world and that is a story that has been told many times before, but the technology is so dominant now that waving lighters during the ballades on concerts has been replaced with waving flashes on phones. People of the 21st century, popular Millennials, are known for their independence, impatience, constant “hunger” for new information and therefore they are early adopters of new technology.

Viber had all that in mind when created its own platform in late 2010 and fully adapted it for those who want a quick, easy and free communication with their friends, while providing them through Viber stickers.

Today, over 800 million users communicate via Viber, which makes it one of the most popular communication platform. Anyway, do you know someone in your community who isn’t on Viber? :)

The number of users is growing on a daily level, while the number of diverse sticker packages is growing simultaneously. Coincidence? Not really. Reason – companies became aware of Viber’s potentials for brand awareness. Let’s talk this through.

Don’t text me, give me a new sticker

Each pack of Viber stickers is a world for itself. They are created to raise brand awareness and to make a stronger connection between the user and the brand. The best of the stickers become viral very fast. It will not take long to conclude that the key factors contributing to virality of stickers are quality and fun. But if you opt for this type of brand promotion, it will take a lot more time to create and design just perfect content.

Viber sticker campaigns last for three months, after which it is possible to create a new one. The style and the tone of communication remain mainly the same, but the situation is what changes. A good example is Telenor’s campaign. The campaign kicked off with the Summer adventures of Čađo and Danilo, sticker pack launched in the summer last year, which was downloaded more than half a million times and sent over in 7 million messages within only a few months. Afterwards,  the creative team of the company created a second stickers pack – Winter magic of Čađo and Danilo. This pack was downloaded 120 000 times in a month and few days. In February 2017, famous duo met their soulmates and decided to share their feelings with us the way they know the best – through new sticker pack called Čađo and Danilo fell in love. In this way, the connection with customers became even stronger, making followers impatient to see new adventures of these two heroes.

Sticker packs are available globally, each is adapted to the language and culture of the region for which it is created. Stickers are supported on multiple platforms – iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows and Mac OS, and there are several different types of sticker packs, so you can choose the one that is just for your needs:

• Free to download – a pack available for free download
• Free & Follow pack – available for free download, while a user who downloads it, automatically becomes a follower of the brand’s Public account
• Time to earn pack – available for free download when a user installs an application, answer the survey or does something else that is required
• Download & Visit pack – catchy thing for visiting mentioned URL address after free download.

When designing stickers, it is important to keep in mind that their goal is to enable creative ways of communication and expressing the emotions, no matter if we are speaking about stickers in form of a character, text, animation or a combination of all of this, because, let’s go back to the beginning – new generations like fast and entertaining communication and an interesting sticker will always be a good substitute for long text messages. :)

If one analyzes companies that have already chosen this kind of advertising, he or she may conclude that companies choose to create stickers which convey messages that are commonly used in communication, such as good morning, good night, see you, I love you, etc. while the rest of stickers are more personal, more directly emphasizing the brand itself. In both cases, it is necessary to have in mind that language, visuals, tone and emotion transmitted through stickers have to be reconciled with the brand identity and its target group.

Having in mind the importance of analytics, Viber allows you to track the performance of your adorable stickers with reports showing the daily performances of:

• Downloads – # of sticker pack downloads
• Sent 1on1 – # of any sticker from the pack sent in a 1 on 1 conversation
• Sent group – # of any sticker from the pack was sent in a group conversation
• 1on1 exposure – # of users who sent or received the sticker pack from a 1on1 conversation
• Group exposure – # of users who sent or received the sticker pack from a group conversation
• Public chat exposure – # of users who sent or viewed the sticker pack in a public chat
• Exposed users – # of users who sent or received the sticker pack in any of the Viber platforms.

Homework: write a sentence using the following words: Viber, bank, loan

In addition to stickers, Viber allows you to advertise through public accounts of particular brands. Public accounts are used for building a loyal community of dedicated followers and fans of your brand which will always be able to keep up with news. This is the place where you share information and communicate key messages in casual manner, but also provide your followers with much more than that.

