DDB Worldwide announce Berlin School partnership
DDB Worldwide announces long-term partnership with The Berlin School of Creative Leadership
DDB Worldwide, the global communications group, operating in over 90 countries, is teaming up with the Berlin School of Creative Leadership to offer a range of executive training programs for its employees.
Starting in September 2011, DDB Worldwide will begin employee enrollment in the executive MBA program at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. The part-time, global training program consists of five two-week modules in Berlin, the USA and Asia, providing participants a unique mix of business skills and training for leading creative enterprises around the globe.
"This new partnership is part of a program that we think will keep DDB among the most innovative and influential communications businesses in the world," said Amir Kassaei, CCO of DDB Worldwide. "DDB is as much about humanity and talent as it is about creativity, and more specifically Social Creativity as well as innovation. Training and education are a principal part of our strategy towards facing and driving the big changes in our industry. The strategic cooperation with the Berlin School and their innovative program will help us unleash the potential of our talents and our product at a new level.”
As part of the agreement, Kassaei will join the Board of Governors of the Berlin School, sitting beside one of the Berlin School's most ardent and longtime supporters, fellow board member Keith Reinhard, Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide, and a “Godfather’” of the EMBA class of 2011. Many DDB network executives, among them DDB Latvia CEO Edgars Skulte and Adforce DDB Namibia's CCO Femi Ogunboye, are currently in the Berlin School's EMBA program, and numerous other DDB executives have attended the annual Cannes Creative Leaders Program the school offers in conjunction with the Cannes International Advertising Festival.
Beyond its commitment to sponsor EMBA participants, DDB will work with the Berlin School to deliver custom training programs for network executives.
"We are committing to this partnership so that we can challenge and inspire our people to reach their full potential and deliver the best possible results for clients," Kassaei said.
"We're delighted to partner with DDB Worldwide on this very modern form of executive training," said Clark Parsons, Managing Director of the Berlin School. "Thanks to Keith Reinhard's unyielding support and thought leadership as a member of both our Board of Governors and Creative Industry Speakers, the Berlin School feels a special kinship with DDB. Indeed, studying DDB's culture of innovation and how it was built, from Bernbach to Reinhard and beyond, has been part of our curriculum, and we are thrilled to partner with Amir Kassaei and DDB Worldwide to help ensure that culture's continuation and renewal for a new generation. Through our executive MBA and other custom programs, we look forward to helping DDB develop its executives to be better leaders of themselves, their companies, their clients and the industry at large."
Those at the Cannes Lions Festival this year can get to know both the Berlin School and Keith Reinhard up close together. The school will present a free Open House session Thursday evening 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the Palais, Level 1, hosted by Berlin School President Michael Conrad as part of the Cannes Creative Leaders Program. Reinhard will speak on creative leadership, and he'll be joined by a Berlin School EMBA graduate from 2008, Gideon Amichay, Partner and CCO of Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R Israel, who has won 13 Cannes Lions in the three years since completing the program.
About DDB
DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc (www.ddb.com) ranks among the top five consolidated advertising and marketing services global networks, according to Advertising Age. Consistently one of the most awarded networks globally for creative excellence, DDB was Campaign’s 2009 Global Network of the Year, the 2010 Spikes Asia Network of the Year, 2010 Eurobest Network of the Year, 2010 Campaign Asia Pacific Creative Network of the Year and captured both the Cyber Grand Prix and Film Craft Grand Prix at the 2010 International Advertising Festival in Cannes. With more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, the DDB Group helps grow the value and influence of leading brands around the world. DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC).
About the Berlin School of Creative Leadership
In just five years, the Berlin School of Creative Leadership (www.berlin-school.com) has established itself as a leading global institution for leadership training in the creative industries of advertising, marketing, journalism, entertainment and design. What began as an initiative at the Art Director's Club Germany has, under the leadership of its founding President Michael Conrad, former Vice Chairman & CCO of Leo Burnett Worldwide, now grown into a nonprofit foundation working in partnership with the School of Management and Innovation at the Steinbeis University Berlin.
With the vision of one day seeing "a creative CEO in every creative enterprise," the Berlin School's primary focus is operating a global executive MBA program in Creative Leadership. This mid-career training program is designed to help executives, especially those with a professional/education background in creative disciplines, master the challenges of leading an enterprise to creative excellence and business success. The school now has a global community of more than 100 participants/alumni from more than 40 countries, and "Berliners" are having a vast impact on their companies and countries.
Roughly half of the EMBA participants come from the advertising industry, and a quarter of participants work at global networks such as DDB, TBWA, BBDO, McCann, Leo Burnett, BBH, Dentsu, JWT, Grey or Y&R. The 2010 Creative Director of the Year, Luiz Sanches of Alamp BBDO, is an alumnus of the first graduating class of the school, and his agency was awarded the Cannes Lions 2010 Agency of the Year. The next Start module of the Berlin School's EMBA program is Sept. 4-18, and admission applications are due by July 19.