"LGBT people excel in their hard work and are a valuable asset to companies," says Roman Horešovský, co-founder of the marketing agency
Let's take it from the beginning. What position did you start in and did you have ambitions to reach a higher position, or did you leave everything to fate?
Fate. I started working during my studies, it was a part-time job in a bar. But that lasted only two years and immediately after my studies, when I was in my early twenties, I joined one of the telephone operators as a consultant in a branch. Even back then, I was comfortable with more "respectable" clients who had more numbers or were well-known personalities. After a short time I started to focus exclusively on this group of customers. I liked it more and more, the meetings were always on a level and I looked up to these people in a way. Which was probably also due to my age.
So the business world itself was a motivation for you to move on in your career? Its general atmosphere?
I've liked that environment since I was a kid. My mom was a highly regarded manager who had 5,000 people under her. She was one of the most successful in all of Europe and in the Czech Republic she won several major awards for her work in one corporation. So that passion for business grew in me for a long time. Thanks to her work, I was constantly meeting wealthy and influential people, so moving around in this world always seemed like a very normal thing to me.
My first job in marketing came right after my experience at the telephone company?
Exactly. I enjoyed that job, but it was still very much in the realm of solving problems and complaints, which wasn't exactly what I had dreamed of. Today, similar communication is done through call centres, but it wasn't as widespread back then. I stayed in that position mainly for the good money. I was introduced to marketing by a friend who helped me get a position with a large company. Today, it has a virtual monopoly on outdoor advertising in the Czech Republic. I lasted there for about 10 years.
So what made you decide to start your own marketing and advertising company?
Although my work experience was great, I was always "just" an employee, which on the one hand meant having a stable income, but on the other hand not having much opportunity to influence anything. When an offer came from another friend who had his own marketing agency and wanted to help develop it, I didn't hesitate. I'm still active in it, but at the same time I met other people, young guys who were studying in Canada and with whom we started Aesthspace, a company focused on the digital environment. I liked their vision, because they wanted to raise awareness about social media, especially when it comes to cyberbullying. At the same time, they started developing interesting apps, so I got involved as an investor. Considering their capabilities and my portfolio of customers that I've built up over the previous years, it's worked out great for us so far.
What are the biggest hurdles a marketing/advertising agency has to overcome today?
Whether it's digital or outdoor advertising, the biggest problem is that there are giant agencies that do a comprehensive job but also take absolutely insane commissions. While this is common in the world, our market is not ready for it. The agencies are then left with the smaller companies that don't have that kind of budget. Another problem is that there are too many of these agencies in our country. Due to the number of requirements, clients change them and try to see which one suits them best. And then it's hard to choose the right one.
What do you enjoy most about advertising and marketing? And how do you think you contribute to innovation across the industry?
I enjoy the same things I enjoyed at the beginning of my career. I meet a lot of interesting people, whether it's a high-ranking marketing manager of a company or the owner directly. Having been in the industry for 21 years, I've managed to make some connections that I can then use for future collaborations. For example, I am able to connect two companies that need each other and would not have had a chance to meet without my intervention. At the same time, I try not to deviate from client to client, I always build a personal relationship with everyone so that the cooperation can work in the long term. My goal is not to invoice a huge sum for short-term work after which no results are visible. I like it when our collaboration is constantly recurring. This not only deepens our personal communication, but it's also better for the company itself.
In terms of innovation, you could say uniqueness, I have to separate outdoor and digital advertising. In the case of outdoor advertising, basically everything is fundamentally figured out, and shifts are happening in terms of the development of new technologies. For example, we offer a lot of LED screens where the look, cooling or resolution is evolving. Of course, it's also important to find the right location for the ad itself. But that's more about tweaking the details of things that already work, rather than inventing completely new things. In short, we always work with the client to find the best way to get the best possible visibility.
In the case of digital advertising, and therefore Aesthspace, the online world is huge and it's extremely challenging to keep track of everything. Moreover, the growth is continuous. We currently use a maximum of 35% of all available options, which means we have much more room for further development than in the case of static outdoor advertising. We differ mainly because we try to do everything ourselves, which is not entirely common. We go and shoot our own video with the customer and edit it ourselves. We create the banner ourselves and put it up where it's needed. We keep track of stats and target audiences ourselves and we consult with the client all the time. If something doesn't work, we immediately offer several other options to proceed.
Have you ever been involved in any LGBT campaigns? And if not, are you even interested in such a collaboration?
We recently participated in your LUI CONNECTION event through LED screens. As far as online is concerned, nothing like that has come up there yet. I think the LGBT community is tremendously strong, even in terms of business. I think LGBT people are very hardworking and are undoubtedly a valuable asset within individual companies. I'm definitely interested in working more with this community because I'm interested to see how our collaboration would work and where it would take our agency. We're even in the process of developing the apps I mentioned that we're going to be doing something just for the LGBT community, so that would be a very useful connection for us to be able to grasp this whole thing.
Do you have any source of inspiration in your personal or professional life (whether it's a specific person or company)?
Not really. In short, it's always good to learn from the most capable people and take something from their lectures or advice that is personally relevant to you.
