This October, Portorož will once again become a meeting place for the creative community, as Golden Drum 2026 announces new names in its speaker programme. Among them are Mihnea Gheorghiu, the newest inductee into the Golden Drum Hall of Fame, and Benjamin Simon and Dirk Schuster, co-founders and creative directors of the award-winning design studio FOREAL.
Mihnea Gheorghiu is coming to the festival not only as one of this year’s Hall of Fame honourees, but also as a speaker. As a global chief creative officer, he has built his career around ideas that have not remained only within the framework of festival entries and jury rooms, but have entered culture, moved audiences and expanded the space of what creativity can bring to brands.
His induction into the Golden Drum Hall of Fame is a recognition of work that has left a mark on the international advertising industry, as well as of the way he has influenced the understanding of creative leadership. He comes to Golden Drum as the creative leader of the agency ranked as the world’s number one creative agency on the WARC Rankings, and as Cannes Lions 2026 Agency of the Year.
In Portorož, he will speak about creative leadership, building teams that win major recognition and the path through which ambitious ideas become work recognized far beyond the market in which they were created.
The second part of the new announcement brings a different kind of energy. Golden Drum is also bringing FOREAL into the programme, the design studio founded by Benjamin Simon and Dirk Schuster. Their work for global brands such as Google, Adobe, Netflix, Meta and Nike moves between design, technology and storytelling, with visual identities and campaigns that rely equally on clear strategy and precise execution.
On the festival stage, Simon and Schuster will open up the process behind their work and show how ideas, collaboration and craft come together in brand experiences that do not rely only on the first impression, but also on what remains after it.
The organizers have announced that more speakers for this year’s edition will be revealed in the coming period. A place at the festival can be secured through the official website: https://goldendrum.com/attend/delegate-fees
