2010 Programme Participants

Niels Alzen
Managing Director
Scholz & Friends NRW, Düsseldorf
Germany

Niels Alzen is Managing Director at Scholz & Friends NRW in Düsseldorf. Preceding this role, from May 2005 to September 2008, he was Creative Director as well as Co-founder at santamaria in Hamburg. Prior to this, Niels held other Creative Directorships at kempertrautmann, Hamburg (2003 to 2005), Springer & Jacoby, Hamburg (2002 to 2003) and Jung von Matt, Hamburg (1999 to 2002). Before becoming a Creative Director, Niels began his career as a Copywriter.


Luiz Fernando Brandão
Corporate Communication Specialist
Fibria Celulose S.A
Brasil

Luiz Fernando Brandão is a Corporate Communication Specialist at Fibria Celulose S.A. Prior to this from 1992-2000, he was Corporate Communication Manager at Aracruz Celulose S.A. where he led a team of about 40 professionals. He has also held positions at Shell Brasil S.A. (1980-1983), Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange (1979-1980), Editora Vecchi Ltda. (1978) and Darrow Laboratórios S.A. (1973-1975).


Donovan Bryan
Senior Art Director
DDB South Africa
South Africa

Donovan Bryan currently works as a Senior Art Director at DDB South Africa and his campaigns include McDonald’s, MTN and Honda. He is a South African Senior Art Director who has his honors degree in Visual Communication (Graphic Design). Prior to DDB, he has worked as an Art Director at TBWA Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg (2001- 2006) and later as Creative Director of the Activation Department at Grey Johannesburg.


Heather Chambers
Senior Vice President, Creative Director & Managing Partner
Leo Burnett Toronto
Canada

Heather Chambers is a Senior Vice President, Creative Director and Managing Partner at Leo Burnett in Toronto. She joined Leo Burnett in May 2002 as creative director to work on the Procter and Gamble North American Fabric Care business. Prior to Leo Burnett, Heather was at Young & Rubicam. During her 20 years in the advertising, she has collected numerous awards for her work including Clios, Bessies, Andies, Effies, Cassies, One Show and Cannes awards.


Anders Dalenius
Creative Director
Draftfcb Stockholm
Sweden

Anders Dalenius is Creative Director at Draftfcb in Stockholm. Prior to this, he worked as a copywriter at Hollingworth/Mehrotra (later KING) with clients such as Nissan, Pripps, Canon, H & M, Vodafone and Absolut Vodka. He has also worked as a copywriter at Rönnberg McCann and RMI-Bergh. Anders has received numerous awards for his work at the most prestigious advertising festivals.


Cedric Ebener
Managing Director
CE+Co
Germany

Cedric Ebener is the Managing Director at CE+Co. CE+Co stands for Corporate Experience und Content. With its location in the St.Pauli district of Hamburg, CE+Co conceptualizes and produces event formats for clients such as Deutsche Messe Hannover, Marc Cain, Volkswagen and the Berlinale. CE+Co was founded by Cedric Ebener in 2008. He has a team of 10 managers and coordinates a network of around 20 freelance employees according to demand.


Alexandre Fachin
Founder/Film DirectorCasa Na Árvore Filmes
Brasil Fachin Alexander began his professional career as a photographer in 1990 in the fields of advertising, stills photography, food and fashion. In 1994, he began to specialize in cinematography for film production in advertising. In 2000, he founded the Casa Na Árvore Filmes, an advertising production company, where he assumed the position of film director. Within this position, he works mainly on national advertising campaigns with a focus on retail.


Alexandre Figueiredo Level
Creative Director
Pro Brasil
Brasil

Alexandre Figueiredo Level is Creative Director at Pro Brasil. Prior to this, he worked at McCann Erickson in Rio de Janeiro creating campaigns for clients such as Coca-Cola, GM, and L'Oreal. He began his career as a copywriter and rose to Chief Copywriter at DNA Propaganda before taking office as the Creative Director at Solution Comunicação. During his career, Level has won many national and international awards at the most prestigious advertising festivals.


Kerry FriendCreative Director
DDB South Africa
South Africa

Kerry Friend currently works at DDB South Africa as Creative Director and her clients include McDonald’s, FNB (one of South Africa’s leading banks) and Honda. She started out as a junior Copywriter at NSOP Advertising Johannesburg in 1999. She later joined Grey Advertising in Accra, Ghana as a Middle-weight Copywriter where her clients included Ghana Water and the United Nations Commission. Between 2000 and 2006 she worked as a Senior Copywriter at TBWA Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg and Ogilvy Johannesburg. Later in 2006 (until 2008) she became Creative Director for Grey Johannesburg.


Robert Homes
Creative Director
Look Up GmbH & Co
Germany

Robert Homes relocated to Germany in 2005 and has since been working at Look Up GmbH & Co (Gelsenkirchen), where he currently holds the position as Creative Director. He focuses on the company’s strategic and team development as well as being its creative leader. His clients include Bayer Schering Pharma, Abbott Diabetes and F. Hoffmann - La Roche. Prior to his relocation to Germany, he worked as a Designer at Novum Advertising and Ice House Design in Bath, England.


Julie Maunder
Creative Director
DDB South Africa
South Africa

Julie Maunder currently works at DDB Cape Town as Creative Director and has won numerous South African advertising awards, as well as being a finalist in Cannes in 2008 and 2009. Prior to working with DDB, she was at Ogilvy & Mather in Johannesburg where she became an Art Director and worked on campaigns for Nestle, Ford, Kellogg’s and many others.


