Valentin Suciu (Jam Session): I hope that 2024 will bring back some of the joy and playfulness that make this ad industry sexy

2023 was a very dynamic and full year, until its end. But what should we desire from this year’s reality? BR sat down with Ioana Cadir, General Manager & Valentin Suciu, Co- Founder & COO Jam Session, in another series of interviews and talked about the Romanian marcomm industry, its evolution and what to be expected from 2024, at the same time not forgetting to touch the trends and agency’s side as well.

By Romanita Oprea

How was 2023 from a business point of view?

Ioana Cadir: Surely it was one of the most important ones from our recent existence, 2023 came for JAM SESSION with a new challenge as we redefined our roles as stakeholders, a year in which we reassessed, together with our clients, the health of the brands and decided how can we further navigate in this newfound freedom. This realignment took us yet again out of the comfort zone but brought much more trust and stronger partnership.

Overall business it was a very good year, we’ve grown our existing client based, currently catering for over 15 clients so we can say that it was a busy year.

What were the most important changes & novelties in the agency in 2023?

Ioana Cadir: The challenge was keeping the boat steady while implementing some most needed structures and keeping our growth mindset. We also kept an eye out for best people on the market that will be a good fit with us, thus in 2024 we have almost all the necessary resources to best feet our structure and client needs.

What do you offer differently than the competition?

Valentin Suciu: The thinking and the people. We enjoy working on short term tactics that hit the mark as any other agency in the market, but we aim for the long brand impact and the new business partnerships we search for must share this long-term game. We continually invest in the relationship with our clients and understanding their constant challenges thus our strategic minds joined us in the role of business consultancy and leadership and took on the role of Business Unit Leads. Andrei Florian is Unit Business Lead for eMAG, Stefania Bercu for ING and Andreea Calarasu leads the Carrefour and OLX Group Brands – Storia, Olx, Autovit being connected to multiple industries. Also, we have an ongoing focus on making brands standing out into the new digital culture through Oana Oprea, Head of Digital.

Our stakeholder structure is also unique on the market having two business and two creative minds with over 20 years each in this industry and we complement each other in the most beautiful and challenging way.

Generally, it was a very intense year in the marcomm industry with many projects and campaigns until the last days. Was it the same for your agency? What about the pitches you entered?

Ioana Cadir: It was YET AGAIN an intense year all together, not only in last couple of days of the year, as we had some surprises to implement some campaigns over the holiday and also finalize a pitch in the last days of the year. Given the fact that we focused more in growing existing business, we did not take in many pitches last year and for the pitches that we positively responded, the client understood our in-depth approach and was willing to adjust the process as to accommodate our requirements. We were very grateful for this!

What do you wish for 2024?

Valentin Suciu: Purpose and Play. Because always-on-alert mode, lot of confusion and forced adaptability were the key phrases that had the most force in advertising environment.After three incredibly hard years we know that we are much more resilient and mature. I hope that 2024 will bring back some of the joy and playfulness that make this ad industry sexy while continue to exploit every collaboration opportunity that is based on mutual respect.

We constantly think how we can give our colleagues the context to be able to manifest the pleasure in creating things that have a positive impact in business and ultimately change behaviors.

What did clients want the most in 2023? Do you see any changes in their approaches?

Ioana Cadir: They wanted a reliable partner that can bring as much passion and accountability to the table. Some battles were won more easily, other took some more time but we have a lot of work to be prod of. We have come to a point where authenticity is valued by both parties, agency and client, where in–depth discussions are sought after and debates revolving AI or performance marketing are more and more present balanced by the power of creativity. Overall, we gave ourselves more time to understand WHY we do things.

In the same time demanded a high level of craft and relevance carried through a fantastic team of GCDs, Alexandra Buligescu, Adina Basag, Alina Nechita, Marius Tudor and Raluca Eftimie.

What do you consider the latest trends that are arriving in the marcomm industry and why?

Valentin Suciu: AI will speed up the full digitalization of the agencies and will define new client-agency processes. There will be more discussion about the role of advertising in the world and about the creative agency model which is in crisis. We (want to) think that after discovering the limits of performance marketing marketers will look again at the role of the brand and will explore the ways to integrate their brands into culture. There is an ongoing battle between getting paid by the hour and getting paid by the final creative product, and I hope that creativity will win. And finally, people will spend more hours motivating other people and finding new ways to give meaning to their job than doing the actual work.

Where do you believe to be our industry’s main problems and how can they be changed? How much of an important role are still having the consultancy and the strategy in 2024?

Valentin Suciu: We think that the biggest risk is clients devaluating creativity. Alongside the economic conditions and the lack of business integration.

We try to balance every day the need for short-term results and gratification with the need to build something more stable in the long run. This is the main reason that we structured our team in business / brand units and they are always connected to what is happening in the market and are able to implement things very fast when the context asks for it, while maintaining a brand centric approach.

What are the trends in branding in 2024, from your point of view?

Valentin Suciu: Being real. Over 50% of advertising and marketing specialists think that advertising does not understand real people according to the latest Contagious report. Using AI to speed up some agency processes, speeding up the brand response and helping strategists in their quest for insights. And I have the same hope as a BBDO executive, that more and more clients will ask us to put their brands into the culture instead of standing outside the culture yelling back at the world.

What do you believe to be the main DONTs in 2024 and why?

Valentin Suciu: I think that the main don’t’s are the ones that ruin the culture of an organisation. So, I will address behaviours:

Don’t be comfortable. The uncertainty of disruption is a much better business plan. Don’t look for certainties, look for the right questions to ask. Don’t show power, show respect. And don’t trust only in yourself, trust in your team and in collaboration.

What drives your daily passion for advertising?

Ioana Cadir: From someone with a very fresh – general manager role – but someone that coordinated smaller teams in the past 20 years, my motivation was always the creative expression of the final product but also the deciphering of the puzzle in each stage of process from the brief, to the rebrief, to the 3rd 4th or even 5th creative reiteration, the late nights, until the prossecco glass and award won. I’ve made my own set of rules and let myself be inspired by the right people.

I think that the business of creativity is the right place to be in a world that still has a lot of questions to answer. And from the position of an independent creative agency, the feeling of freedom and responsibility is a very powerful drug.

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