By: Dina Dretvić
Organizers of Croatia’s national advertising festival, Days of Communication, which will be held from March 28 to 30 in Rovinj, announced at the press conference Wednesday the arrival of one of the most influential people in the world, according to Time 100, and founder of the world’s largest marketing network, WPP – Sir Martin Sorrell.
“Every year we bring better and better lecturers. The small local festival has become a place that is visited by some of the biggest figures of our industry. This year we already have plenty of them, and sugar comes on top – Sir Martin Sorrell, the person who was named the world’s biggest celebrity in the world of market communications by The New Yorker. This is a big step for our festival, which has been fondly referred to as ‘small Cannes’ for a long time now by many,” announced the Director of the Festival and Program of Days of Communication, Dunja Ivana Ballon.
Sir Martin Sorrell began his career more than thirty years ago by taking over a small British company that produced wire baskets, the Wire and Plastic Products, which he transformed into a multinational marketing giant, WPP, world’s largest marketing company in terms of staff and revenue, with more than 3,000 offices in 112 countries.
Today, WPP is the owner of some of the world’s largest advertising agencies including Grey, Ogilvy, GroupM, MediaCom, Mindshare, Wavemaker, Kantar and many others. He has been at the helm of the company for 33 years, becoming the longest and best paid CEO in the industry, and he did that in a company that is on the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 index. After years of successful work at WPP, Sorrell departed from the position of CEO and devoted himself to the new challenge and project – S4 Capital.
“At the Days of Communication, we serve knowledge on a plate – we bring a record number of speakers, and we have created the strongest program so far,” said Davor Bruketa, CEO of HURA.
Speakers announced so far include: Sir Martin Sorrell (Chairman, S4 Capital); winner of the world’s best advertiser award Matt Biespiel; digital evangelist Yousef Tuqan Tuqan; ethical hacker Ralph Echemendia; vice president of VICE Media, named Star of Tech City Mark Adams; prankster, journalist and founder of the no. 1 fake restaurant in London on Trip Advisor Oobah Butler (projects: The Shed, Giorgio Peviani Jeans, fake Oobah); authority in the world of new technologies and AI for brands Yifei Chai; author of bestsellers and expert on behavioral marketing Mark Earls (aka HERDmeister); Steve Vranakis, Creative Director of Google Creative Lab; Swati Bhattacharya, India’s first creative director and ambassador of Cannes Lions; Che-Wei Wang, leader of generative design, MIT alumni and exhibitor of renowned MoMA; Jessica Chapplow (e-commerce & emerging platforms); Aaron Sherinian (Vice President of Global Communications Transformation, Philip Morris); Ali Ali, one of the top 10 directors in the world and the author of the famous Never Sa No to Panda and many others.
Bruketa announced yet another novelty; even lecturers know how unusual Days of Communication festival is on the festival scene. After their lectures, they go to a quickie in the grove. Of course, the Quickie is the new hall that is located in the grove of hotel Lone, which is unique because participants will have the chance to directly ask lecturers everything they are interested in – and get equally direct answers to these questions.
