The fourth edition of the Communication Days, the national advertising festival, will be held from April 14 to 17 at the Lone Hotel in Rovinj, organized by HURA and IAB. This year’s Communication Days offer a rich program that includes lectures by top global experts, presentations of current global trends, revealing the secrets of the most successful communication campaigns, as well as numerous discussions, workshops, and competitions.
A special novelty of this year’s Communication Days is the “Export Stage” platform where investor and entrepreneur Nenad Bakić will talk with representatives of the Croatian creative industry who have managed to export their products and services beyond the borders of Croatia.
“This year, in addition to top foreign lecturers for which the Communication Days are regionally recognized, we wanted to highlight the impact that creative industries have on the Croatian economy as well as their strong export potential. A study conducted by the Economic Institute in Zagreb showed that cultural and creative industries, which include the advertising and market communication industry, account for 2.3 percent of gross national income. This industrial sector is extremely resilient to economic crises and employs more than 42,000 people, or 3% of the total employed in the country. Research we conducted among HURA members showed that 91% of our members already export their services and products. Given these data, the advertising industry shows great potential to become a strong export product, and this should certainly be supported,” said Davor Bruketa, CEO of HURA, co-organizer of the Communication Days.
For the first time at the Communication Days, a competition for young agency professionals called “Young Lions” will be held, which is part of a global competition within the Cannes festival. “This competition is a unique opportunity for young creatives under 30 to prove themselves on a national and potentially global level. Their task is to devise campaigns in the categories of print, cyber, and design within 24 hours, or 48 hours for the film category. The best of the 4 winning teams will be rewarded with a trip to CannesLions 2016. The campaigns are created for non-profit, humanitarian, or civil society organizations, to which the produced materials will be provided for use free of charge, representing a great added value of this project,” said Jan Jilek, president of IAB, co-organizer of the festival.
Participants of the Communication Days can expect lectures from top communication experts coming from renowned global festivals Cannes Lions and Eurobest. Among the speakers is Yousef Tuqan Tuqan, one of the most experienced and respected technology entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa. In his lecture “Arabs Be Like – a guide to the modern Middle East,” he will provide an in-depth look at the life of the modern Arab, as well as how regional and global brands succeed or fail to connect with their audience. Tom Theys, executive vice president of global strategy at FBC and one of today’s leading marketing industry strategists, will show in his lecture “Behavior Change is the New Black (and Gold)” that the secret to successful and effective campaigns lies in changing consumer behavior. Rogier Vijverberg is the executive creative director and co-founder of the international agency SuperHeroes, whose main mission is to save the world from boring ads. He is a multiple award-winning digital pioneer who has worked for major global brands such as LG, Diesel, Converse, ASUS, and Coca Cola. At the Communication Days, he will talk about technological ideas that save the world from boredom and add humanity to innovations.
