Because of the poor economic situation in the country, Bosnia and Herzegovina is full of communications agencies to whom global corporations outsource labour for cheaper rates. There is also an emerging and developing local market for digital communications. I found out about this diversity and ingenuity in Bosnian advertising through translating a book which compiled award-winning communications projects in the Adriatic region. This book inspired me to return home to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country which has been subject to extensive brain drain in the last 30 years (emigration by youths), to do my internship.
Of all the agencies featured in the book FABRIKA was one of the most impressive. They are historically significant and well connected in Bosnia, as their roots go back to the Bosnian War in the 90’s. They have a large portfolio of very interesting global clients for whom they design and implement communications campaigns. But, most importantly, they represent almost every major local brand in Bosnia and a number of important independent businesses in Sarajevo, my hometown. The prospect of working on campaigns for local brands and enterprises was very attractive to me as I wanted to contribute to the development of local businesses, both those I have known my whole life and newly emerging ones. It was because of these reasons that I chose to do my internship at FABRIKA.
While working at FABRIKA I had the opportunity to contribute to a variety of projects for very high-profile global clients. Though this was useful experience, it was really my work with local clients that I enjoyed the most. With smaller local businesses and brands you have a more hands on approach and they are more open to your creative input because of their smaller scope. Bigger organisations tend to have established brand guidelines which you have to work within and they are generally just more cautious.
An interesting project I worked on, which meant a lot to me, was the website and social media redesign for a local restaurant in Sarajevo. It is a restaurant I have been going to since primary school and in which I have made many memories. As the restaurant is very close to the FABRIKA office building most of our meetings were on site so the project felt very dynamic and involved. I was able to assist in many aspects of the project because of this as well, including assisting in photoshoots, content creation for the brands Instagram, and even submitting a proposal for the design of the website. This experience stands in stark contrast to one I had with an international organisation for whom I had to write video descriptions. Because of the enormity of the organisation and the project my only contact with the client was through email, to which they would not reply to for weeks sometimes. The barely received any feedback on my work, and of course there was no room for any creativity.
Overall, the opportunity to work a wide variety of projects for different types of clients was the best choice as it helped me with my future perspective.