BREND FORUM Davor Bruketa

Guest Davor BruketaHosted by Božo SkokoMay 3, 2026

Davor Bruketa

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Davor Bruketa doesn't just design brands; he redefines what a brand *is*. For him, it’s not about slapping a new label on an old product, but about unearthing the unique essence of an offering and then building that distinctiveness into the product itself. He challenges the notion that branding begins and ends with communication, arguing instead for a deeper intervention. In this conversation, Bruketa outlines his philosophy: a brand is a real promise, one that an organization must truly embody. He illustrates this with a startling example of a wine that was literally made in the dark, generating global buzz without a single ad campaign. Readers will leave this conversation considering how much of their own "branding" is mere surface, and how much is woven into the very fabric of what they offer.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

A Slavonian winery sought a new name and design for its €15 sparkling wine, which blind-tested against €100 competitors. Bruketa's agency instead intervened in the *product itself*, creating "Untouched by Light" by making the wine entirely in darkness. Effective branding isn't just about repackaging; it's about embedding the communication directly into the product's core.

The "Untouched by Light" project began not with a creative brief, but with a scientific paper from UC California proving light damages wine flavor. The most compelling marketing often starts not with a campaign idea, but with a factual discovery that redefines a product's problem or opportunity.

By producing a wine entirely in the dark and packaging it in light-proof foil, "Untouched by Light" garnered over 150 media mentions and 200 distributor pre-orders worldwide *without any advertising*. When a product embodies its own story so completely, it generates its own demand and media attention, far exceeding the reach of paid campaigns.

Bruketa defines branding as "realizing what makes something unique and why it matters to someone," emphasizing that it "comes from the essence of things." A brand is a promise, but that promise "must be real"; the agency's role is to find what truly exists within an organization and highlight it, rather than inventing a narrative it cannot sustain.

Croatia, despite its natural beauty, struggles with "elementary tidiness" and collective agreement, visible in unkempt apartment building facades in Zagreb. A nation's visual culture and its citizens' willingness to cooperate on shared aesthetics are not merely cosmetic; they directly influence its appeal to tourists, investors, and potential residents.

Bruketa points to the inability of apartment dwellers to agree on changing a facade as a simple example of a deeper societal challenge. "If you ask where the success of our society lies, it lies in agreeing with your neighbor to paint the house." A society's capacity for fundamental collective action, even on seemingly small matters, is a direct indicator of its potential for broader success.

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