Social media is perhaps the most exciting thing that has happened to marketing in the last ten years. They opened new doors of opportunity that traditional media could not even dream of opening. They gave a voice to all participants in the process, and completely changed the narrative and the way of communication from corporate to human.
Yes, platforms 2.0 have given the possibility of two-way communication. Seen through the prism of marketing communications, companies are the ones who send the message, but the end user does not just receive it but also has the opportunity to send a message back and start a whole narrative that can go in favor of the company. Also, it can completely change the tone and bring a problem to the surface.
That is the advantage of Platforms 2.0. What would Platforms 3.0 be? Well, this is where things get interesting.
What to expect in the future of social media?
I came across the concept of Internet 3.0 through a tweet a few days ago, where this concept is explained in great detail, which I will now try to explain to you in layman’s terms.
If the goal of Internet 2.0 was to enable two-way communication, Internet 3.0 aims to have the same possibility but to decentralize the power of communication platforms.
What does decentralization mean? It means that we will not have the power centralized in one company that will regulate the communication channel but each of us will be a “server” in some way. So, there will never be an opportunity for a hacker to break into the system, or for the company to manipulate the network.
I’ll repeat it in layman’s terms – this sounds like a blockchain for social networks, a concept of torrents for FB and Insta.
Why did I turn the conversation to Internet 3.0? Because the world is already ready for it, considering all the controversies related to Facebook and its Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other daughter satellites, and especially considering the almost all-day downfall of the same.
The conversation involves several things as the security of user privacy, the dependence of businesses on specific networks, and the question of what we do if tomorrow these networks are gone or become irrelevant (RIP MYSPACE).
To answer that, we must first revisit some basic digital marketing literacy concepts that people often forget and some even (quite justifiably) don’t know.
Social media in digital marketing
One of the key divisions of digital marketing is branching into three parts:
owned media (channels and content that are owned by you and over which you have control),
earned media (content that someone shares – users, media, etc., and based on whose narrative you have no control over), and
paid media (or custom paid advertising).
Why is this important in situations like the downfall of social media like FB and its satellite networks? Because if they disappeared for a long time or disappeared completely (you never know), automatically, brands and influencers would not have ownership of their profiles/pages on those networks.
There would be no way to have an earned media moment (there would be no one to share the posts) and would not have access to the paid advertising system.
What’s yours and what’s not yours online?
In this situation, the only thing that would be in the control of brands and influencers would be the real-owned media channels. Channels that they own instead of ones owned by popular social networks. What are those channels? Well, it’s not plural, but rather singular – it’s the company/personal website.
The content you create will always be yours – blog posts, authored videos, photos, designs, or any digital content. Anyone who wants to follow you will always have a way through social media but a website is still yours, not to mention the option to have people subscribe to your new content via email.
Finally, the best takeaway from the whole Facebook debacle is that the mantra of any digital marketing company or individual creating quality content must be that what is being given/shared is something that is truly valuable. Quality content reaches the end user, and it is best to host the content on your site that is under your control.
Filip Ristevski creates a success story with Piksel and builds a digital transformation trend among companies. Together with his team, he helps companies achieve the highest successes and change the world, offering expertise that gives them the tools to start thinking differently from their competition and digitally transform their companies and grow their business using the latest web development strategies, marketing, and technologies.
Filip Ristevski, you have an enviable portfolio and experience. How did you come up with the idea for Piksel? How did you encourage yourself to start the trend of digital companies in Macedonia?
The desire to try something on our own exists in all of us. It just takes a small initial capsule, an idea, faith, and a little luck to make it come true. Piksel, which has three partners in the background, sprouted from a process of creating an idea for a product. Fortunately or not, that start was not successful, so we decided to start with providing digital services until our next product story. It turned out that such a turn was not so unfortunate, so in April, Piksel will celebrate eight years of existence on the market with an already recognizable image of a digital company that unites the service of digital transformation of companies, the two carriers of digital values, development, and marketing.
As a software/website development and digital marketing agency, Piksel aims to help companies grow their business and create lasting partnerships and value on their way to success through digital channels. What does it mean to have a company handed over to you? How do you gain trust?
Starting cooperation is also the beginning of a completely transparent and honest relationship with the client. That alone is the first step towards building trust and partnership, which as a company, we make sure to upgrade in every segment of cooperation. We build trust through positive and negative experiences that we face jointly with the clients giving them full support and appropriate solutions.
Finally, the most important thing for us is the human segment of cooperation and the creation of sincere partnerships that will last for years.
Your experience spans projects from digital monetization, the cinema industry, the banking and finance sector, FMCG, healthcare, and education. Which segment or industry would you distinguish for your team as a favorite and why?
