Recently, EBU Member and public broadcaster, RTV Slovenia, ventured into unfamiliar territory – the world of advertising. 

Last year, Slovenia's centre-right coalition government announced plans to slash the television license fee. The budget decrease not only threatened the job security of dozens of professionals without permanent contracts – RTV feared the quality of its programmes would be at risk and its independence undermined.

In an unconventional move, RTV launched a public advertising campaign to rally public support.

Over a three week period, RTV bombarded newspapers and influential magazines with ads. It also created a two minute commercial, featuring staff from every level of the organization. Its purpose was to highlight the value of public service media.

Here, Director General Marko Filli tells more.  

How did the advertising campaign come about?

The campaign came about in response to moves by the Slovenia government to cut the public service licence fee by 10 per cent from January 2013. We wanted to highlight our service mission and raise awareness of our values to the public.  We decided on multi-media campaign, targeting newspapers, magazines and our own viewers. 

How did you decide what to focus on?

The idea was to highlight our qualities – to present RTV Slovenia as an informative, credible, educational, advisory, creative, diverse and multimedia public service broadcaster. Our goal is to represent the interests of the audience, and to emphasize the importance of public cooperation.

Why did you decide to involve so many staff in the TV commercial?

We wanted our audience to be aware that they are part of the creative process. To achieve our goal, we require financial stability and political independence – which we stress at the end of the video.

In what way did the EBU Values Programme play a part?

The idea developed from the EBU’s Declaration on the core values of public service media, which highlights six core values that RTV Slovenia endorsed at the summer General Assembly in 2012.

How did you make the ad accessible?

The video was available on RTV Slovenia’s YouTube channel. In one week, the video registered 1000 hits. Since then, the figure has grown to 2000, which is a very satisfying result.

What has been the public reaction?

In general, the feedback to the campaign was positive, in regard to the idea, the message and the video as a whole.

Do you feel you achieved what you set out to?

Partly. We targeted both the general public as well members of Parliament and in the end, reached a agreement on a lower reduction in our licence fee (it has been reduced by five instead of ten per cent). As to the public, our voice has been seen and heard.