The first day of the festival will open with the traditional creative review of the annual advertising stock, which will be discussed by Luka Bajs, senior copywriter at the agency Grey Ljubljana, and Peter Zabret, copywriter at Pristop. Branimir Brkljač, best known as the co-founder of Studio Moderna, has spent the last two years traveling, writing and teaching, and in his lecture at SOF he will try to answer the question as to whether storytelling, content marketing and consumer engagement really mark a revolution in the advertising industry. Cene Grčar, a lawyer at the company Pro Plus and a member of the advertising panel, and Roman Berčon, director of the advertising agency Votan Komunikacije and president of the advertising panelwill present several of the most important decisions of the court.
Slovenia as a novel or movie heroine
At the round table “The challenge: Slovenia … the story of?!?”, which will be led by Uroš Goričan, creative director of Publicis Groupe Slovenia, participants will be advisor for EU affairs Dragan Barbutovski, independent copywriter and creative director Ines Drame and writer Miha Mazzini. They will try to determine what Slovenia would look like as the heroine of a novel or a movie, what its significance is, how it tackles conflict, what its genre is and whether it can stop running after the train and take the reins in its own hands.
The face off in the speech duel this year will see independent copywriter and creative director Vesna Koselj and executive creative director at the agency BBDO Ukraine Anže Jereb, with Matej Golob, co-founder of the start-up 30 Lean, stimulating the debate. Representatives of the London production company Trunk Animation, director of animated films and animation director Rok Predin and CEO Richard Barnett, will then talk about what it takes to maintain an intimate creative tone in a highly commercial and competitive market. Following that will be another round table where Robert Schmitzer, director of digital development at Delo and editor of the Internet portal slovenskenovice.si, and Blaž Zafošnik, director of start-up VIAR, will talk about when probability became a reality.
At the end of the first day Drago Mlakar, creative director at the Croatian agency Bruketa & Žinić OM, will lead a workshop titled To the brief and beyond, which is primarily intended for clients who face the daily challenge of how to write a good brief.
Story as a tool
On the second day journalist Igor E. Bergant will talk about Story as a Tool with Andrej Božič, director general at Glassworks Hrastnik, Stojan Petrič, president of the board at Kolektor, and Enzo Smrekar, general director of the SBU and members of the management board at Droga Kolinska. Raphael Stix, chief executive of Germany’s direct marketing agencies Integer and Global Shopper will walk the corridors of purchase marketing, while Nataša Mohor Kejžar, director of Ipsos Slovenia, will focus on emotions in a rational environment.
Personal stories (and personal brands) will be presented by graphic designer Slavimir Stojanović, founder of the Futro studio, and architect Gregor Drobnič, founder of the brand Otto von Berlin.
The preliminary program of the 25th SOF can be found here.
