WARTO Communications Agency became the first Ukrainian agency invited to speak at the annual conference of the Association of Independent Agencies AMIN in Europe. The speakers at the event were Natalia Kholod, CEO and founder of WARTO, and Maria Bogatikova, Head of PR.
– Every Ukrainian abroad today should be an ambassador of Ukraine. Therefore, our presentation was based on what we are most proud of: our culture and nature, our values and our ancient history, our business, which sets a high standard of speed, quality and service,” said Natalia Kholod. “Almost every one of the attendees – representatives of 12 different European countries – came up to thank us for the presentation of Ukraine after the speech. “Europeans are delighted to discover us as a state, as a nation, as professionals. They are eager to come and see us with their own eyes after the Victory.
In their speech, the WARTO team also spoke about the lessons of anti-crisis communications learned during the year of the great war.
– Today, our agency has set itself the goal of becoming a PR provider for Ukrainian businesses to enter the European market. And to provide European companies with comprehensive support in promoting their brands in Ukraine,” said Maria Bogatikova, “Over the past year, we have been actively working in both directions, and today we are preparing powerful collaborations with European and American colleagues. We have issued a call to our colleagues: we are ready to team up with European agencies to implement multinational campaigns – we are open, let’s do it together! After all, we have at least one other common language, the language of marketing and PR, in addition to English.
WARTO’s presentation on “Anticrisis insights from Ukraine” was the main event of the first day of the conference. How did your European colleagues react to your presentation?
Mark van Bakel, AMIN’s coordinator for Europe:
“The experience that Ukrainians and Ukrainian businesses are going through today is unique. Your presentation is both terrifying and fascinating. What we have definitely established is that Ukraine is inspiring and showing by its example that you are not only the largest country in Europe, but also the country with the biggest heart in the world. And for our association, your presence here today is a great pride and an opportunity to show our unquestioning support, which you can always count on.”
Kevin Flynn, President of Caldwell VanRiper and AMIN Worldwide:
“In the United States, we feel very strongly that the war in Ukraine is affecting changes around the world. Even though these events seem far away, they cannot be ignored or forgotten. It’s impossible to imagine the scale of this impact, but the way you guys are handling this crisis with resilience and confidence, and the way you’re reacting to everything with jokes, and the way you’re not stopping… I’m speechless, it’s very powerful!”
Hans vam Jeroen, President of AMIN EMEA:
“Today the whole world is trying to get to know your country and culture very deeply, to understand the secret of this amazing resilience and fighting spirit. Personally, I was very interested to hear about how you find the strength to keep the agency working in the face of war, implementing new projects, finding new clients… It seems impossible, but Ukrainians, as I understand it, love to break the mold.”
