BWI: Goafest 2009 Promises to be a Knowledge Extravaganza with World-Renowned Ad-Gurus

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Goafest 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 07:09 PM IST (01:39 PM GMT)
Editors: General: People; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Media & entertainment
Release no: 19586
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Goafest 2009 Promises to be a Knowledge Extravaganza with World-Renowned Ad-Gurus
Sir John Hegarty, Jean-Marie Dru , Sean Finnegan, Dan Wieden and Neeraj Nayar will Share their Knowledge at Goafest 2009

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Tuesday, March 31, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and The Advertising Club Bombay today announced the list of world-renowned keynote speakers for Goafest 2009. Inspirational and legendary icons, such as Sir John Hegarty, Sean Finnegan, Dan Wieden, Jean Marie Dru and Neeraj Nayar from the global advertising industry will address the participants at Goafest 2009.

The final list of keynote International speakers at Goafest 2009 includes:

-- Sir John Hegarty, Chairman & Worldwide Creative Director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)

-- Jean-Marie Dru, Chairman, TBWA

-- Sean Finnegan, Chief Media Officer, Vibrant Media

-- Dan Wieden, Founder, Wieden+Kennedy

-- Neeraj Nayar, President, Contagious Communications, India

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Colvyn Harris, Chairman, Goafest 2009 & CEO, JWT, said, "Goafest has evolved into multi-faceted convention for the advertising industry and this year the Goafest committee has ensured that knowledge and learning takes precedence. The Indian advertising industry is hitting new milestones and keeping this in mind our effort was to invite the best of international speakers. The endeavour is to infuse global best practices and insights amongst emerging talent in the industry. We are confident that every individual in the field of advertising and marketing in India will not want to miss this opportunity to interact with such inspirational speakers."

Goafest is Asia's most prestigious festival for marketing and advertising professionals and a powerful platform to celebrate the work and the people in Indian advertising. Scheduled for April 2, 3 and 4, 2009, the Goafest 2009 theme for this year is "Why Waste a Good Recession?"

Day 1 starts with the Discovery Industry Leadership Conclave where keynote speakers from across the globe reflect and debate issues and challenges facing advertising and marketing and share their learning's and thoughts on the future.

Day 2 and 3 have the SBI Knowledge and Learning Seminars followed by the prestigious Abby Awards - Media on Day 2 and Creative on Day 3.

Brief about the Speakers:

Sir John Hegarty, Chairman & Worldwide Creative Director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH):

Sir John Hegarty, Chairman & Worldwide Creative Director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) began his career in advertising as a junior Art Director at Benton and Bowles, London, in 1965. He next worked with a small agency, John Collings & Partners.

In 1967 he joined Cramer Saatchi consultancy which later became Saatchi & Saatchi in 1970, where he was a founding shareholder. A year later he was appointed Deputy Creative Director.

Sir John left Saatchi & Saatchi in 1973 to co-found TBWA, London, as Creative Director. The agency was the first to be voted Campaign magazine's Agency of the Year in 1980.

He left TBWA in 1982 to co-found Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Four years later in 1986, BBH was voted Campaign's Agency of the Year, and won the title once again in 1993. In addition, BBH became the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival's very first Agency of the Year in 1993. It also won the title again in 1994.

Hegarty has been responsible for numerous accolades for the agency. Hegarty has won over 15 Clios alone, and his Levi's 501 work is in the Clio Hall of Fame. Since its inception in 1982 BBH has been named Agency of the Year more than six times, most notably by Campaign magazine, who also named BBH as their first-ever Network of the Year in 2004.

Jean-Marie Dru, Chairman, TBWA

Dru became the chairman of TBWA Worldwide in 2007. He was appointed president and chief executive officer of TBWA Worldwide in 2001. Before this, he was president international of TBWA Worldwide.

He started his career in 1971 with Dupuy Compton (now called Saatchi & Saatchi) as an account manager on P&G. He soon moved to the role of executive creative director. He then joined Young & Rubicam. After this, he set up the BDDP (Boulet Dru Dupuy Petit) Group in 1984 along with three other partners.

Sean Finnegan, Chief Media Officer, Vibrant Media

Prior to joining Vibrant Media, Sean Finnegan was the Chief Executive Officer of OMG Digital, a unit of Omnicom Media Group. As head of OMG Digital, Sean led its global management team and developed functional services in Digital Investment, Search, Mobile, Gaming, Futures, Analytics and Ad Operations.

Sean began his career in the early 1990s at BBDO New York, where he focused on Spot TV buying and Print planning. When the internet became commercial, Sean quickly shifted his focus to new media, working at such interactive agencies as Darwin Digital (Zenith), APL Digital and JWT Digital. Sean then departed the agency world for two years to become Director, Advertising Business Development at AllAdvantage.com. In 2001, Sean left for his native Chicago, where he became Media Director for TribalDDB. A year into his tenure at Tribal, Omnicom formed OMD (the combined media units of DDB, BBDO, TBWA Chiat Day and Rapp Collins) and Sean became Midwest Director of OMD Digital. Eventually Sean was promoted to lead OMD Digital nationally and relocated back to New York, a position he held for three years before forming OMG Digital.

