Mateusz Halicki, Ph.D., talks about the Creative Communication Cluster, media and promotion companies cluster, the idea and importance of cooperation between companies and institutions  of similar profile.

What is a cluster? What is already or will the Creative Communication Cluster be?

The Creative Communication Cluster is the first promotion and media cluster in Poland. It was created from the initiative of the Polish Foundation of Communication (Polska Fundacja Komunikacji), whose mission is to improve market areas related to communication in public sphere including dialogue with public administration bodies, supporting Polish entrepreneurship, carrying out social campaigns, integrating industry's community and supporting young artists and cultural enterprises. The primary task of the Foundation is to coordinate Cluster's activities and its dynamic development. The idea of the cluster is to create a cooperation platform for companies broadly connected with promotional and communication activities as well as with creative industry. It would associate market's practitioners, enthusiasts and forecasters, who can look at these industries from an innovative point of view. The main task of the Cluster is to develop custom, interesting and innovative undertakings that influence the development of professional promotion and communication services of regional and international scope.



"Purpose" is a member of the Cluster. How important is the choice of brands, creating the hard core of the Cluster, to the activities of the enterprise? How do you recruit new members to the Cluster?

The promotion cluster is an entity connecting various companies – different in size and legal form, complimentary to each other, creating a network of cooperation and acting for the development of a broadly understood promotion. Careful choice of partners to collaborative connection is essential to the whole enterprise to be successful. Only the very thriving, innovative and open to cooperation entities stand a chance to become members of the Cluster. "Purpose" is such an entity. Currently, we are finalizing the recruitment process of admitting new partners. The first step to become a member of the Cluster is to fulfill the questionnaire available on the website www.creativecluster.eu. 



What are the advantages of being a member of the Cluster?

The network enables participants to create many new solutions beneficial to all of them, in particular: organization of joint projects thanks to the creation of consortia and partnerships for local as well as international tenders and social projects; hatching up novel products/services, which would not have an opportunity for the development and risk minimization present in new innovative ventures without the potential of the Cluster; more orders; developing a diversified and rich offer customized to the needs of the Cluster's clients; developing "client portfolio" and extending it with new key partners thanks to broad network contacts of the Cluster's members; ability to generate unique knowledge; more effective promotion of companies associated in the Cluster; lower operating costs for associated entities; securing competitive edge on the market and easier access to a wider target groups for offered services; collaboration to develop a strong and recognizable brand – the Cluster; and educating public administration bodies to correctly prepare social campaigns and manage them.



What projects will be organized in the Cluster?

We intend to organize business, social, cultural and promotional joint projects. Jointly developed solutions will create foundations for wide promotional activities in social marketing, in particular: not only campaigns promoting cities and regions, products and services, but also entities important from socio-economic point of view; socially desirable enterprises, people and attitudes; and activities supporting young artists, innovative enterprises, cultural projects and commercial activities as well. We intend to take part in R&D projects and projects funded by the EU within the scope of the European Social Fund – the Human Capital Operational Program and the Innovative Economy Operational Program, and other both social and commercial enterprises.



What results - both long and short term - will the Cluster bring?

Now, there are 30 entities associated in the Cluster and the number is still growing. We also develop the scope of our activities by winning new funds. Soon we are planning to apply for, among others, CORNET Project action 5.1. "Supporting International Cooperation Connections" ("Wspieranie powiązań kooperacyjnych o znaczeniu ponadregionalnym”) funded within the Innovative Economy Operational Program and  the Seventh Framework Program. And in ten years time, we would like the Cluster to be located at Digital Centre ("Centrum Cyfrowe") as the headquarters of the whole initiative.



Who will benefit from the establishment of the Cluster? What scope of activities will the Cluster have?

Creating the Cluster will bring benefits not only to the associated entities, but it will also influence positively the whole promotion and media market, which will be beneficial to our current and future clients as well. The activities of the Cluster are based on three pillars: promotion activities, publishing activities and creative industry. The first one includes such entities as advertising agencies, PR agencies, media houses, event agencies, and research agencies, etc. The second pillar includes media – TV, Internet, press and radio. The first two pillars connected together will create an entire value chain to our client. The third pillar includes creative industry, culture and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Within this scheme, there are also universities providing knowledge and research necessary to our activities. The Cluster built on the potential and competence of many companies has one of a kind, strong market position, that allows for higher effectiveness and profitability of conducted actions. Knowledge and experience combined in this way allow for synergy and generating new ideas, and they also give access to unique knowledge, know-how, new markets and clients.


Maciej Mazerat talked to Mateusz Halicki, Ph. D. and the coordinator of the Creative Communication Cluster.