Another tourist ad for Serbia…
...technically speaking, of course.
[Ad by Saatchi & Saatchi]
What do you think? Personally I think it’s well done [also technically speaking] but I don’t get the point.
Edit: User Ivic of Parapsihopatologija forums has come up with a response to this Saatchi ad:
Update 2: Making of – explanation, story behind the ad etc.
Tweet
Dick Marty’s Kosovo report – Uniting Serbs and Albanians In Shame
Give me binge drinkers any day.
Wow. It’s funny how they neglect to mention the abject poverty of the region. I wonder who made the ad.
Tread, according to Viktor’s caption it was Saatchi and Saatchi – by appointment to her late Majesty Margaret Thatcher purveyors of the choicest emetic propaganda.
Our political opinion (emotions) aside, it is a good ad, actually staying true to the “quality” of the product.
a) Kosovo is the youngest country in Europe
b) is has no tourism whatsoever – it is poor, underdeveloped, crime rate is high, so yes young pretty people could be the biggest “export” of the country.
This is brand building. Outside the Balkans nobody knows much about the country so starting with some city/landscapes, its location and the fact it’s a young nation in two senses, is a good start. I’d hope it gets followed up by something more specific.
Tread – I think you’ll find that none of the generic ads for countries like Romania, Albania, Armenia, Croatia etc you see on CNN/BBC/Euronews focuses on poverty.
Popkitchen – you’d be surprised at the recent developments in tourism in Kosovo; domestic tourism is steadily on the rise, there are many newe guesthouses and the western part of the country is seeing more and more international culture/nature tourism. There’s a plan to make the mountain areas of Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania more accessible for hikers too.
Great response to a confusing ad….but I’m a bit irritated that in the comment here we speak about europe’s new country, about a good start for the new country….as it’s still a “fiction” country, a ridiculous idea and not recognized by a lot of countries of the world.
You can paint it like you want, you can hire saatchi&saatchi…it’s not gonna change the facts….and this video is not bringing any tourists to the Kosovo region…it looks just corny …. sorry guys!
Sajkaca,
With respect, in my opinion, it can change things. Image or perceived image can be a powerful thing. In the interests of Serbia I wish more would understand that.
It is an excellent piece of “branding” on several levels whether it is the realty or not. I think that this has little to do with tourism. The people that would respond….Kosovo? who is Kosovo? That is who it is aimed at. It is aimed at presenting an international image of Kosovo. Not of discrimination, divide, unemployment, crime and corruption that may be the truth. It is an attempt to place the image youth and hope in place of history and hate. Young European country and young European population is a powerful image.
To give you an idea of the thought that goes into this, think of what Serbia’s image in the eyes of the international public is…..old, history, religious conflict, wars, ethnic tensions and worse. If you did not know the facts who would you be drawn to sympathise with?
Serbia must start to think in terms of how others see them. Why had they not hired saatchi or equivalent? If there was ever a country in the world that had an unfair negative image it is Serbia. I believe that the issues about Kosovo will be fought on various fronts and this is as important as a decision of the ICJ.
What about a campaign promoting the positive, youthful and tolerant Serbia? The flags of all at the student games or the variety of youth at exit?
The branding shows a bunch of soft-headed ninnies who bear no resemblance whatsoever to the intelligent and realistic Kosovars I’ve come across. These are just market fodder.
and your point is Owen?
Andrew, in a Western point of view, you might be right: you take a Eastern Europe region and you show them how to look “like another western country” so they will get international appreciation.
But I ask myself if everything must be measured by Western standards.
Serbia (with the KOSMET region) is a still very tradition oriented place and I think that even young people care to keep that individuality.
It would be a much stronger statement if you would show THIS characteristics in a promo spot.
In this video the people and their action look so international, so shallow….it’s the same stupid thing like the plastic liberty statue on a building in Pristina…it has nothing to do with Kosovo, with any of the ethnic groups in Kosovo.
Serbia just has an unfair negative image because it politically doesn’t wants to please the “Western powers” not because it doesn’t know how to promote its people and its beauties….
Thanks for the reply although it takes me to the same place I usually end up – I don’t understand Serbs or Serbia. That doesn’t mean I don’t love the people and the place.
The point Andrew is that it’s a Western ad agency’s fantasy creation. It’s like NEWBORN – it’s establishing a Year Zero narrative aimed at imposing someone else’s agenda. I noticed quite a lot of yellow, but I didn’t notice much red or black there. Would you for a moment think from this piece of trivia that the people of Kosovo/a are real flesh and blood people with a life and a history? Can you imagine somebody having the gall to make this sort of nonsense about London? They’d be laughed down the street, if not worse. Real life isn’t a patronising ad-man’s sofa.