This one is similar to the question – which of your children is your favorite? 😊 Although we work with clients from various fields of activity, we do not have a segment that stands out as a favorite. It is natural that some industries, such as film, FMCG, and all others related to modern trends and technologies, are more interesting for the teams. At the same time, we see all other industries as a challenge and an opportunity to learn something new while helping the client achieve his business goals.
The Piksel team is made of creatives and is expanding quickly. What is crucial for you to be part of the team, what skills do you prefer, and do you organize training for your employees?
It builds on the human aspect I mentioned earlier. The first character trait of our team members is honesty and transparency, as well as indispensable team spirit and energy.
It is a foundation that each of our employees must have to build their expertise and professionalism on.
Regarding the training part, each internal level in the company has to master some training for the employees to be more ready to meet the next level in their development.
In 2018, we saw big headlines announcing that Filip Ristevski received recognition for “Entrepreneur of the Year.” How much did this award motivate you? Did it open new perspectives for you? What are your future challenges?
Ugh, how far 2018 seems from this perspective, ha ha ha. Of course, any award received pleases and motivates, especially when it is unexpected and based on statistical indicators of the company’s growth for that year. The award strengthened Pixel’s recognition in the local market, opening an opportunity to cooperate with even more clients.
But, like all other companies, we “struggled” for most of the last and this year with the challenges brought by the pandemic and the new way of functioning. With this fact in mind, the direction is in the further regulation of internal procedures and further automation of all processes inside the company that should help in smoother functioning daily and thereby provide added value in providing services to customers. At the same time, it needs to facilitate the employees’ work.
It was expected that in 2020 I would receive another task at the end of the year – the annual recap, Piksel in 2020.
And as the year was, so was my completion of this task in the same year – it just wasn’t happening. So here I am in 2021, with a fresh perspective on what happened in the previous 12 months.
I must admit that it’s still unreal that I’m writing a review for 2020. I’m still in my right mind in March when all the madness started. But let’s not jump too much through the timeline, let’s go back to the beginning.
As usual, we started the year with a new round of Piksel memes.
And yes, even in such a year, we enriched the Piksel team with more Piksels. We welcomed to the team Filip – the SEO wizard, Angela – the all-round kick a** account manager, Trajko called Dziki – the copywriter & #hehence master, Ivana – the office manager/organizational guru and two reinforcements from abroad, Kate – the pro account handler & content creator and Nate – the all round design & marketing pro.
And now, back to work…
In 2020, we already started the story with Tikvesh and Bohemian’s conversations. Something that came to us naturally as self-proclaimed bohemians and lovers of good tikveska brandy and exceptional wines.
Before the lockdown happened, we managed to organize an event together with EOS Matrix for the presentation of their “European Payment Habits” survey that EOS has been conducting for 12 years in a row.
On the subject of live events, for well-known reasons, it was the first and last Piksel live event of 2020.
In the first months of the year, our development and web design team was quite busy. We developed a landing page for Bimilk’s new product, Bitolsko fresh milk with vitamin D3, and a very addictive game for the refreshed and upgraded product portfolio of Bimilk – Bitolsko with 10 vitamins. Months later, we’re still playing it. 🙂
Aaaand, this is where the COVID-19 crisis started. Of course, not knowing how to deal with the new situation, we did what we knew best. A new round of memes, this time Quarantine edition, as the most effective medicine in the battle against the virus.
After the phase of creating memes and getting used to the new situation, the real challenges for Piksel in 2020 have begun.
I won’t lie and tell you that we managed easily and that working from home was great for us. At first, it sounded fun, great, we will all work from home… But soon, communication challenges started in the team. To find a way to communicate and be up-to-date with all the new requests from customers, and at the same time learn to function in a world where you can’t see your loved ones, you have to sit at home, and you have to disinfect everything that you order online was not easy.
There were a lot of meetings, a lot of calls, a lot of nerve-racking… Something that, as a team, took time to overcome, but…
With a Piksel team like this, I think anything can be overcome.
After strengthening our team’s communication and finding a way of functioning in the “new normal,” the challenge was to do the same with customers. Let’s find a way to be active and not stop with marketing activities but be careful with the social component and keep in mind all aspects of the situation.
A topic elaborated by Vladimir Ristevski, our CMO, in the interview for Business Info under the title: “If you have a product that responds to the crisis, you must not allow yourself not to advertise.” Take a minute to read it – the information shared in the interview may still be useful to you.
During the quarantine, our design team decided to present “Piksel Quarantine Cosmetics.” Stranger things were happening during the quarantine, don’t judge.
The idea was to make up for the things that we missed the most during the quarantine in an interesting way. The smell of linden trees in spring in Skopje, hugs with your best friends, or the smell of your favorite pub… cosmetics intended for maintaining a healthy body and a healthy spirit.
Sometime in May, we became (again, self-proclaimed) work-from-home experts. We even wrote a whole blog post about it. Like any good written word, we had our critics.
