Sonda at Branding Conference 2026

Creativity, risk and everything that happens when we step away from the safest possible path were at the heart of Sonda’s talk at the 14th Branding Conference: Brand New Control in Sarajevo

In mid-September, Sarajevo became a meeting point for the regional and global creative industry. More than 500 participants gathered at the 14th Branding Conference at the Zetra Olympic Hall. Organized by Via Media under the theme “Brand New Control,” this year’s conference explored how technology, artificial intelligence, algorithms and culture are changing the way we think about brands and communication.

Among the announced speakers were Sonda Creative Directors and Founders Jelena Fiškuš and Sean Poropat, who presented their perspective through the talk “Creativity: A Glitch in the Algorithm – Why Our Best Decisions Looked Like Mistakes.” The talk opened a question that feels particularly relevant today: what happens when we stop choosing the safest possible path?

Technology is getting better and better at finding patterns, processing information and recommending the most logical next step. And that is exactly what makes it so useful at reducing uncertainty. But creativity has never really been about removing uncertainty completely.

As more of us use the same tools, data and models to find the safest answer, there is a risk that the answers start looking a little too similar. As Sean put it during the talk: “Perfect code creates perfect boredom.”

For us, stepping outside the safe path does not mean ignoring what we know. Quite the opposite: it means using the knowledge, data and tools available to us, and then being willing to make a decision that a model might not recommend. That idea is part of Sonda’s story, too.

From starting out in Vižinada and building a creative studio in a small community, to creating our own Sonda Creative Center and developing projects such as Piquentum Brut Nature and Sonda Designed by People, we have often found ourselves asking what happens when we step outside the expected path.

The talk also brought that question into the present, where AI is becoming an increasingly important part of creative work. Instead of asking whether AI will replace us, Sean turned the question around: what do we bring to the process precisely because we are not machines?

Technology can help us make sense of complexity and process more information than we ever could on our own. But curiosity, courage and context are still human territory. Sometimes the interesting thing is not the answer the system gives us, but the decision to take a different route. Maybe that is where creativity still has the most room to surprise us.

The 14th Branding Conference brought together speakers from different parts of the creative and communications industry, including communication expert and author David JP Phillips, Radim Malinić, founder of Brand Nu Studio, Fran Mubrin of 404 Agency and Butool Rizvi of The Coca-Cola Company. Their talks approached the future of branding from different angles, from attention and long-term brand building to technology, culture and the changing creative landscape. The program also included the announcement of the Young Lions BiH 2026 winners.

The value of being part of conversations like these lies not only in presenting our own perspective, but in hearing how others are thinking about where the industry is heading. And in leaving with a few questions that are worth taking back to our own work.

Thank you to the Branding Conference team for having us in Sarajevo and for creating space for conversations that make us question the way we work, create and make decisions.