Since 2018, Marketing magazin has been presenting the award Zlati likalnik at the DIGGIT conference to individuals for their contributions to the Slovenian digital landscape. In seven years, these awards become a significant professional benchmark. In its July–August issue, the Marketing Magazin editorial team presented this year’s recipient and looked back and spoke with previous winners, including Simon Cetin, founder and partner at iPROM, who received the award in 2019.
Cetin is seen as a key figure in the development of digital advertising in Slovenia and a thought leader who views digital as a space of systemic influence, not merely as an advertising channel.
Reflecting on the award, he told Marketing Magazin: “When I think back to the early days of digital, I always emphasize that it was never just a channel. It was a space for innovation, where you didn’t need permission to make change happen. I’m here because I’m interested in systems of influence, not just short-lived campaigns – and because digital is no longer just marketing, it’s leadership, strategy, and the pace of a business. Back then, digital marketing might still have been a promise; today, it’s the foundation. It’s no longer about how we advertise something, but about how we think, measure, decide, and grow. With artificial intelligence, digital is finally becoming what some of us believed it could be twenty years ago – the operational force behind companies and organizations.”
This article was originally published in the print edition of Marketing magazin (No. 529–30, p. 35), in the feature Zlati likalnik recognizes the work of industry experts.