*Part of the Piksel team can relate to this. 🙂
Contributions of Piksel in 2020
Knowing that many businesses are in a difficult and unpredictable situation, we wanted to contribute to their promotion and survival efforts in a quickly digitized world. For this purpose, we have created an e-book with practical tips for the survival of your business. You can still download the free e-book.
This was also the right time to look back and ask our customers what they think of us. Like every digital person in 2020, we decided to put those nice words on social networks. Yes, on all social networks!
We are grateful to have such collaborators and even more satisfied when we receive positive comments on our invested work.
To keep up with the trends, Piksel in 2020 held the Piksel elections in which the Go-green team emerged victorious.
Naturally, during the heightened effects of the crisis caused by Covid-19, it was necessary to pay more attention to prevention to protect public health.
Therefore, with Ohridska Banka, we have encouraged digital habits among the population, such as using contactless payment cards for quick payments, avoiding queues, and using the website, mobile and electronic banking as products that offer complete banking services.
At the start of the new academic year, we presented something fresh. Complete design and development of Skopje East Gate website – the first project of its kind in the country, which incorporates a shopping mall, residential complex, and business park, to introduce new standards of urban living.
Since we are nearing the end of the year, I will summarize it through our work, and it looks like this:
We started the year properly with a toast to our loved ones with the best Macedonian wines of Tikvesh.
We educated and raised awareness about COVID-19 and protection measures with Roche Macedonia.
With InPlayer, we have brought the world of online streaming services to an ever-increasing number of people worldwide.
With Taskforce, we proved that “Macedonian value” has its own special meaning, brought their team closer to the world, and celebrated all their successes.
During the quarantine period, we increased our friendship with the wines of Tikvesh. As expected.
With Sava Insurance, we ensured your pets are always insured with Pet Vet. With Sava Pension Company, we launched a micro-blog so that you are never alone, and we tried to make you Savers with a Plan!
We laughed and played with Oho Productions and their Prespav and 5+ family.
A strong finish for Piksel in 2020
The end of the year was somehow connected with the beginning of the heating season, so the success story with Aircon led to a great promotion and highlighted why Aircon is #1 on the market in Macedonia and globally.
As the year was ending the team that worked tirelessly to create a new website for CityFashion finished the final preparations needed to successfully launch a completely new online web shop that brings together some of the world’s most famous brands in one place.
With the achieved results, in a really short time, it turned out that although we spent a large part of the time at home this past year, we still cannot resist unique pieces of clothing. Especially when they can reach us at our home address. And, of course, style cannot and must not suffer.
But that’s not all. The very end of 2020 also brought us a socially responsible campaign, developed with the European Business Association, for promoting the Circular Economy, its importance, and the importance of recycling and reusing – something that we as a team try to do in our offices, too.
Some of the challenges remained in 2020, while some continued in 2021. I am sure it will not be easy, but it is a challenge that I believe our team will overcome.
Welcome! This is the survival guide for all of you (and us) focusing on working from home during this emergency.
Let us start with the morning rituals.
Every start is easier after you take the first dose of coffee. The only difference from before is that we no longer need to prepare for work or travel to our workplace.
We just need to put on some comfortable clothes that we usually wear around the house (sweatpants, ahem – pajamas) and then nest in front of our computer screen to start working.
Source: pexels.com
Completing tasks
Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to working from home. The question is: How to be productive and complete all (or most) tasks?
First, you must show enough respect for the work on an individual and team level. Try to improve yourself as a person who works from home and build a team culture (even though you are at home).
We’re in this together (except for those who decide not to participate and then go watch Netflix instead of getting work done). The team must develop an awareness that everyone plays by the same rules, but also that each member of the team has their own rituals.
This actually means that each team member is synchronized with the others (like gears in a machine).
Source: trello.com
Second, you must develop a flexible schedule. If you don’t get up every day on time and complete the assigned tasks, you will scr*w things up, and everything will collapse.
For example, I have to set 3 alarms to get up on time. But that’s the way I have adapted to. I also try to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
Third, you have to have focus. To achieve that, I drink coffee, and it works for me. Also, whenever I work, I listen to some background instrumental music that doesn’t distract me.
My point is, without focus, you won’t be able to follow the team directions or the customers needs. This leads me to the following conclusion:
Communication is key.
We are fortunate to live in a time when technology is at our disposal. We can use Skype / Zoom / Microsoft Teams to communicate. On the plus side, instead of fumbling through 159318651 million messages in a group chat, we save significantly more time by having a video call with the team, client, etc.
We can communicate through software like Skype, where everyone can participate in the decision-making. We also report regularly to our superiors to keep them up-to-date.
What also helps us coordinate is that we use Trello to delegate tasks to all departments.
And finally (in this part, not in this article), deadlines and the responsibility you have are motivators for your productivity. These are the things that make you more aware and more agile.
