From May 7 to 10, Dani komunikacija will once again place the focus on strategy as a key decision-making tool, rather than merely on creative impression or festival visibility. The new edition of the communications industry festival will once again bring a range of international names to Rovinj who are actively shaping how the industry thinks about strategy, creativity and business decisions. Thus, DK2026 will host Mark Pollard, one of the most recognizable contemporary strategists, author of the book Strategy Is Your Words and founder of Sweathead, a globally relevant strategic platform and podcast that has so far recorded more than 1.3 million listens.
Pollard’s professional path did not follow a typical strategic trajectory. Instead of law, he was early drawn to the hip-hop scene, digital projects and radio, experiences that gradually led him into advertising, specifically into what is perhaps its most demanding discipline: strategy. The kind that implies deep thinking, clear positions and little tolerance for superficial solutions. During his career he has worked with global brands such as Facebook, Twitter, The Economist and Mozilla, led strategic teams in agencies McCann, Leo Burnett and Big Spaceship, spoken on the stages of Cannes Lions and TEDx, and served as a juror for the Webby Awards and the 4As Jay Chiat Awards.
A lecture that requires involvement, not just attention
His approach to strategy is known for its directness and openness, but also for insisting on real thinking, which makes him a good fit for the Dani komunikacija format, which often departs from classic festival expectations. He is coming to Rovinj with the lecture Strategy On You, conceived more as an interactive process than as a predefined keynote. Instead of ready-made models or presentation formulas, Pollard builds the content through interaction with the audience, treating strategy primarily as a thinking tool rather than a performative discipline.
On the main stage he will be joined by Jürgen Schmidhuber, one of the pioneers of contemporary artificial intelligence, as well as Julie Supan, a brand strategist known for her work on positioning YouTube, Reddit and Dropbox.
From May 7 to 10, Rovinj will once again gather regional and international actors from the creative, marketing and communications industry, with a programme that, at least according to the organisers’ announcements, aims to return strategy to the centre of business decision-making. More information is available on the festival’s official website
