The conclusion of Bernays’ international scientific conference: Croatia has a historic opportunity to become a cultural, economic and political brand.

The highlights of the first day of the Communication Management Forum were the lectures of keynote speakers - Dr. Krishnamurthy Sriramesh from the University of Colorado and Dubravka Sinčić Ćorić, PhD from Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.

Dr. Krishnamurthy Sriramesh spoke about the importance of culture in establishing a brand, while Dr. Sinčić Ćorić presented the conclusions of President’s Working group for Identity and Brand Development of Croatia.

By the end of the first day of the conference, two roundtables were held discussing whether Croatia could become a cultural, economic and political brand thanks to the European Union's 2020 Presidency and what is it like Croatia in the eyes of multinational companies.

At the 3^rd edition of the conference the Edward Bernays award was presented for the first time. This award gives recognition to distinguished individuals for contributing to the development of academic disciplines of public relations and communication. First prize winners are Dr Ana Tkalac Verčič from Zagreb's Faculty of Economics and current President of the Croatian Association of Public Relations, Dr Božo Skoko from the Faculty of Political Sciences (University of Zagreb) and Dr Dejan Verčič from the Faculty of Social Sciences (University of Ljubljana).

Communication Management Forum 2019 gathered 200 participants, 140 professors and experts from public relations, media, marketing, tourism and related sciences and their conclusion was: presidency of the EU in 2020 is a unique opportunity for Croatia to become a cultural, economic and political brand. For the first time at the conference, a special student section was organized, in which 39 students from Croatian higher education institutions presented 23 scientific works. The best of them were awarded with a special prize.