You know you have no room for error because customers are counting on you (especially during the current global crisis), but also because you don’t want to let down your team that trusts your ability to get the job done.
Time management tips for working from home
Set boundaries for yourself.
I’m sure someone thinks: Because I’m at home 24/7, I can work whenever I want. No, no, no. Don’t do that. Don’t allow yourself to mix your work with your private time.
You are either working or not. There is no third option. Answering emails while working out at home is totally unproductive.
Take control of your schedule.
If your day is not structured you will not have a good time. Therefore, take care of your calendar and update it in a way that will optimize your productivity.
Source: pexels.com
Optimize your work environment.
Some people like to work in total chaos, with piles of objects everywhere, next to them, on them and under them (as if a hurricane had passed through the room). On the other hand, some people like to have a desk in front of them, on which only work-related objects will sit.
The purpose of this is to arrange your workspace in a way that will increase your productivity. It’s a matter of taste so to each their own.
Mythbusters (Work From Home Edition)
There are people who “mock” those who work from home. They were like this, like that, they didn’t work hard enough… Let’s prove them it’s not how it is.
Myth no. 1: Those who work from home don’t work enough
If you don’t physically see people working from home, then they are 100% useless and totally unproductive. Realistically, any employee can neglect work if management does not delegate tasks well or if there is a communication breakdown, regardless of the employee’s location.
If I know exactly what my responsibilities are, when my tasks are due, and if I regularly inform my team/superiors, then there is no theoretical chance that I will be labeled a “work slacker” no matter where I work.
A little intermezzo. Never work from bed. Don’t be a “couch potato” like me. That is, in this case, a “bed potato.”
Why? Because if you regularly work from bed, you will reduce the mental connection between sleep and the bedroom, which makes falling asleep more difficult. You will start to feel you are constantly at work and will no longer have a place to “recover” from work.
Also, if you use electronic devices before bed, your melatonin level will decrease, and your sleep quality will be impaired.
Myth no. 2: Those who work from home constantly have to prove themselves
Some people working from home constantly need to prove they are actually working. They think they have to answer every possible email within two minutes or that they have to be present at every possible meeting.
Don’t you think this is too much? Instead of working, these people worry excessively about how their work is perceived, which results in unnecessary anxiety due to the excessive pressure they put on themselves.
The reality is that people who work from home go to work like any other employee (minus the time it takes to get to work).
Source: pexels.com
Myth no. 3: Home-based workers are available 24/7
It’s great to assume that people who work from home can answer work-related questions anytime, but in reality, it’s not great at all. Just because I’m working from home doesn’t mean I’m available and on the hook.
Because of this, the best practice is to determine which part of the day will be dedicated to work, just as it happens in the office. Don’t turn into a workaholic.
We all need a break occasionally to get out of the working space. Separating work and private life is possible, even if you work from home.
As for the end
Take care of yourself and #StayHome. Not as bad as you think. Now you have time to watch all the movies and binge all the series. You even have time to find your talent for a hobby. You can have fun with your loved ones (if they live with you and if they keep a distance from you).
We hope this pandemic will end soon, but for that to happen, we must do our part by #StayingAtHome.
There are many more topics to cover, but let’s leave something for the future. 🙂
If you have a product that responds to the crisis, you must not allow yourself to not advertise. You must be attentive to the social component and show care for the community, believes Vladimir Ristevski, marketing director at Piksel.
Business Info: In the last few weeks, our country and the world have been pulsating in the rhythm dictated by the coronavirus. What lessons does this pandemic teach us?
The first lesson was definitely a lesson in agility and the ability of companies to quickly adapt to new circumstances that I believe no one expected would happen.
The second, and I think much more important lesson, was empathy and humanity. Here, we all had to realize that we are in the same basket. Everyone was either healthily or financially affected by this situation, not to mention the issues with mobility. Therefore, we all had to realize that now, more than ever, communication is the key to continue working.
And the final lesson is remote work, which we all once thought was impossible, has become routine for us. We have learned many things. Most of all the importance of starting the digital transformation of companies. For us at Piksel as a digital software and marketing agency, this is key in our mission and vision.
Business Info: Although it is normal for someone to work remotely (from home), some companies are just now introducing such a way of working. What does it take to successfully manage a cross-functional team?
First, the process has to be set up to suit the work as it would be in the office, or, in other words, the first and most important rule is, if people are at home, it does not mean they are available for work 24/7. If they have a lunch break at work, they would also have it at home. But, at home, they may not have the ideal working conditions, so they cannot be as effective and efficient, even though research shows that people are more efficient when working from home.
Furthermore, the process must set ground rules for communication – email should be the primary channel so there are no misunderstandings. Then, one of the electronic video conferencing tools (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype, etc.) should replace the need for physical meetings. Phone calls and instant chat should be put as a last option.
