The XNUMXs did not give the Balkan countries any progress, and politicians skilfully used them for their retrograde and undemocratic policies, said political marketing expert from Croatia Boris Malešević.
He says that in the Balkans, a cult of militant rhetoric and society - like Sparta - is being developed and nurtured.
"Unlike Sparta, Athens nurtured democracy, rhetoric, philosophy, skepticism, and gave birth to Western civilization. It is up to us to decide what we want because we have a voice. Our vote is the most valuable thing we have as citizens. Let's not give it to Sparta," said Malešević, who designed the campaign and the name of the "Black on White" coalition, which now forms the government in Montenegro.
He is known for his cooperation with the President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, and created and branded his winning slogan - "President with character". Malešević is also responsible for the well-known slogan "Believable", with which Croatian Prime Minister and HDZ President Andrej Plenković won the parliamentary elections in 2016.
He points out that the slogan must start a discussion, it must be "worshipped and spit on", but that many politicians are afraid of that.
You designed the campaign and the name of the "Black on White" coalition, which now forms the government in Montenegro. How did the cooperation with Mr. Dritan Abazović?
People from the Civil Movement URA called some friends in Croatia they knew from before and that's how they got my phone number. It was immediately after the end of the campaign for the president of Croatia. We spoke several times and agreed on a meeting in Herceg Novi. And so it went.
Did the success of the campaign you did for Croatian President Zoran Milanović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković recommend you for that?
Yes, it is in a way an echo of my work on the campaign of Zoran Milanović, the current president of Croatia, and the "Credible" campaign for the parliamentary elections when Andrej Plenković became prime minister. They were quite innovative campaigns in the way of communication and the use of some new techniques and knowledge about media strategies. I read a lot and follow trends in design and political marketing, so I thought it would be good to apply it in Croatia as well. Today, campaigns are designed completely differently than ten years ago. Digital media rewards the brave and interesting, those who are ready to go beyond the expected, and punishes the outdated, indecisive and boring. This is colloquially called the “attention economy”. Attention is a commodity today and one of the most valuable commodities. In the future, it will be as valuable as oil, i.e. energy. The Kardashians, for example, would be nobody and nothing without attention, not billionaires. Attention opens doors and windows and allows what you say to be heard by all. Otherwise, you're talking in a room with closed doors and windows. Today, digital media makes it possible and it is a new reality. This imposes the need to have a lot of messages in the campaign, for each target group, because those messages are distributed, no longer by people and newspapers or TV, but by algorithms such as Google. Algorithms know who reads what, what they are interested in, whether you have credit or a lover... Everything goes towards personalizing messages for each voter.
Who else did you campaign for in Montenegro?
For now only for GP URA, i.e. for "Black on White".
Did you work only on the Balkan market or beyond?
I mostly worked in Croatia, although I had a lot of inquiries in the region as well. Working in another country is not such a simple matter, you have to have some infrastructure, people who understand what and how I do, know their media, and that is not very simple.
Do the politicians accept all your ideas and in what part do you have a problem with them?
There are those who accept it because I explain to them that today it is a trend and the only effective way of communicating, and there are also those who shy away from innovations. Most of all, it breaks on slogans. My principle is that a slogan must start a discussion, it must be adored and spit on, and many politicians are afraid of that, they feel that it is not good that their slogan has divided the public. That's exactly the trick, the slogan must divide the public because the campaign is about dividing the electorate, not adding it up. Many people don't understand that. You can't please everyone. For a slogan, it is best if 40 percent of people praise it and the same number hate it. The rest are those who have not heard of him or have no opinion about him. Imagine starting a campaign without 70 percent of voters not having an opinion on your slogan? You've simply thrown money to the wind. For all those who are thinking of doing this work, they should first read Jonathan Beller's book - "Economy of attention and society of spectacle". Today, things change quickly and if you don't follow the trends - you are not competitive. It's not a law just for us, but for everyone, car mechanics, builders... Technologies change quickly and you can't afford the luxury of not following them. Many politicians are quite handicapped in that segment.
What do you think about the promises made by politicians during the election campaign, to what extent do they keep them when they come to power?
Promises are a legitimate campaign commodity, it's part of every campaign. But one should be careful with promises. Do you know what the shortest definition of a brand is? A brand is a promise! And the value of the brand is the fulfillment of that promise. Many who are involved in politics do not fulfill their promises and then wonder how their careers are suddenly in question. I think that the problem in our region lies in the fact that politicians make impossible promises that they know they cannot fulfill. Voters should recognize such and not vote for them in elections. So think before you vote for impossible promises from sweet-talking politicians.
Which is your most successful campaign, and which is your worst?
I've been winning lately, and when you're winning, you're the best in the world. Of course, I lost elections, those campaigns are automatically the worst, although they are not to blame for the result. There are many other factors that affect the result.
There are no political experts in the team
Are there only marketing experts in your team or are there also political experts?
The team includes designers, copywriters, and propagandists. We don't have any political experts and we won't have any. We are essentially not involved in politics. We do creative, not even PR. We don't even deal with political marketing to a large extent, but with branding, design and propaganda. Dealing with political marketing has personally stigmatized me as a "kingmaker", although I am not at all. In the area of design and branding, we achieved great deals and received major international awards such as Red dot. Politics is interesting to people, so they remember you for that.
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