Interview with Tomas Bartninkas, Strategy Director of TRUTH (LIT), is conducted by Hando Sinisalu.
What are the main trends in the Lithuanian advertising scene this summer?
Many people are excited, worried, with big wandering eyes, “What will be next?”. Worried, I suppose. But we keep it calm.
Of course, there are many questions about artificial intelligence and about what clients will do next. But we feel calm. Because communication is always needed, regardless of the current generation.
Do you plan to expand your agency, to find some new lines of business?
We believe in professionalism and specialization. Because when you are everything, you are shit. If you are good at PR, you are not good at creativity. If you are good at creativity, then you won’t be good at PR. You cannot be good at everything.
It’s like – sorry to say – it’s like shemale.
So, okay, nice, interesting, but… so who are you? Ah, one day this and another day that. And that’s why it doesn’t work.
Because what the clients need is the harmony and co-working of three big pillars.
It’s a strong advertising agency. Then it’s a strong media agency. And strong PR agency who work like this.
If you have everything in one house, you’ll start to fight. Who is more important?
Many global players enter the Baltic markets and the competition is increasing. What about the local brands, are Lithuanian companies creating new brands?
Lithuanian economy is growing. We’re becoming more and more self-confident.
So, a very simple example: Lithuanian beer is more expensive than international one. Why? Because people love this local brand.
So people want their own brands.
And Lithuania is a nationalistic country. 90% are Lithuanians.
Before we were proud of our past. Now we’re self-confident and proud of our present.
So, where do you see the growth potential for your agency?
We are a bit weird… We don’t say that business should grow… because that’s how you explode.
We want to remain stable. We have 25 people and we never want to be bigger than 30 people.
Because then you have to change the way you manage the company, you have to build a structure, a pyramid. We don’t want to be a huge agency.
TRUTH was part of the McCann network before. Why did you decide to leave the network?
We did not see any benefit of belonging to the network anymore. I remember the times when it was really important to be in the network. So, we had all the networks here – DDB, McCann, Y&R, Ogilvy, etc
When we joined McCann in 1999, 70% of our clients came from McCann. When we ended it was 0.5%. When we started with L’Oréal, we got 17% from whatever L’Oréal put on media. Even if we did nothing.
So, it was crazy money for doing nothing. So now, those times are gone.
What about the export potential of Lithuanian agencies?
No, we don’t believe in it. It’s a nice to have. But we don’t count it in our business planning.
It’s better to be king in your own country than a servant in a big kingdom.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I just read the Bible, the New Testament.
So, what was my finding? That Jesus Christ was the first advertising guy.
He invented all the main systems of modern communication. Happening. Flash mob. Teaser. Extreme mob. All the tools.
So, when I started to put it on the list – all the things we’re doing – almost all can be found in the New Testament.
I’m not looking anymore for new Gods, some new ways of doing communications. Because the human nature has not changed at all. I’m just looking for new forms of how to deliver the message.
BalticBest 2025
You can find rules HERE.
Submission deadline: 08.08.2025 -> extended until 12.08.2025 5 PM (Estonian time)
Shortlist published: 19.08.2025
Live judging and awards announced: 27.08.2025
