USA 2021
BUSINESS
DARKO SOKOVIĆ, MANAGING PARTNER, PROPULSION
SERBIAN CITIZENS RECOGNIZE SPIN Propulsion, a regional organization with more than 180 associates across Europe, collaborates with brands, developmental partners and governments on programs that each year invest millions of dollars in creating positive social change The company that I run celebrated its tenth anniversary this January. If someone had told me, at the time we founded it, that we would celebrate 10 years of doing business, I wouldn’t have believed them. However, anyone who doesn’t believe in miracles isn’t for business. As a full-service communication organization, we specialize in social impact campaigns and projects. We are the leading supplier of social impact communications in the Adria region and wider today, working with brands, de-
PHOTO: Propulsion/Danijel Rakić
It’s good that people know how to recognize fake news, but when you ask them where they get their information, they cite the same media outlets that post fake news
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ere Propulsion’s Darko Soković speaks to CorD about innovative communications, a project being implemented together with USAID, social impact, “new literacy”, the development of technology and digitalization, new media, spin and other phenomena related to information and disinformation. Propulsion is an organization that works in the areas of innovative communications and social impact, but what does that actually mean? Who are your clients? With whom do you collaborate?
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velopmental actors, and governments on transformative campaigns that are worth more than a million dollars a year. We boost critical thinking, problem-solving, digital and media literacy, preventing radicalization, and other crucial communication skills and programs in an ever-shifting world. Your “Media Initiatives and Partnerships Support” program, which you’re implementing in partnership with USAID, is recognized publicly under the name “New literacy”. What is it all about and where did the new literacy come from? Is it linked to technology development and digitalization? This program relies on a new, yet so logical reality that we are resolutely
introducing: We invest huge efforts and resources into understanding the people we address – their habits, needs, ideas, values, ways of getting informed, how they mourn, and how they celebrate. To that end, we constantly conduct a comprehensive research series that forms the basis of all our programming decisions. The results are also regularly published at novapismenost.rs, because we believe that verified information that provides the basis to make the right decisions must be available to everyone. In a four-year program cycle, we work closely with the Ministry of Culture and Information and other stakeholders, boosting critical thinking and media and information literacy skills among parents, teachers, public servants, influencers, and business leaders alike, by tailoring custom-made manuals, training modules, and campaigns. These will be systematically embedded in existing systems and curricula, while new approaches will also be created. In 2021, the program strongly supports teachers, students and the education system to strengthen their digital capacities, while also connecting students with some trailblazing companies and their leaders. It is important that our youth sees the future that is actually happening today in Serbia, both in school and in the community, so that they are ready for everything this century will bring. What has been shown by new research, or rather what is shown by the “Media Literacy Index in Serbia”? Are we improving; are we seeing a change in our interests, the topics that attract our attention, sources of information, etc.?
