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

“Interaction between consumers and a brand is today imperative, as it leads to a positive, emotional connection that traditional forms of advertising cannot achieve so easily. Brands need to attract attention and engage consumers/clients in an efficient way. Such efficiency is actually achieved by experiential marketing,” explains M2Communications partner and co-founder Miro Antić, speaking for CorD.

– It is clear that experiential marketing is becoming an ever-growing topic, and the methodology that will be key to its further development is defined as Experience design. The great news is that companies and brands are increasingly courageous in their approach to campaigns and communicating with consumers. They are brave to experiment and change boring concepts established by antiquated standards. For example, the new global BMW website is today actually an online lifestyle magazine, defined by attractive content, while the link to car models is the last position on the main menu. With this, they show that they put the interests, emotions and essential needs of customers in the first place, and not their own product, whith which they create a copletly new brand experience. An excellent example of this was the launch of the BMW X3 model in Belgrade, which represented a kind of imaginary conquest of Mars.

What are the most important trends and what will define event management and experience marketing in the future?

– One of the growing trends is combining experiential marketing with a powerful digital campaign. The key is to create digital content that is worth sharing and finding that which will attract the audience in order to achieve a greater “reach” and maximise the marketing result. Clients in our region have not yet fully understood the potential of this approach, but elsewhere in the world the combined model is becoming the standard in organising events. VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) are present in marketing to a great extent, although manifesting the full potential of these technologies is yet to be expected. However, what’s really exciting – at least in terms of event production and experiential marketing, is actually mixed reality. Keeping pace with technology and integrating it is one of the biggest challenges, but is simultaneously the main driver of the further transformation of experiential marketing and event production. New technologies will bring a higher level of the personalisation of experience and enable event participants or activation to become creators and actively change the contents, flow and even the environment of events. In addition to technology, a strong connection with art and cultural heritage will have the same role in the development of this area. It is important to say that, although technological progress is one of the key factors of civilisation’s progress, mankind should be careful in all of this not to lose the power of the spirit and essence of the human being”

Where do you see the greatest potential for the further development of your business?

– We are planning to introduce innovations in the field of experiential marketing through the development of certain experimental platforms and conceptual solutions. We have set up a new strategy for the further conquering of the international market and will soon start with concrete activities. Viewed globally, the greatest potential is actually in the creating of a new economy through the introduction of innovative products and services. By creating new ideas, technological solutions and communication models, along with responsible behaviour towards nature and humanity, and with strong support for the development of culture, new opportunities will arise for the further development of both business and society as a whole.

CorD Magazine, February 2018