Yes Owen. But will it work?
Andrew, yes it’s complicated to understand the Serbs….
it took me a long time also!
I agree with Owen, it’s probably not gonna work to “invent” a country’s identity by ordering an ad from a foreign company. (By the way, what you guys think about the music in the ad? Weird!!!)
But of course it’s easy just to criticize others work….in this case my personal aversion toward that “phantom” country and the West that support it is so big, that I’m probably too bitter in my judgment.
Andrew, I would regard a country that tried to sell itself to me in that way as a joke. And – keeping my head down in case Ida hears me – I am an unequivocal supporter of Kosovo/a’s independence. So if Kosovo/a wants to be a Ruritanian joke, it works.
Owen,
You wouldn’t buy the Sun either (I’m guessing) but the sad fact is that it makes a huge difference to who gets into power. I don’t think that ad is a joke at all, it is smart and it is politics. It isn’t a tourism video.
Amongst other things, Kosovo as a state has been propped up by the unwavering support of the West. I think that support is not so strong since Serbia has adopted some different approaches. It has been very much portrayed as 100% good against 100%. If Serbia had the sense then it would be playing the media game too. And that is what this ad is all about – not tourism. And it is most certainly not aimed at people like you.
I would add, after finding out what Ruritanian was, that is exactly what Kosovo wants to be because it isn’t a country. It is either Albanian or Serbian. Or do I have that wrong?
Andrew, I think you’re treading on dangerous ground. You should ask the Kosovars. But the one answer I don’t think you’ll get is that Kosovo/a is Serbian.
And, reality considered, Serbia has played the media game remarkably successfuly.
I just tread where my feet go. You are having a laugh if you think Serbia has played the media game well.
Andrew, you seem to forget that the defensive game can be as important as attack.
Serbia’s two key concerns are to avoid having to pay reparations and to secure implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
Serbia’s media handlers have been successful in avoiding those two objectives being derailed, to the extent that Sutanovi and then Tadic have been able to test the water on the expansion agenda without any major media problems, even being able to push the envelope to the point where Dodik can be allowed to bring home the glorious returning war heroine to Belgrade Airport.
That’s a successful media game. The rest is froth.
And just to remind you why keeping reparations off the international media’s playlist is still important, here’s something you won’t find much attention being paid to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p004t230/Heart_And_Soul_Bosnias_War_Babies_Episode_1/
I thought we were talking about Kosovo?
And don’t you dare bring this discussion down to the level of defending the indefensible. I have not and will not do that. Don’t dare think I don’t care about people. The discussion was not and is not about that.
Andrew it was you who suggested that Serbia should be playing “the media game”.
And I was making no comment about your personal position, just your analysis of what “the media game” was about.
No Owen. That is not the media game
And yes i did suggest that. Serbia in 2009 should play that game.
Oh, look Owen posts BBC propaganda.
The old rape-baby myth and gross exaggeration.
You should know that there IS NOT DNA OR PATERNITY EVIDENCE AGAINST SERBIAN SOLDIERS.
I say, alright, they should pay reparations IF THEY HAVE PROVEN TO HAVE FATHERED A RAPE BABY.
They should pay for ANY rape baby that is from a Serb soldier.
BUT THEY HAVEN’T BROUGHT ANY FORTH.
Serb women were the FIRST to send testimony on rape camps and rape babies to the UN Security Council.
The Serb rape victims are known by their full names and this was from October 1992. They have high quality testimony.
The Bosnian rape claims – besides being typical propaganda huge numbers – do not have any hard evidence.
There’s no DNA, paternity, or medical evidence for the rape claims and babies.
That is why the media pumps with their sensationalist tales all the time.
I’ve updated the post with the video where the directors of the video explain the concept and what they tried to achieve, what’s the idea behind the ad etc. Thanks to Gaga Djermanovic for exploring the facts behind the campaign in greater detail. You can read about all that on her blog [google translation].
I see the discussion here has taken another path, but that’s ok.
My opinion on all this is still divided, mostly because the idea of trying to present a country (in a non-tourist way) like a product, is new to me. I agree with Andrew that we here that have already heard of Kosovo and have our opinions about it are not the aimed audience. But I sure am interested to find out what does a person who hears about Kosovo for the first time via this ad will think. I am imagining myself seeing an ad for a country I have never ever heard of, promoting not tourism but… the whole concept of the country? I don’t know, I guess I would be puzzled [no pun intended] even then.
