KULTURA KOMUNICIRANJA Kamilo Antolović

Guest Kamil AntolovićHosted by Boris ŽivkovićMay 3, 2026

Kamil Antolović

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

The first sign of an economic downturn often appears not in financial reports, but in marketing budgets. Kamil Antolović, a veteran with over 25 years in entrepreneurial, managerial, and marketing roles across Croatia and the region, understands this dynamic intimately. As the founder of Kent&Ke Promotion, director of Omnis Group, and a senior lecturer at Algebra University, he has guided countless businesses through market shifts, becoming Croatia's first permanent court expert for advertising and market communications. He argues that marketing spend is less an expense and more a barometer for future economic activity — a leading indicator of what lies ahead. This conversation explores how the communication industry navigates sudden market shocks, the forced acceleration of digital transformation, and the surprising rise of solidarity in a time of isolation. Readers will come away with a sharper understanding of the subtle signals that predict market health, and the unexpected opportunities that emerge when old business models are forced to break.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

Kamil Antolović points out that marketing investment isn't just a business expense; it's a barometer for economic sentiment, often preceding broader market trends. When companies expect growth, they invest; when they anticipate crisis, they cut, making marketing spend a leading indicator of what's to come.

The educational system in Croatia, Antolović notes, "had to change its model overnight" due to the pandemic. Crisis can force rapid digital transformation, compressing years of resistance into months, even for entrenched sectors previously slow to adapt.

While the Croatian communication industry operates at "world standards" in creativity and tools, Antolović highlights that its market size and resource constraints severely limit its ability to pull through numerous projects during a crisis. Even if an industry is globally competitive in quality, local market scale can become an insurmountable barrier during a downturn.

During the pandemic, Antolović observed that "many service providers, creatives, freelancers, agencies, and media offered their partners a range of benefits, from free consultations to price reductions." Crisis conditions can foster unexpected business solidarity, where competitors and partners extend concessions beyond typical commercial terms.

The forced confinement of people, Antolović believes, paradoxically "directed people to communicate among themselves, directed neighbor to neighbor, directed charitable work to a new dimension." Even with physical distancing, periods of forced isolation can strengthen community bonds and elevate social solidarity.

Antolović uses the example of a "roast shop that used to wait for customers at its doorstep," noting that "the time has come for the seller to go to the buyer." Businesses that survive rapid market shifts aren't just digitizing; they are fundamentally reversing their core sales motion from passive reception to active outreach.

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