This is especially important because the first impulse of everyone in the business community is to call about something every five minutes or “limp” on Skype, Viber, and Messenger, forgetting that if people are constantly micro-communicating, then no one will have time to do anything.
Finally, it is essential to use software for monitoring company processes, delegating tasks, and improving productivity. We saw this a long time ago (fortunately) before the crisis, and we developed internal software for business analysis. It proved to be quite good and gave us new ideas on how to upgrade it in the future.
Business Info: How to raise motivation, encourage creativity, and maintain the condition of employees in crises?
As I mentioned earlier, a key moment in this situation is empathy. A good owner/manager/team leader must put employees first and show that he really cares about them. Hence, the most important element is communication with the entire company (via video call, of course), but also individually with each employee, as often as possible, on a more personal level to provide them with support in dealing with the consequences of the pandemic and restrictive measures.
As much as we may think that the situation is not terrible, fear, uncertainty, and restrictions have taken a toll. So, the role of the leader must be to listen to colleagues. Ask them how they cope with everything that happens to them. Check if he/she can help and inform them about everything that happens in the company.
Transparency in these difficult times is key, and everyone must be updated with everything happening in the company. This can only help to strengthen the team and the mutual trust when the company comes out of the crisis.
Business Info: Will the coronavirus remind us of some crucial things we have forgotten? And what should we do to remember them for life?
It definitely reminded us to take care of each other more.
It reminded us how nice it was when we were all at home, together.
It emphasized the importance of family lunches and dinners, cooking together, taking more care of personal health, and physical activities. And also, the fact that material things are not as important as mobility and freedom of movement.
It will remind us in the future how much we should value healthcare workers. How much we should further develop some skills that may have been considered traditional and unimportant before, but now we realize that they are necessary in a given situation (such as cooking, “housekeeping” and so on).
We need to further develop the collective awareness for protecting the environment and creating a better world for all of us. But, I will emphasize again: empathy is the one that should raise us to a completely different level and make us better people.
Business Info: In such crisis situations, we realize the importance of technology. How much can we “turn” it in our favor and let it “work” for us?
The sooner the digital transformation process starts, the better. If this was the rule before the pandemic, today it has become mandatory for every company. The beauty of digitization is the automation of certain processes and the ease of getting everything in one place.
In addition, process automation can be closely related to the automation of marketing activities. Here is the ideal combination that every company should strive for. Debunking the myth that digital transformation leads to job cuts is a much-needed discussion. I believe that if a company goes digital, it may just free up more time for employees to focus on the more challenging part of maintaining and growing the business rather than on tasks that can be performed automatically.
Segmenting and nurturing consumers and bringing in new quality customers requires a human touch. Тhese are processes that technology can only facilitate. We still need people who will have time to grow and develop professionally to be even better at doing their job.
Business Info: How can digital marketing “shine” when everyone is afraid to take a bold step and keep their brand in front of an online audience?
Several things come to the fore in this situation. As previously mentioned, transparency is the key here as well. You must communicate with your customers and followers on social networks and other digital channels. If you have a product that responds to the crisis, you can’t afford not to advertise.
However, you must be attentive to the social component and show concern for the community. Those who can donate in times of crisis, to show that despite the difficult time humanity comes first, will have a chance to survive in the coming months. Therefore, those with extra resources should reach out to the community. To offer their services to anyone who can’t afford them and needs them. The easiest way to do this is by posting on social media.
The rest should find a way to lift the spirits of their followers with positive posts, posts related to their employees, and entertaining content and thus raise awareness of their brand. Quarantine must not stop the world. We must keep the hope that we will come out of this stronger and more prepared than before.
Business Info: What do you expect to change drastically after this crisis is over?
People’s inertia regarding communication will change, that’s for sure. Being in different locations will no longer be an excuse to find time to physically see each other. Video calls will already become quite normal and easy. Some industries will never be the same again, but the opportunity will open up for new potential businesses that will explode in the future.
Online stores will finally come to the fore in Macedonia. Delivery companies will be forced to invest in human resources, software, and a system of bonuses so that everything can run flawlessly. Restaurants will devote more time to conceptualizing the way of food delivery.
Online education will certainly be here as a primary industry that will further explode in the future, which will entail diversification of knowledge and skills among all those who want to invest in themselves and in greater agility in the workforce, and thus greater competitiveness of the labor market.
Business Info: Do you have a motto that motivates you?
If you put enough effort into what you love and become an expert at it, you will always find others who need that talent and skill, and there will always be work for you. Is there anything better than loving what you do? It’s definitely something that guides me in life, that’s why I always try to upgrade myself.
That’s how, over the years, I’ve developed new skills and changed professions based on what was my passion at the given moment. So, I went from being a translator and interpreter to a writer. Then I retrained in the world of digital marketing and entrepreneurship.
Business Info: What would you say to our readers?