Jonah Otieno
Creative Director
ZK Advertising TZ, affiliated to TBWA
Republic of Tanzania

Jonah Otieno is Creative Director at ZK Advertising TZ (affiliated to TBWA). Prior to this, he joined TBWA\ Creative in Nairobi as an intern in 2003 and worked his way up to Copywriter. He then moved on to ZK Kenya as Senior Copywriter and on to ZK Tanzania where he became Deputy and finally Creative Director. He has worked on numerous campaigns for clients such as Celtel/ Zain (Kenya and Tanzania), Nissan, Mercedes Benz and Jeep among others. In 2008, he was the Creative Director behind the Tanzanian transition from Celtel to Zain and was the youngest Creative Director in Eastern Africa at 26.


Stefan Rasch
Managing Director / Owner
screenagers angewandte digitale und analoge Kommunikation GmbH
Austria

Stefan Rasch is Managing Director/Owner at Screenagers Angewandte Digitale & Analoge Kommunikation GmbH. Screenagers is a Vienna based creative agency focusing on new media. Amongst its clients are Universal Pictures International Austria, Pernod Ricard, Öbb (Austrian Railways), Danone, Kraft Foods and Logitech. Stefan is also a professional speaker for advertising, TV and radio and in this capacity works with Mercedes Benz, Sony, Nestle, Garnier, Wien Energie and two Austrian radio companies. Prior to these currents roles, he has worked as a freelance Multimedia Producer (1998-2001) and a New Media Consultant (1997-1999)


Júlio José Rodrigues Alves
Associate and Creative Vice-President
Pro Brasil Propaganda
Brasil

Júlio Alves is Associate and Creative Vice-President of Pro Brasil Propaganda. Graduated at UEMG/FUMA in Industrial Drawing, with qualification in Visual Programming. He specialized in Graphic Design at UIA - Universitá Internazionale del'Arte, in Florence, Italy. With 20 years of experience in advertising market, he worked in several prominence agencies before founding his first agency – Comunicação e Expressão in 1994. His performance is focused in strategic innovation and publicity, design and point of sale expertise.


Katharina Schmid
Account Director
Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann
Austria

Katharina Schmid has been the Account Director at Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann since 2003 and her clients include Penny Market, Volksband and Media Markt.  Prior to this, she has also worked at Laufen Austria AG as a freelance Project Manager and at Lowe GGK, Vienna as an Account Director.


David Smail
Partner/Executive Director
BBDO Vietnam
Vietnam

In 2007, David Smail was chosen to create and lead BBDO in Vietnam. His clients within this role are Fonterra (Anlene, Anmum, Anchor), Mercedes-Benz, Wrigley (Doublemint, Extra) Dulux, KFC, Chrysler, P&G (Gillette) and HP. Preceding this, from July 2004 to July 2007, he held the position of Executive Creative Director at JWT in Ho Chi Minh City, where he led a creative department of more than 20 and held full responsibility of the office's creative product. Prior to this, David was Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Bangkok, Thailand) from July 2003 to July 2004 and Creative Director at Dentsu Young & Rubicam – Hong Kong from July 2001 to June 2003).


Leonard Sommer
Creative Director, Managing Partner
Sommer+Sommer Holding
German

Leonard Sommer is the Creative Director and Managing Partner at Sommer+Sommer Holding where he leads a department of 25 creative staff. Sommer+Sommer was founded by Leonard and Gordon Sommer in 1996 and presently works with clients such as Yves Rocher, Ritter Sport, Stuttgart Airport, Stuttgarter Zeitung, Deutsche Börse and Ciba Vision. Alongside his role at Sommer+Sommer, Leonard has also been an associate partner, as well as founder of the PR & event agency Benefit Identity (2005-2006) and an associate partner and advisor with the media company Trans-Marketing.


Vairis Strazds
Creative Director
DDB
Latvia

Vairis is Creative Director at DDB Worldwide Latvia. Prior to this he held various positions at Adell Saatchi&Saatchi in Riga including Creative Director and DTP. He was awarded the Golden Hammer in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2009 and Latvian Art Directors Club) AdWards prize in 2007, 2008, 2009. He also won at Password (the Latvian EFFIE) in 2007, 2008, 2009. He studied Physics and Mathematics at Latvian State University in Riga and also was actively involved in a monthly magazine "Rigas Laiks", Riga, Latvia Design


Ivan Todorov
CEO
Blitz
USA

Ivan Todorov is the CEO at Blitz. Within this role, he is responsible for guiding and positioning BLITZ to maximize growth while delivering innovative solutions and value to BLITZ’s worldwide clients. Preceding this CEO role, Ivan held other positions at Blitz including Chief Technology Officer, Director for Flash Platform and VP for Project Management and IT. Prior to joining Blitz in 2001, he was Creative Director & Project Manager at eStudio (2000-2001) and at Enluminent Inc. (1998-2000). Before becoming a Creative Director, Ivan worked as a 3D artist and animator.


Gabriela Woodman
Creative Director
Discovery Networks Latin America
USA

Gabriela Woodman is an award winning Creative Director and television professional. She was co-founder and owner of W&A Productions between 2003 and 2005, where she was responsible for the conceptualization, creation and production of TV programs, advertising commercials, and corporate videos.  Since 2005 she has been the Creative Director for Discovery Networks Latin America/ US Hispanic and is in charge of its overall creative direction, which includes supervising producers and overseeing the creative development and production of Off-air and On-air elements for the networks four channels.  She has also launched three new channels for the network and won numerous awards.