MADE BY VACULIK announces its new CEO

A significant change in the leadership position at ad agency MADE BY VACULIK agency was announced today. After 23 years with the agency, the current CEO Ďurčeková Zuzana has stepped down from her position. Senior marketing expert, Ronald Lupták , will be taking her role.

Ronald has been active in advertising and marketing for over 20 years. He is joining the agency from Molson Coors (Staropramen) where he worked as Marketing Strategy Director for the CEE region. In the past, Ronald held various local and global positions in HEINEKEN. He also handled the marketing communication for O2 in Slovakia and also SkyEurope Airlines. Ronald himself has his roots in advertising with previous stints at Wiktor Leo Burnet, Euro RSCG and MUW Saatchi & Saatchi. 

Ďurčeková Zuzana : “I’m leaving to start a new personal adventure. My decision to quit  commercial marketing and advertising was long pondered over, and was driven by my inner and deep personal reasons. After years of “serving” the business-oriented world, I personally feel that now is the right time to utilise my experiences to where it is more needed – in the world of education and art. I am incredibly thankful to Juraj as well as to all those precious and inspiring people that I got the opportunity to meet along this journey. MADE BY VACULIK is part of my life and some could say, also my child. Just as in life it is extremely difficult to separate from our children when the moment comes, but eventually it is important to do so. I feel nostalgic, but at the same time I wish MADE BY VACULIK all the best in its next, exciting chapter!”

Juraj Vaculik : “When Zuzana joined my 3-year-old agency in 1999, we gained an enormous professional and human asset. From that moment on, Zuzana was right by my side, during all the key decisions, breaking points, and successes, not only as a key partner for me, but also for our clients and employees. Her intellect, opinion, as well as her intuition were key contributors to the MADE BY VACULIK success, not only in Slovakia and Czech Republic, but in other 33 countries, where our creative ideas travelled. Our cooperation is the best professional partnership that I have experienced in my life so far. In a couple of weeks, Zuzana will leave our great agency team she not only built, but also successfully managed. However, our special friendship will continue to last. In her new mission, I wish Zuzana, at least as many successes as she has experienced in the advertising business. Zuzana, I like you very much and THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

At the same time, I also would like to welcome Ronald Lupták who will take over the relay race. He is full of plans, energy and a vision that we’ve agreed on remarkably quickly and I believe, Ronald will be an exceptional and ambitious partner for me, the entire great MADE team, and last, but not least, also for all our clients and business partners, in all the joint successes.”

Ronald Lupták : “I’ve been often told that there’s no way to move from the client side back to the agency side. I have done this already in the past and I will never regret this decision. I have returned to the agency world full of knowledge about the processes and ways of thinking on the client’s end. Today, I am returning to advertising. I’m very thankful to Juraj for offering me the opportunity to manage the agency. It is a huge commitment from me. And to all those people who consider my move as as a move to the ‘other side’, I would simply state that for those who love advertising and brand building, such a divide does not exist.

I would also like to highlight that I’ll be taking over the agency from Zuzana Ďurčeková, a person, whom I value very much as a professional and as a person – this builds a natural respect in me. Also, I am aware, and I will always remember that the advertising agency is all about people. It’s very important to create a good and creative working space, followed by the growth mindset. Because that’s the only way to create an environment that enables to create special projects. I can’t wait to meet every single member of the agency. I’ve worked with many of them in the past, and I look forward to meet the rest. The same goes for the clients - both the current and future ones. I can’t wait to start creating the special projects mentioned above, together.”