Swiss know-how, their way of long-term planning and Serbian entrepreneurship and the ability to improvise make a winning combination for our business operations.
As a part of a Swiss business group, Alma Quattro has been operating successfully in Serbia for more than two decades. Sanja Pešić, the company’s CEO, cites flexibility in everyday activities and preserving the physical and mental health of employees as the biggest challenges in these turbulent times.
Alma Quattro operates under the Switzerland-based APG SGA Group. How different is doing business in Switzerland and Serbia? Is it harder to do business here and how much do client expectations differ?
Switzerland is a country that nurtures all the values that a large number of people in Serbia want for themselves and their environment. They are hardworking, disciplined, organized, financially independent, live a quality life, have a high level of awareness of nature conservation and their particular lifestyle. What connects the Swiss and us is the love of food and socializing, and we know that for sure from our experience with our colleagues from APG.
Furthermore, a large number of our clients are international and advertise in Switzerland and that is something that connects us. Research shows that the habits of consumers and advertisers are very similar and that OOH advertising (out-of-home advertising) is a stable, clear and visible medium, with a very high impact on consumer decisions.
However, there are also big differences between Switzerland and Serbia, and they are more than obvious in terms of the level of economic and market development, purchasing power and living standard. Ad expenditure in Switzerland was 6 billion Swiss francs in 2019 and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was reduced by 800 million Swiss francs in 2020. The Serbian advertising scene is worth around 200 million euros.
How much does it mean to you in terms of technology to operate as part of APG SGA?
Certainly, being part of one big international family means a lot, and at the same time, it is an additional motive to reach the quality of an innovative system such as JCDecaux and APG SGA. Many big global brands are also our clients, and the latest technological and creative solutions that you can see on the streets of Belgrade and other cities in Serbia can match those seen on the streets of any European capital.
We can say that Swiss know-how, their way of long-term planning and Serbian entrepreneurship and the ability to improvise make a winning combination for our business operations.
As a leader in OOH advertising in Serbia, we have implemented various creative ideas and, with the use of diverse IT technologies, enabled the interaction of consumers with various brands. As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we do business worldwide, the biggest challenges are certainly flexibility in daily activities and preserving the physical and mental health of our employees to maintain business and achieve good results.
Success is the result of long-term planning, daily commitment to work-related activities and working on improving relationships with clients and agencies.
Alma Quattro will celebrate its 28th anniversary in 2022. What is the secret of having a successful business?
Success is the result of long-term planning, daily commitment to work-related activities and working on improving relationships with clients and agencies. I would also like to mention the ability to react to unforeseen circumstances which we have experienced in the last two years.
The breadth of our portfolio, from classic billboards to small and large format digital media, allows us to tailor a quality campaign to each client while respecting their budget. In the last three years, OOH has recorded growth compared to the previous period, i.e. more than other market segments, which indicates that confidence in the efficiency of our media is growing.
As for our team goes, most of our employees have been with us for over 25 years. That says a lot about the values and culture we nurture and about the attitude that our employees towards work and the company, as well as the company’s attitude towards the people who work for it.