Sean is committed to mentorship and as such, he has spoken at several conferences such as the iMedia Summit Series, Cannes Advertising Awards, the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference, the MSN Strategic Account Summit and the AAF National Conference. Sean was named an AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement inductee, an Advertising Age Media Maven, a Media All Star for Mediaweek Magazine, a MediaPost All Star, one of Min Magazine's 21 Most Intriguing People, an Inter-nationalist Magazine Agency Innovator, OnMedia's Madison Avenue "IT" List and an official Kentucky Colonel. Sean is involved in many online advertising industry groups and associations, such as the AAF, IAB, AAAAs Digital CEO Board, Google's Agency Advisory Council and the TiVo Advisory Council. Sean is also a proud co-founder and board member of the Tom Deierlein Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping needy families and children both nationally and internationally with their most basic living needs including medical care.

Dan Wieden, Founder, Wieden+Kennedy

Dan Wieden (born 1945) is an American advertising executive who co-founded Wieden+Kennedy in 1982. Over the years, the agency has created some of the most innovative campaigns for brands like Nike, Honda, Pepe Jeans, Micrsoft, Coca-Cola and ESPN.

Wieden has been named America's one of the most intriguing entrepreneurs by Inc. He has also received Oregon's Professional of the Year and Oregon's Entrepreneur of the Year. He also received distinction as one of the world's 50 CyberElite by Time magazine and one of 32 members of the One Club Creative Hall of Fame. Wieden is the founder of Caldera, a nonprofit arts education organization and camp for at-risk youth located in Sisters, Oregon.

Neeraj Nayar, President, Contagious Communications India

With over 20 years in the Advertising and Marketing Communications industry, he is currently President of Contagious Communications, India. Contagious specializes in future-facing marketing ideas and emerging technologies and is delivered in the form of a quarterly magazine, DVD, newsletter and workshops. Their prestigious clientele includes Nike, Toyota, Diageo, O2, Henkel and P&G.

About Goafest 2009:

Currently in its fourth year, Goafest is India's most prestigious national advertising awards festival, organized by The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) in association with The Advertising Club Bombay. More than 3000 delegates from the advertising and allied industries attend the event to witness the high-profile seminars, workshops and listen to keynote speakers from across the globe. Over 4500 ads from all over the country are showcased and judged at the Festival. Goafest is India's largest intellectual & information exchange in the world of Advertising & Media and provides an opportunity for professionals in marketing and advertising to meet, exchange ideas and recognize creative talent.

About Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI):

The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) is the official, national organization of advertising agencies, formed in 1945, to promote their interests. The Association promotes professionalism, through its founding principles, which uphold sound business practices between advertisers and advertising agencies and each of the various media. The AAAI today is truly representative, with a very large number of small, medium and large-sized agencies as its members, who together account for almost 80% of the advertising business placed in the country. It is thus recognized as the apex body of the advertising industry at all forums - advertisers, media owners and associations, and even Government, as the spokesperson for the advertising industry. Only such agencies that are independent, unbiased, objective, committed to advertising, ethically operated, financially sound and who offer professionalism and expertise in order to fulfill their obligations to consumers, advertisers and media are accepted as a members of AAAI.

About The Advertising Club Bombay:

The Advertising Club Bombay, which was incorporated in the year 1954, is arguably the biggest Advertising Club of its kind in the world. It has over 1600 members from the Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Media and Research fraternity.

The Ad Club's endeavour is to "Help raise the professional standards of the Indian Advertising Industry", and the Club attempts to do this through awards, seminars, meetings and more.

Besides the ABBYs, EFFIEs, EMVIEs, Ad Review, Media Review, M.Ad Quiz and Young Achievers' Awards, the Ad Club is also involved in a number of other activities. Over the years, Ad Club has become a catalyst in developing the industry. It routinely organizes CEP Workshops and events for industry professionals and students. It has become a dynamic platform for professionals from different fields to interact and gain from each other's expertise. This Club maintains a high level of activity and, unlike other clubs, has no bars!

For Delegate Registrations

To participate and register in Goafest 2009, log on to www.goafest.com.

Hurry, Last Date for entries April 1, 2009


CONTACT DETAILS
Ulrica D'sylva, IPAN, +91 9867291272, ulrica.dsylva@ipan.com
Deepa Jayaraman, IPAN, +91 9819808681, deepa.jayaraman@ipan.com
Sudesh Kapoor, Advertising Agencies Association of India, +91 9967570203, aaai@vsnl.com
Bipin Pandit, Advertising Club Bombay, +91 9820191077, adclub@vsnl.com

KEYWORDS
PEOPLE, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, MEDIA

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