Again, the example says more than a theoretical story and this time we will present you how Raiffeisen Bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina used Viber to promote its services.

With the service Raiffeisen Banking on Viber, followers of the public account have the option to make a payment to all of their Viber contacts who have opened a bank account in any bank in this country, received money in the selected account, and to get an overview of the status of all accounts opened in this bank and payments made through Viber application. In addition, followers can inform on bank products, see the status of the request, get service information and ask questions about loans, credit cards and a lot more. So, follower who wants to apply for credit can pick purpose of the loan, the amount, repayment period, the interest rates, ask to speak with the person in charge and, eventually, apply for a loan online in just a few steps. Having in mind customer who are not familiar with how Viber works, the Raiffeisen Bank created a manuals for Raiffeisen Viber Chat, Raiffeisen Banking on Viber and process of receiving and sending money.  For all auditive types, the instructions are available in the official Youtube channel of the bank.

To make your public account more visible, but also your raise brand awareness generally, you can promote it through Viber Ads. You’ve probably noticed that after every free call, on your mobile or desktop device, an advertisement related to the new public accounts, stickers, certain websites or else appears. Following their trail, you discover the various novelties that you are more or less interest in. This content comes exactly to you based on your activities on Viber, the data you shared, the relationship with the advertised subject, and if you turned on your location, it will only make it easier for Viber to show more relevant ads to you.

Dilemma: Does it worth or Should I stay or should I go

What appears as controversial is the fact that a number of people stop following public accounts of after they’ve download stickers from free & follow category. One of the main reasons is the monotony of the placed content and lack of essential information. This leads to the understanding of Viber as a channel for distribution of content previously published on the website or other social networks. So, if you don’t want to be one of that kind of brands, we encourage you to be creative and not limit yourself – it’s totally ok to occasionally post a picture of your team in a relaxed atmosphere or a funny situation, to capture a creative chaos and moments “from idea to realization” and thus show that you are not robots that only deliver information. Not only you will become more interesting to your existing followers – they will simply adore you and recommend their friends to “follow that cool Viber account”.

So, as you continuously work on yourself, you should also work on improving your brand in the online and offline world in the same manner, and, as we said on the beginning, send good vibes only. ;)

Bild Studio was awarded for contribution to the development of voluntary blood donation during 2016 by the Institute of Blood Transfusion of Montenegro. This is the occasion to recall the importance of donating blood once again.

Donating blood save lives, but also improves the health of the donor, and yet many people who need blood, often can’t get it timely. As said from the Institute of Blood Transfusion of Montenegro, benchmark health institution that performs the collection, processing and distribution of blood to other health institutions, the motivation of citizens to donate blood in the continuity is one of the basic prerequisites for improving the level of voluntary blood donation in our country and ensuring stable blood reserves for medical treatments.

Photo source: https://www.cdm.me/drustvo/dvadeset-ljudi-dobrovoljno-dalo-krv-2/

We proved we don’t the lack the motivation, so, having in mind the fact that men can donate blood every 3rd month and women every 4th  month, we traditionally organize blood donation campaigns alone or with our partners.

This year, on 14th June, we attended the celebration of World Blood Donor Day, which was organized by the Institute of Blood Transfusion of Montenegro and Red Cross of Montenegro in shopping mall Delta City, where we received an award for contribution to the development of voluntary blood donation for the last year. Darko Kašćelan, a No. 1  blood donor from Bild’s team, took the award on behalf of our agency. It is our great pleasure to see our efforts toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) were recognized.

According to the statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), 57 countries collect 100% of their blood supply from voluntary blood donations. In Montenegro, every second blood donor donates blood for his family member and according to the data from the Institute for Blood Transfusion of Montenegro, in 2016 the donation level was about 2.8%. This percentage is still lower than 4%  as recommended by the World Health Organization.

Blood can’t be produced artificially, thus, its only source are human beings. Around 112.5 million units of donated blood is collected in the world every year and adequate blood supply can be ensured only by regular voluntary donations. We do hope that the aims of the Institute, reflected in the existence of 10.