Interview for CorD Magazine: Miro Antic, Partner and Co-Founder, M2Communications

Being present, establishing direct contact and developing emotions have become key factor in a world in which almost everything is online, instant, and virtual. Technology helps in a lot of things, but we forget that individuals isolate themselves in the online world. It is necessary to establish a direct connection and offer something more – emotional, tangible, real. The future in the field of modern communications is more in the creation of relevant experiences than in the delivery of content. Creating an authentic experience – through environment, content, interaction and emotions – will have a key role to play in building relations between company/brand and client/consumer, and it is direct experience that will have the greatest impact on the decisions of consumers and their loyalty.

Brand experience is becoming one of marketing’s key elements. Studies show that direct experiences have a more enduring impact on the attitude of target groups towards a brand, company or individual. In accordance with that, one of the biggest trends in 2017, which will be dictated by companies with a strong vision, is certainly the allocating of marketing budgets to the event and experience field of communications.

One of the major channels in the creation of a brand experience is certainly the event. How can you keep pace with the trends and changes in the event industry?

The event industry is one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest growing sectors. Investments in events are growing year on year, and in the last five years so-called event entrepreneurship has blossomed. It is interesting, for example, that in the USA the meetings and event industry contributes more to the country’s total GDP than air transport or the film industry.

Global production solutions are increasingly impressive, but in the creative and organisational sense it is not impossible to achieve global standards. At the global level, events are organised on a daily basis that continually push back the boundaries in conceptual and technological terms. It is very exciting to be part of this industry and to monitor how the whole story will develop in the future. Our goal is not to be mere observers in that process, rather active participants and among those who contribute to progress.

Event production is a constant challenge, while confronting limitations in the implementation of certain ideas and the carrying out of concepts is an integral part of the job. It is different in the region than at the global level, because there are numerous limitations, and that is not only in terms of budgets or the technological capacity of specialised companies, but rather also in terms of the willingness of clients to plan ahead and understand the entire process. It is necessary to continuously work on yourself, to be motivated, to monitor trends and to love this job in order for ideas to translate into innovative solutions with global standards of quality.

Agencies today face increasingly greater challenges, while the bar for clients’ expectations rises from day to day. In what ways does your agency responds to the challenges of the modern market environment?

Our strategies and specific solutions are based on a mix of the so-called 4Es: experience, engagement, exclusivity and emotion, which, in combination with authentic and advanced creative solutions, yield excellent results. We always look beyond our given task and try to go the so-called extra mile. We are extremely dedicated to details, and within the framework of each individual project we try to integrate as many communications channels as possible.

How do you see your agency and the business in the future?

We are orientated towards the global market, while further growth is one of the primary goals. In 2016 we achieved growth of almost 30 per cent. We are improving and introducing innovations with new contributors and through the implementation of projects in Serbia, the region and internationally. The start of this year was marked by us signing a contract with a client in Singapore, while we are also starting cooperation with several companies from Russia.

CorD Magazine, February 2017