Always be hungry for knowledge. It’s something that is at the core of how I function as a human being, and it’s something that everyone should consider.
You cannot allow yourself to stand still in life. This way you will only cement yourself in your comfort zone and be afraid to live life to the fullest. New knowledge provides new opportunities. And a new way to be happier in your career, earn more, and be more successful.
If the last Piksel Year in Review taught us anything, the last days of December are probably the worst time to write a Piksel in 2019 review.
Not that there is nothing to write and share, on the contrary, but amid all friendship gatherings, celebrations, and preparations for what awaits us in 2020, such a review may not get the attention it deserves.
And, as we will see in the rest of this blog (I tried to be as short as possible), it does deserve attention.
Let’s pick up where we left off in December 2018. Remember when Piksel won the Entrepreneur of the Year award for the country’s most successful micro and small business entrepreneurs?
Recognition that only (re)traced our path in 2019, a year in which we expanded the team, and to our great pleasure, domestic and foreign clients became part of our everyday life, in which our Piksel gatherings were not absent and which, naturally, we finished with a new round of Piksel memes.
But let’s do this in order.
We use this opportunity to welcome all the new Piksels that became part of our story in 2019 and for which the second visual display in this blog is reserved.
Emma, Angela, Emilija S., Emilija R., and Tea, this is for you! … (and only now I realized that in 2019 we have become a much more beautiful agency) …
(photos of Tea and Emilija R. coming soon)
Here’s what the girls above, as well as the rest of the Piksel team, have been working on in the year we’ve already posted, in which we’ve once again had major web projects, major digital campaigns, and been part of some of the industry’s biggest events worldwide. And finally, to finish with Digital for Entrepreneurship, we organized an event together with the EBA (European Business Association) and the City of Skopje.
And something that we are especially happy about – visiting several major events in the USA this past fall, where Dimitar had the honor of being a speaker at DevFest in Orlando and the Digital Marketing Academy, which Dimitar led in tandem with Vladimir. This tandem also held a training in Digital Marketing for small businesses in SOS Children’s Village supported by the project of Social Inclusion and Economic Empowerment of Youth.
Crossover wins in 2019
Our development team, together with the design and account team, developed several web projects “from scratch” in 2019, with a complete design from the UI/UX and marketing aspect and, of course, unique design and functionalities.
Such is the brand new website of the best fitness center in town, Synergy Fitness & Spa, where the focus has been placed on facilitating the online payment process for all current and future members. Functionality which in the first few months proved to be a complete hit. For more info, read our case study on Synergy Fitness & Spa.
Speaking of case studies of successful Piksel projects in 2019, here is the new website for Pandev DOO, a client for whom we implemented a complete rebranding solution that ultimately culminated in a new website and a strategy for representing the company on social networks with a completely new slogan and communication.
More wins
Another crossover between our three sectors in 2018 was the development of the website for SOS Children’s Village, a collaboration that last year was expanded by the conception and implementation of the campaign The World of SOS Superheroes in which each of you can become what the children from SOS Children’s Village need the most, and that is a superhero who will help them achieve their daily wishes.
The campaign focused on online donations and at the moment of writing this blog, managed to collect 139,510 denars only through the specially developed online donation system.
In the web development department, we ended the year with a completely new website for one of the oldest travel agencies in the country, Papillon. We gave them a completely new and refreshed online presence, with a series of new functionalities to facilitate the end goal of the user, choosing the best option for summer or winter break, or simply, a weekend escape from the city.
New clients and friends
Some new clients have become part of our Piksel family, such as Roche Macedonia, InterWorks, Jet Minds, Office Plus, Carpe Diem, Top Gun Lounge Bar, Kreddy, House of Samsonite Macedonia, Albi bookstores, City Fashion.
And for the current campaigns for our clients, who in the past year have enriched their portfolios with new products, I would single out Bimilk, who have completely refreshed the packaging of their milk. This activity was followed up with the design and development of a new landing page and a social media campaign.
In the summer of 2019, We were able to do everything with Ohridska Banka Societe Generale, through the campaign with which we promoted payment credit cards and all the opportunities they offer, especially in the summer period. The record number of credit card applications also speaks for the success of the Ova leto mozesh se campaign, which covered all digital channels.
For the same client, the transition from Ohridska Banka Societe Generale to Ohridska Banka was a big challenge. A transition that, in detailed coordination with the OB marketing team, went well, with a new and refreshed visual communication.
New Piksel projects
Of course, to make sure that we did something for ourselves in 2019, here are Momenti.mk and Where to Go on the Weekend.
From our campaigns in 2019, we can’t help but single out I am a Woman. With this campaign, we congratulated all our dear ones on March 8th through selfie videos recorded by our clients for Women’s Month…
In 2019, we went deep with the campaign with the ideal love duo Debeliot Kraj for the love seats in Cineplexx.
