The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held an online meeting with representatives of our country's creative industries, which was dedicated to the state of these industries during the war and initiatives for more effective cooperation between the creative industries and the State.
The event was attended by advertising and marketing representatives, IT sector, the event industry, publishers, architects, fashion, and other creative industries.
Andriy Yermak noted that he initiated this meeting in fulfillment of the order of President Volodymyr Zelensky. He thanked the participants for everything they are doing for the country at this difficult time.
"Today we are the coolest country in the world, without exaggeration. Today, the word "Ukrainian" is highly respected and admired in any country, so it is very important that we use this brand of a cool, heroic state to build our future," he said.
The Head of the President's Office invited the audience to share their views on the representation of our country in the world and use attention to it to promote Ukrainian brands and companies.
Pavlo Vrzeszc, co-owner and creative director of the Banda Agency, spoke about the Creative Sich project, which was launched to unite specialists from the creative industry to fight on the information front and systematically convey important current messages about Ukraine.
In his opinion, it would be important to formulate these messages in cooperation with government agencies.
Andriy Yermak approved of this idea and suggested setting up a coordination group with the support of the President's Office, which would help quickly resolve the necessary issues at the level of the state leadership. Dariya Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of the President's Office for Communications, will take care of this.
The founder and CEO of the creative investment company Fedoriv Group Andriy Fedorov expressed the opinion that the central idea of ​​today's brand of Ukraine should be freedom and the struggle for it.
"Ukraine has reminded many countries of the value of freedom. It seems that the freedom manifested in democracy, freedom of speech, entrepreneurship, and creativity is what distinguishes Ukraine," he said.
Yaroslav Azhnyuk, the co-founder of the Petcube technology startup, stressed that Ukrainian companies create many world-class products, but certain factors restrain the demand for Ukrainian in the world. In particular, it is necessary to improve the knowledge of English, which could help the State and increase the ambitions of domestic companies.
He reminded that the Spend With Ukraine initiative has already been launched, which tells the world about products and services created by Ukrainians.
"This can be one of the messages to our foreign partners. Another way to support Ukrainian is to buy Ukrainian, and order products and services from Ukrainians,†Yaroslav Azhnyuk is convinced.
Irina Gorova, the general producer of the Mozgi Group, stressed that the creative industries are also a kind of army that now works on different fronts.
"And I believe that Ukraine's future security is not just about weapons and other crucial things. There must be culture. Because cultural codes, meanings, and heroes are also part of the security of our country. And we need to work on this cultural security," she said.
Iryna Nikonchuk, one of the initiators of the creation of the War Against War information troops, believes that such a strategy is effective, which identifies 10-15 of the most powerful Ukrainian artists in various fields and tells the world about them.
"Ukraine's European integration is a unifying factor. It is necessary to tell who the Ukrainians are, their identity, cultural code, values ​​, and what this member of the European family will be like,†Iryna Nikonchuk said.
Oleksandr Krasovytskyi, General Director of Folio Publishing House, noted that an advertising campaign should be conducted to promote reading books in the Ukrainian language.
Julia Pelipas, the founder of the bettter.us clothing brand and the Bettter.Community platform, stressed that the fashion industry needs institutional support to not lose the big brands that have been created for years and have been successful.
"They are the face of Ukraine. It may not be noticeable to everyone, but in reality, the civilized community is looking at the country's cultural code," she said.
According to Yulia Pelipas, the liberalisation of trade space, which has already begun, is very important. It is also important to build the infrastructure to receive donations from international funds.
The founder of the Balbeak Bureau, Slava Balbek, proposed to send a signal at the State level to many people willing to join the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
Andriy Yermak offered to hire the voiced proposals immediately.
"We always, and especially now, strive to act quickly and efficiently. That is why we must work actively and contribute to everything to bring our victory closer,†he stressed.
