The 28th Slovenian Advertising Festival (SOF) with the slogan “I am media, you are media, we are all media!” will take place between 11thand 12th April at the Kempinski Palace hotel in Portoroz.
SOF in collaboration with Mastercard® promises a priceless experience at this year’s first cashless festival. Mastercard® will transform the festival grounds into a cash-free payment zone and offer attendants numerous innovative, adrenaline fuelled, refreshing and creative offers and experiences. The two-day festival event will be marked by a renewed competition program, a rich congress program and a lively social program.
PRESENTING THE CONGRESS PROGRAM OF THE 28th SOF
More than 40 speakers form Slovenia, US, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain and Great Britain will share their stories, knowledge, ideas and experiences during the two-day festival.
In accordance with this year’s slogan the congress program will offer more space formedia-oriented content, as will be the round table ‘Boarders and responsibilities of active use of social and traditional media’, hosted by Peter Frankl from Finance. SOF website (in Slovene only) offers the first preliminary program schedule, where new speakers and topics with other exciting content are announced daily.
The 28th SOF will kick off on Thursday, 11th April at 10.00 with taking f*** around seriously, as Denis Avdic and Nik Goodman describe working at a radio. The morning radio host and the international consultant from Great Britain,who has been working with media houses and personalities across the world, in Slovenia exclusively with Radio 1 (Infonet Media), will be discussing what a serious business entertainment is.
Thanks to Gregor Zakelj, founder of Creative Morning Ljubljana, SOF will be hosting the most searched graphic designer on Google, David Carson. The world design association AIGA wrote that David transformed graphic design into a cultural force and a medium with its own shape and direction, Apple named him “a pioneer with massive influence”, Creative Review stated “creative director of our time”, Steven Heller from New York Times said that David “had an important influence on the generation that excepted typography as an expressive media”and Newsweek wrote he “changed the public opinion on graphic design”.
How to convince the most sceptical and cynical consumers in history after they’ve been approached and mislead in all possible ways? Stephen Croncota, head of marketing and communications and an executive director with rich international experience will talk about marketing and advertising challenges in a time where consumers are more knowledgeable and thoughtful than ever before. Stephen recently led the marketing department for Versace in Milano, which landed him on the “DNR’s Power 100list”, list of the hundred most influential individuals in the men’s fashion industry.
Faris and Rosie Yakob are the co-founders of Geniuis Steals, a nomadic creative consultancy. Faris is the author of Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a Digital World, and a contributing author of Digital State and What is a Brand?, all published by Kogan Page. He was named one of ten modern day MadMen by Fast Company and one of the most respected planners in the world in The Planning Survey. Rosie believes that brands can create and curate culture and connect to people in ways that create value for both. Her passion lies in developing non-traditional ways to solve business problems and connect brands to culture. She has worked with iconic people and brands like Jay Z, Oreo, Coca-Cola, InterContinental Hotels, Gibson Guitars, and Nestle amongst others. You’ll hear provocations from them on creativity in the communications world and learn how they define a middle way forward – based on the way they believe agencies should behave in response to client needs, and what clients are willing to pay for.
Simon Wilkinson is a British transmedia artist. His work incorporates audio visual, installation, virtual reality, electronic music, and online and performance media, often combining all these forms simultaneously. He has held exhibitions at Tate Modern and just in the last 3 years visited 6 continents and 25 countries while exhibiting his work. Cineuropa Magazine named Simon “one of the key players in the field of augmented reality in Europe”. Simon will talk about the positive aspect of gaming, how it gives a sense of fulfilment and happiness to players and how those kind of games are good for society.
Guillaume Collinet and Raquel Rosa from Pointbleu Design will pass on the know how to squeeze trends, allowing you to detect your consumers’ expectations today and transform them into business opportunities tomorrow. Wewill also hear from Simona Kruhar Gaberscek, editor and chief of Marketing Magazine, who will present the annual B-report and Drago Mlakar, creative director at Pristop, talking about courage. Zoran Savin and Ales Sabanovic will talk about visibility, Simona Lobnik Ambrozic and Simon Ambrozic will host a workshop on psychodynamics. We will also be able to see Saso Palcic from Madwise, Daniela Bervar Kotolenko and Enej Gradisek from Corpo Hub, Ziga Rus and Zala Simcic from Radio Studentand Andraz Zorko from Valicon and many others, yet to be announced.
(Helen Svilan)