MarketingPlatform support victims of the major 2014 floods in the Balkans

In 2014, the Balkan region was struck by some of the worst floods in the area for 120 years. The Red Cross was quick to make an appeal detailing the kind of urgent support that was desperately needed in Serbia. The MarketingPlatform team in neighbouring Macedonia was one of the groups that quickly answered that call.

“Because we knew that immediate help would make a big difference, we reacted instantly, on the same day, and channelled funds for the victims of these major floods”, says co-founder of MarketingPlatform, Kim Østergaard.

This is typical of the mindset we have towards everyone we come into contact with at MarketingPlatform. We say that “people are the heart of our software” and we genuinely mean it. And this attitude is not limited to our software but exemplifies who we are, and why we do what we do.

The company’s Development and Innovation department, which at the time of the floods in 2014, was made up of five employees, was given a free hand to use all the working hours they needed to buy all the necessary relief materials and assist with the coordination and distribution of the humanitarian aid.

In the picture (from left to right), three of the Development team – Stefan, Viktor and Neno, can be seen loading a van with bottled water, which was then be driven to one of the hardest-hit areas in Serbia.

The Danish company’s Development and Innovation department is located in North Macedonia, close to the border with Serbia.

“I have always found it a privilege to help other people – and with MarketingPlatform, the opportunity is there to do so on a larger scale”.
Kim Østergaard, CEO, founder and co-owner of MarketingPlatform

“Major floods happened very close to home, to our brothers and sisters in Serbia, and that really triggered our desire to help,
says Neno Angelov, CDO and co-owner at MarketingPlatform.

Charity on the agenda

Developers from MarketingPlatform were not a second in doubt regarding how much to invest in order to help their neighbours. Although the ‘scars’ from the nineties are still fresh in their memory, memories have, for a while, been erased from the “hard disk” and the 1-1-1 model has been put into practice. The three gears, which this picture demonstrates, represent a donation of the MarketingPlatform solution for sending out newsletters, a donation of money and, perhaps the most important for the feeling of togetherness, a donation in the form of using working time for charity.

“Unfortunately, in the case of the flood disaster, we were unable to donate our market leading solution for sending out newsletters, but we are pleased that we were able to help by donating our time and money – that has resulted in a quick help as part of a larger effort in collaboration with one of the world’s leading humanitarian movements”, says Kim Østergaard and gives compliments to CDO, who has not believed that the development department would be the first department in MarketingPlatform to use the 1-1-1 model for charity.

“One can say that the natural disaster has brought us, in the Balkans, closer, and at the same time, created a better understanding of each other’s reality internally in the company”, concludes CDO, Neno Angelov.