Piksel fun activities
We joked about the last season of Game of Thrones, with montages that turned out to be even better than that last season. Same as the post with “milk lover” Tormund.
We conclude this review of the 2019 Piksel with two videos, different from each other but with the same message in the background, which is the creativity of our team to do the best for our customers… and to have fun doing it.
This Wednesday (November 20, 2019), organized by the European Business Association, City of Skopje, and Piksel, and supported by EOS Matrix and Tikvesh, the conference European Day of the Entrepreneur – “Digital for Entrepreneurship” was held. An event that was part of the European SME Week, an initiative organized in Macedonia for the 11th year.
The conference offered the attendees several interesting topics of conversation translated into an introductory presentation and three expert panels with representatives from several activities.
In the introductory presentation through an informative discussion, the event was opened by Katerina Boshevska, president of EBA, who spoke about the challenges of companies brought by digitization, Jovan Despotovski, director of the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development, who followed up on the support that FITR provides to entrepreneurs in this process, and Marko Todorov, head of the local economic development department of the City of Skopje, who announced the next steps that will make Skopje a smart city and bring it one step closer to modern European and world capitals.
The introductory presentation was followed by the three expert panels, which were opened with presentations by Vladimir Ristevski from digital agency Piksel, Sergej Zafirovski from Insider ID together with Ognen Ognenovski from Target Group, and Igor Madzov from Startup Macedonia. The presenters were also in the role of moderators of the three panels titled “How to fast growth with the help of digital marketing?”, “Electronic commerce: the future of Macedonian companies to go out into the world” and “Make your dream come true: how to finance your business, an innovative idea.”
“There is no overnight success in digital marketing. Success is the result of previous painstaking work,” said Vladimir Ristevski, co-founder and marketing director at Piksel.
He moderated the first panel discussion where Arijana Koskarova from Creative Hub Macedonia, Lira Jokic from IDEA Plus Communications, Vladimir Vecovski from R3 Infomedia, and Dragan Josifovski from Paket.mk talked about the possibilities offered by digital marketing and how Macedonian companies use it to reach the desired customers and results.
At the panel moderated by Sergej Zafiroski, the panelists Marina Antova from DHL Express, Chris Popovski from SIGNORI, Ognen Ognenovski from Target Group, and Viktor Stojkoski from the Macedonian E-commerce Association conveyed the message that e-commerce is the future for which we must all be prepared, and especially entrepreneurs who want to keep up with the times and be successful in the future.
Zafirovski and Ognenovski also presented the report from their research on the current state of e-commerce in our country. The research findings in which the numbers are quite optimistic, according to which a 15% increase in the number of e-commerce companies in Macedonia is expected next year.
“E-commerce is growing every year, and that’s why we all have to work together both on the education of end users and on increasing the offer because we believe that the future of business development is precisely in this branch.” – said Viktor Stojkoski from Association for e-commerce of Macedonia.
Igor Madzhov closed the European SME Week conference with his presentation and then the panel where he was the moderator, together with Vladimir Kechovski from Sparkasse Bank, Nenad Chubrinovski from InPlayer, as a representative of MASIT and Tanja Ilijevska from the Innovation and Technological Development Fund, talked about financing opportunities of innovative Macedonian startups.
The panelists, in addition to the increasing number of options offered to new startups in our country, also highlighted the possibilities of financing a good idea through the large selection of international options emphasizing proactivity in this field as the key element for the success of each startup.
The European SME Week event attracted over 200 guests from various sectors.
Some more, some less, but we all have obligations in life and activities that we want to fill our day with. You can probably understand this better if you are a woman. 🙂
Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to suggest that men have super easy breezy lives. But today’s woman really has a lot on her plate.
Most may think that today women are involved in many areas and decision-making processes in their workplace. This may be true in some companies and organizations, but it’s not always the case. And it should be. Why? Because what is an indispensable thread in everything we do as women is the love we bring to every activity, hobby, and obligation…
With the woman and her dynamic everyday life as inspiration, we created the “I am a woman” campaign, with which we wanted to show that women are real superheroes. She is successful in every aspect of her private and professional life and is more than a professional. She is also a mother, wife, sister, daughter, athlete, creative, inspirational leader, and everything you can imagine.
Care and empathy are just one of the characteristics of strong women. According to the answers received from our dear women, we concluded:
They not only practice an active life and motivate themselves but are also real inspirations for the people around them.
At the end of the day, a woman is always a winner in any field. So women, go ahead!
It is a valuable reward for a company when all the hard work over the years gets recognition as the prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year 2018” award for the country’s most successful micro and small business entrepreneurs.
For us, as “Piksel,” it is an honor that we won the second award at such a prestigious event in the category of small enterprises.
