In the decade since Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia, the country's nascent agency and commercial production industry has begun to emerge on the international scene.

"When Slovenia achieved independence, along with it came the birth of many advertising agencies that were linked to the new market economy," says Vital Verlic, ECD of Futura DDB, Zagreb. "The entrance of multinational corporations opened doors to many other advertising agencies that bought our smaller local agencies."

The tiny nation of just over two million inhabitants has been one of the most successful former Eastern Bloc countries in its transition from socialism to a market economy. Futura DDB, an amalgamation of local design, high technology and ad talent, and an international agency network, exemplifies shops such as Agency Arih, Mediamix and Kraft & Werk that have succeeded in the post-Communist Balkans.

Now a full-service agency, Futura was first launched by Verlic as a design studio in 1996. Today's Futura DDB has emerged after its consolodation with Zagreb agency Idea Company and has become the Slovenian node of the DDB network; additionally Futura DDB is also a major shareholder of Slovenian Web agency Profano.

In its six-year lifespan, the agency has landed over 30 clients including Compaq, Peugeot and McDonald's, and numerous international honors.

"Everyone knows everyone here, so lots of business is done through people you already know. Only the best and biggest clients choose their agencies based on results," says Verlic.

Top regional ad festival the Golden Drum Awards handed Futura its Agency of the Year honor three years running (though the naysayer might note that the Drums are organized and held in Slovenia, and Slovenian agencies entered more work than any other country).

"Slovenia is full of talented people; we have many creative copywriters, directors and designers yet to be discovered," says Verlic. "We are not an insular nation and enjoy working on an international level and would like to do much more."

While Verlic and other top creatives crave international attention for Slovenian creativity, meager budgets often prevent the country's commercial work from achieving production values comparable to international standards.

"An average budget of advertising projects is between $100,000 US and $200,000 US, though I would be moved if there was another zero added onto the end of that sum," comments Verlic.

Dimitrij Gracner is co-founder/managing director of Zagreb's Gustav Productions. Gracner, who more often than not finds himself on the receiving end of such budgets, says the spots' pricetags match the intended scope of the work.

"Our budgets are appropriate for a two-million-person market, averaging between $30,000 US and $70,000 US," says Gracner. "We are not satisfied with that, but considering the size of the market, the budgets will never be bigger."

Therein lies the creative catch-22 facing this ambitious Balkan nation's would-be advertising exporters: The unique linguistic and cultural demands of advertising to Slovenians entail spots particular to the market, yet budgets limit spots to the sparest of productions. Then again, less money often engenders a keener creative edge.

Webfiles:
Futura DDB> http://www.futura.si
Golden Drum Awards> http://www.goldendrum.com