Mobile devices have always been close at hand and will soon kick-start a revolution in the way we pay for things. The introduction of new technologies and industry consolidation will open doors wide for mobile payment. From banking and shopping for products online or in stores, to paying for all sorts of services, including parking or tickets – a critical mass is being created. At the panel discussion we will discuss implementation examples and global situation (Is it possible that Croatia has beaten the United States?), available technologies (NFC and others), their safety aspect, and different services launched by card companies and telcos, as well as show just how the revolution in the way we shop is going to affect product advertising.

Will these particular categories, such as we know them today, cease to exist? What does the agency of the future look like? What kind of people work there? Will the creativity stem from some completely different sources? Who will become the power centers? How will the consumers make their decisions? Will certain channels cease to exist and new channels emerge? In what way will the effectiveness of advertising be measured?

As long as accessing the media via internet had been a mere secondary way of content consummation, almost all the media companies saw it as an opportunity to bring their brands closer to the consumer and were thus prepared to offer that content for free. In time the internet started turning into an ever more significant way of content consummation, increasingly eating away at the traditional ways of content distribution. Nowadays, following in the footsteps of the business media that have been the first to introduce charges for the online content as well as the New York Times as of recently, there is a growing number of publishers looking for a way to charge money for their efforts. Will such attempts be successful? How can one charge for the content? Are there any new business models that can replace the traditional ways of charging for content? Will the profit from selling online content ever reach the previous volumes? The panel discussion titled Free of Fee will attempt to answer these and many other questions that the publishers nowadays are faced with…

A few months ago, Croatia’s TV offer was expanded with several new channels that have thus influenced the redistribution of the advertising budget, but also target dispersion. Some research says a large slice of the viewership cake belongs to the cable TV channels, which is why many would like to know where the viewers have gone, what kind of content they are interested in and how fragmentation affects advertisers and their presence on TV.

The medium that has undergone the biggest changes but also the biggest expansion and profitability in Croatia is the radio. Several years ago we were convinced that the oldest electronic medium could provide nothing new and refreshing but than the radio boom happened! New radio formats appeared, bringing down all the ratings, attracting new advertisers and bringing back the radio on the region’s media map. At the same time, many still believe radio formats are not listening to their listeners but are using trusted statistics. They also think the radio has lost its authorship and the soul it once had, and that the magic of the radio lies in the originals – small editorial tricks and adaptability to the listeners. Nonetheless, one should take into account the numbers and the audiences’ demography, seeing as while one part of the country likes formats, the others find originals to be the winners…

Dnevnik, the primetime news show of any public TV station and an important programming content of the commercial TV stations, is the most long-lasting TV format. It requires specific organization and distribution of tasks and roles, precise editorial hierarchy and unquestionable political independence. The latter is also what a TV station’s credibility relies on heavily, just as the ratings, which editors and programming directors so often boast about, do. The region’s primetime news shows, which all differ from one another in their structures, equipment, broadcasting times and journalistic approaches, have all been the news program trendsetters. Who do the viewers trust more? What is the good practice that commercial TV stations’ news shows nowadays owe their success to? Is tradition stronger than popularization? Why has the formerly rigid and strict form been personalized?

Over the past few months there has been a flood of gastronomy-related content into the media – from the print media to TV and social networks. Whether it is recipes, cooking shows, gastronomers and celebs’ food recommendations or competitions and documentaries, food has become the most profitable media content. Why is that? Are we flooded with the content in question and what is it exactly that makes up quality? What will the future be like and have the consumers become fed up or are they still hungry for more?

Communication is extremely demanding in any industry. It is a huge challenge at any particular moment to find the best means and channels of communication and generate messages that will intrigue the target publics, without antagonizing anyone in the process. The challenge increases manifold in exceedingly standardized and regulated industries, industries whose communication channels have been almost completely severed with various regulatory decisions. The most drastic example in this case is the tobacco industry, but similar problems can also be found in industries dealing with pharmaceuticals and alcoholic drinks. This particular panel discussion will try to answer some of the questions troubling communicators in these “stigmatized” industries.

