Marijana Agic-Molnar, GfK Belgrade, Serbien

The collapse of Yugoslavia brought in its wake 15 difficult years. Marijana Agic-Molnar, Managing Director of GfK Belgrade, survived this period of bombardment, ethnic turmoil, sacrifice and sadness. During this time, she doggedly pursued her work, which meant life itself to her. At first, she worked for herself and for five years now, she has been working for GfK, looking after companies like Coca-Cola, which she is doing with increasing success.

“How could it happen?” asks the small human dynamo that is Marijana Agic-Molnar, her quizzical face reflecting the emotion behind the question. On the one hand, she still cannot quite believe that as a country, Serbia has survived the civil war, three months’ bombardment by nato troops and Montenegro breaking away. On the other hand, like the majority of her fellow Serbians, she has a very positive attitude.

To Marijana Agic-Molnar, the first highlight of her earlier life, the life before, was when she obtained her Bachelor’s degree (BA) in marketing at Belgrade University. For several years, she worked at Mark Plan, market leader in the marketing research sector in what was then Serbia. She then switched to the other side of the desk and took up a post with Coca-Cola as head of market research for Serbia and Macedonia. However, the year 1999 she describes as “Serbia’s most difficult for 50 years.” It was very nearly the end of the vivacious Marijana Agic-Molnar’s dream: “I hadn’t really ever thought of starting my own company, but the circumstances left me no alternative.” Armed with her mission – “market research is my life’s dream” – and the help of a colleague, she launched herself in the market and started acquiring clients at a time when there were no international market researchers in Serbia. Soon, the small agency’s portfolio included such clients as The Coca-Cola Company, Tetra Pack, Altadis and Reemtsma. “We were very small“ Marijana Agic-Molnar recalls, “but we had a unique position, since we offered comprehensive information-based consultancy services which extended well beyond the usual statistics and data.“

With expertise of this kind on offer, GfK soon came to an agreement with Agic-Molnar and in January 2002, virtually at the same time as GfK Belgrade was established, she began handling the Coca Cola account. “If I had to define this long standing cooperation, I think I would say that we provide factbased consultancy founded on profound mutual trust and confidence”, says Marijana Agic-Molnar without a trace of sentimentality.

Long Range Plan: research for the future

One of the most interesting projects carried out for the Coca-Cola Company was an investigation of the Long Range Plan. The Coca-Cola Company wanted to know the direction in which the market was likely to develop. The Serbian market researcher recalls: “We carried out a large-scale analysis, including that of Central and Eastern Europe”, emphasizing the scale of the project with her hands and adding, “In many sectors, it is possible to predict trends if Croatia, Slovenia or the Czech Republic are included in the study. We didn’t simply rely on local data, but analyzed all the regional data available to us as well.” The process of trend analysis was made so much more difficult because so many people had left the country during the years of civil war. Marijana Agic-Molnar says that “Serbia is now Europe’s most geriatric country, the birthrate is low, because the very young people who could have produced children are the ones who have left.”

The trends were analyzed at a workshop and a strategic plan subsequently drafted. The Long Range Plan was aimed at enabling The Coca-Cola Company to determine its targets for the period up to 2010. Coca-Cola and its bottling partners agreed on the strategic targets, together defining the milestone stages of the Long Range Plan. What impressed Marijana Agic-Molnar most directly as a professional was the fact that The Coca-Cola Company did not just request statistics: “They wanted our advice and opinion. Our brief was to express our recommendations as to what action should be taken. That’s why every report to Coca-Cola concludes with our GfK recommendations. After all, they want a partner, and not a number cruncher.”

In the absence of reliable statistics in the aftermath of the turmoil of war, what was called for here was a creative approach. In addition to the national statistics, the GfK team also analyzed household panel data, GfK Euro-statistics, the GfK Shopping Monitor and as a “really superb way of gathering data”, interviews with economic and financial experts. From these, the major social trends were derived and for comparative purposes, data from other East European states reflecting similar social development was included in the analysis. Consumer surveys were used to further refine the overall picture of future consumer habits and trends. In summing up, Marijana explains: “We have to be very creative. We’ve obtained a great many ideas from the GfK team in Belgrade, which we use to support The Coca-Cola Company in its strategic planning.”

Marijana recalls: “The Coca-Cola Company is not your everyday client. It demands constant ongoing development of methods and market analysis from market researchers. The requirements may also involve knowledge of the best methodologies in the world, because the company is positioned at the very top end of the global market. Here, we can rely on GfK’s Knowledge Exchange System, which guaranties us access to colleagues all over the world.” Just recently, GfK obtained a further contract to improve marketing potential, on which an international team of GfK experts worked together. This is absolutely in line with the requirements, since The Coca-Cola Company is also globally active and a variety of projects for the company are supported by GfK at international level.

Exchanging ideas and opinions with GfK teams at international level

A team of 30 has now arisen out of the small company founded by Marijana Agic-Molnar. GfK Belgrade owes much of its success to facts, figures, recommendations and knowledge and to the exchange with other GfK companies, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe. According to Agic-Molnar, “It also helped that we are a company with German roots. In Serbia, Germans are regarded as meticulous and reliable.“

“How could this happen?“ the resolute Serbian lady wonders and here she means the fact that GfK had such confidence in her – “after all, I was only 28 at the time” – and gave her so much freedom. “I had little experience and didn’t know if I would be able to establish an international brand”, says Marijana, who is 33 now. “It was the greatest motivation for me, because only in this way could I justify the trust placed in me.”

GfK Belgrade, Serbia

• Established: 1999, part of the GfK Group since January 2002
  
  
• Employees: 30 permanent staff members
  
  
• Business divisions: Custom Research (75%), Consumer Tracking (25%)
  The company generates the majority of its sales in the fast moving consumer goods sector and increasingly, serving the financial services sector. Among the most important services are segmentation and usage&attitudes surveys, product and concept research and studies relating to new product development. A consumer panel consisting of 1,000 households has been set up.
  
  
• Clients: The Coca-Cola Company, Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris, Beiersdorf, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Tetrapak and many others. In the meanwhile, successful national companies (Imlek, Bambi) also commission market research studies. The principal requirements are for strategic consultancy and assistance with planning strategy to transcend foreign competition.