The awards were presented by the Minister of Economy, Kreshnik Bekteshi, the president of the Union of Chambers of Commerce of Macedonia, Danela Arsovska, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of North-West Macedonia, Nebi Hoxha, and Lazar Nedanoski, head of the Macedonian Development Foundation for Enterprises.
The pre-selection for “Entrepreneur of the Year 2018” was made based on the data from the Central Registry of the Republic of Macedonia. From 2015 to 2017, 112 micro and small enterprises met the selection criteria through growth in the number of employees, total revenues, profits, and investments. The best entrepreneurs entered the selection process by filling in a questionnaire, field visit, analysis, and evaluation according to predetermined criteria (commitment to training, marketing and growth strategy, investment in equipment and research, development and innovation, etc.).
The main organizers of Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 are the Macedonian Development Foundation for Enterprises (MRFP), the Union of Chambers of Commerce of Macedonia (SSK), and the Chamber of Commerce of North-West Macedonia (SKSZM). The co-organizer is the National Center for Innovation Development and Entrepreneurial Learning. The institutional sponsor is the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Macedonia.
According to some unwritten rules, December is a month of reviews, analyses, and reviews of everything that happened in the past year. Something that we, as an agency, are not immune to. So, brace yourselves for the Piksel in 2018 – a year in review. 🙂
2018 was a new step forward for Piksel. From collaborations with local and foreign clients, new campaigns, and famous people with whom we collaborated and who were our guests, to a plaque and recognition with which we end this year in the best possible way.
But first, we use this opportunity to welcome all the new Piksels that became part of our story in 2018, and for which the first visual presentation in this text is reserved.
Vois, Stef, Kire, Kiril, Aleksandar, Josip, and Miki (we put you in, too), this is for all of you.
And now, for something the new guys and the rest of the team have been working on with Piksel in 2018.
Let’s start with the larger web projects, such as the brand new web pages for the two private healthcare facilities in Macedonia – Acibadem Sistina and Zhan Mitrev.
Inspired by modern design and development trends but also by the wishes and ideas of the client, we arrived at the final products that gave both institutions completely new digital faces. We focused on simplifying the experience for each visitor and creating unique solutions for each customer individually.
The final products look like this
In the realm of web design and development…
We are proud to announce the launch of a brand new platform this year – The Talent Club of Ohridska Banka Societe Generale. This platform is designed to nurture and support young talents and enthusiasts in various fields.
It all started with a completely new website. Then continued with the honorary membership in the Club for 12-year-old Marko Pejcinovski, who swam the Ohrid Lake in less than nine hours. It ended with the grand finale in the Macedonian Philharmonic and the scholarships for the extra-talented Arda Mustafaoglu and Naomi Georgievska.
The campaign for the first in a series of planned competitions, took place on social media and was aimed at attracting talented instrumentalists who did not have enough chances to expose themselves and show their talent to the general public.
While we’re at web/social network crossovers… Here’s another project of 2018 that has become very close to our hearts. It is the new SOS Children’s Village website and the creation of unique visual communication on social networks for this client.
World Cup and yummy projects
The summer around the world was marked by the World Cup in football, which took place in Russia, where France returned to the world throne, with the Croatians as the main surprise. On social networks, when it comes to our customers, the World Cup went under the sign of Bimilk, with more content inspired by the host of the World Cup 2018.
About delicious recipes, in 2018, we also made friends with the guys from Fat Kitchen, who created several original specialties with Bitolska sour cream and Balans+.
And yes, they also visited us in Piksel, surprising us with a Friday brunch.
In 2018, we also had a guest from abroad. More precisely, Great Britain. If you look at his posts this year on FB and Instagram, you’ll see that in addition to London, he also visited Miami, New York, Barbados, Istanbul, Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam, ending his world tour in Skopje and Ohrid.
And yes, all the photo sessions, filming, and organization of outfits he brought were part of our portfolio of activities for Paul Koli, who collaborated with many people in Macedonia, including Lila Filipovska.
Time for ourselves
After the tour with Paul, it was time to start another Piksel gathering, now with our favorite place for exercise and relaxation in Skopje, Synergy Fitness Energy and Spa.
And on the topic of friendships, the biggest one in 2018 happened in October when the Piksel team did a team-building takeover of Berovo and the surrounding area for one weekend. Enough inspiration for the second installment of Mysteries of Agency Life, after the one with the mysterious time traveler.
This year we also took business trips. And we traveled a lot, from Sofia and Vienna to Belgrade and, of course, Skopje, with several events where members of the Piksel team found themselves as mentors.
We left the best for last, the recognition of Entrepreneur of the Year for the country’s most successful entrepreneurs of micro and small enterprises. An award that came as a confirmation of all the hard work so far, but at the same time, gives us a push to continue in the same style in 2019.
That would be it, in a nutshell, for Piksel in 2018.
Are we reading/following/liking/hearting each other at the same pace in 2019?