How can one communicate in a regulatory environment that forbids communication even though one’s products are being sold and taxed? How can one tell a story about a product that cannot even be mentioned in public? How can one create and strengthen a brand without the help of the communication tools that are used in the creation of other brands? How can one overcome the set limitations and still remain within the boundaries of the existing laws and ethics? Is it hypocritical to generate an anti-smoking hysteria and at the same time charge enormously high taxes on cigarettes? How can one increase the sale of drugs without promoting over-consumption and addiction?

Each country in the region is specific – they boast different print, TV and online media presence, different contents and content consumers. The strategies of companies that have crossed the borders of their home countries need to adapt to each and every market individually. What works in one country, does not work in another. In some countries they rely more on public relations, in others on classic advertising, while in some countries online and social networks are the key to success. What does each of the markets like, in what way must one formulate one’s messages and which channels should one use? And, naturally, how can one stay consistent, retain one’s recognizability and form an equal image, regardless of the territory and the media?

What is happening with the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) these days? What has the new law on HRT, passed in late 2010, brought to the HRT, and what to the public? Is there any hope the HRT will become the public medium we want and need it to be? Do we nowadays have a single public or are there many active publics and what do they have in common when it comes to HRT? The European Union’s international media-related policy has been looking for new ways of the public media’s survival and functioning, considering the rather complicated economic circumstances, crisis, recession, strengthening of the corporate journalism… Even though there is a public consensus on the public media being irreplaceable in any national media space, seeing as they air content of public interest, including culture, science, human rights, civic society, etc. – all of which form the basis of the democratization of the public space – the public TV stations’ ratings are nonetheless dropping constantly, while the viewers’ interest in the privately-owned TV stations’ commercial content is growing by the day. The survival of the public TV stations has been ensured through the stable fee-based financing. At the same time, the European Union has laid down certain strict rules regulating the way the said fees are managed; in line with that, in late 2010 Croatia passed a new law on HRT. The responsibility of the management and programming producers has been maximized, and the public involved more than ever before. What does all that bring to the TV viewers and radio listeners? What aspects of the law in question should the Croatian public know about? In what way can the public be involved in the planning and supervision of a broadcaster’s program?

In recent years sports has become business no. 1 in the global entertainment industry, be it regional leagues and private clubs or marketing and sale of TV and mobile rights. Our region has not been spared either; nonetheless, how much do we really follow the global trends and have we recognized the possibilities of sportainment?

Ever since the explosion of the free web content, the entire media industry, print media in particular, have been forced to make quick, major changes as well as continuous innovations. At a time when the media content is available online and for free, the magazines are, theoretically speaking, in a better position and less susceptible to the online cannibalization by the readership as compared to the daily papers. The reason lies in the fact that they are more differentiated than the online content, thanks to a clearly conceptualized, more analytical and less time-sensitive content. Even though analyses show that in 2009 specialized magazines had suffered one of the deepest plunges globally and their market decreased 20 percent, in 2011 the magazine market showed a mild increase. Moreover, it is expected that in the period between 2012 and 2015 magazines will be one of the fastest growing segments in the media industry. Such an optimistic outlook is based on the growth of the tablet market, among other things, as tablets are the ideal platforms for the consummation of the magazine content.

Global trends are telling us that the right thing to go in the magazine market is specialization. The participants of this particular panel discussion will try to answer if the same goes for the daily papers and if the same rules apply to small-sized markets such as those of Croatia and the countries in the region

Convergence of media and how to adapt to drastic changes in content consumption is one of the largest media - technological challenges of this century. Accelerated evolution of media, caused by constant changes in the way they are consumed, brought a number of changes in all industries which, in any way, are in contact with or related to media.

Not only that, until recently, completely separated, different media are coming together and have started to integrate with each other in different ways. This is happening to various businesses - telecoms, cable operators, hardware manufacturers, content providers and Internet companies, which have been seeking their position, knowing that nothing will ever be the same.

Convergence cannot be defined easily, since we all have our own image of what it should be. It is even harder to predict where the current changes are leading us and what the tomorrow brings to operators, producers, traditional media companies and all others who wish to participate.

We gathered some of the most influential leaders in the field of new media and technologies, together to try and see what will convergence bring and how to deal with all those good and bad sides of the upcoming media age.