6 million euros spent on funding ad-men’s fantasies with six hundred Roma kids and adults enduring their tenth year of lead poisoning in the Mitrovica.camps.
Think of it as a political broadcast. Now launch this ad at the time of the Karadzic trial when Serbia will, without doubt, be getting negative press for maximum effect.
It’ll still be rubbish.
OK, I shouldn’t just give vent. The main reason why it’s rubbish is that while apart from the helium and the (non-national symbol) yellow outline, almost everything in this filmlet could have been lifted from a Soviet “solidarity musical” of the mid-1930s, the pace and orchestrated spontaneity that gave those films life and interest has been killed by the overdose of simpering “aren’t we nice in a “Friends” sort of way?”
One point is made really effectively – the yellow place is somewhere near Italy. Unfortunately to offset the geography lesson, name recognition is thrown out of the window by a pronunciation I thought had gone home with Tony Blair – in the UK at least the pronunciation most people seem to have settled for is something rhyming with Cross-Over. So really, what’s anyone going to take away worth remembering from it?
But do you like it Owen? :p
I think I share Mrs Lincoln’s opinion, Andrew.
Seriously I’m horrified by this, and all the more so because for a cheap and effective campaign idea all you have to do is to look at this blog and its perennially-popular item, “Serbian girls – hot or not?”.
It’s got attention-grab and it’s got legs. You don’t need nanomicroscopy to see how a good campaign works. Clear away the sexism and focus on the essentials.
People are interested in people. People are interested in people they don’t know. People are interested in something interesting about people they don’t know. people are interested in questions about people they don’t know.
We seem to be agreed, Kosovo/a is a young country, with the new generation building their country from scratch. Although I’ve referred to history, there’s no need to go into the history to communicate a genuine sense of identity, it’s enough to show that the new generation are using their capacity and skills to do things that the rest of Europe can be interested in.
So, “Kosovars – smart or not?”. Show some of these young Kosovars involved in interesting real-life activities instead of powder-paint kindergarten projects, and then show them moving between the modern environment that’s part of the new nation and the relaxing touristy stuff that’s their heritage. The message is simply that this is a country whose young people are intelligent and capable.
How hard is that to figure out? But the trouble is that it involves thinking and working locally, not just handing out a large contract to a sub-creative multinational with an adjustable boilerplate solution. Perhaps the message I get from the advert is that Kosovo/a is a country that’s not ready to trust these young Kosovars to have a mind of their own.
At the end of it all, Andrew, I still ask myself, why did someone in Kosovo/a fork out the money for this dog’s dinner? Why weren’t the kids in the Mitrovica camps rehoused by the end of September as promised? Every extra day exposed to lead toxicity destroys the growth and development capacity of those particular young Kosovars.
Am I totally missing the point here? IMO this is about what Kosovo wants people to think it is not what it is and it is very much part of the battle for its independence. It is solely to present an image that makes it easier for the West to continue support.
So the image you want cross-over to have is, in my view, running before it can walk. That is not in any way a judgement on the people but the political situation. Some things are settled, some aren’t. The current situation may not be the final solution. If it is then I fear that the Serbs will either be chased out or that terrorism will be the response – sound familiar? I’m panglossian by nature which is why I really do believe that there is a compromise that can bring a lasting solution.
Quite rightly from their position and as has been seen in the past, Kosovo Albanians are wise in the media. Again, only my opinion, but this is the same wisdom.
Well, if that’s what the Kosovo Govt. wants people to think it is, they’ve got what they paid for. Shall I close the door after me?
I personally found this video not an advert for tourism at all. I felt it was simply stating to the rest of Europe ‘We are here’. If we compare advertisments for tourism to this one, we can spot huge differences in there approach.
One example would find tourism campaigns focus entirely on ‘Activities’ for its tourists, it is commonly thought of as the main attraction to potential ‘investors’ an economy, hence the reason why they always vibrant and exciting.
Alternatively, community is one example of how the Kosovan Government have targeted this ad campaign. We see people/communities united and embracing in their own enviroment and society. The celebration of its people (who are mixed races by the way) explores ways in which individualism is now explored in the country. Unity is the main focus is Kosovo’s ad campaign. Unity with its people and the rest of Europe…with the exception of Serbia perhaps?! lol
Anyways, I really enjoyed the advert and loved the music