Milan Drozen , CEO, Head of Effectiveness, Czech Promotion
He has been involved in marketing and advertising for over 20 years. 14 years ago he was at the birth of the iconic character "Alzák" and since then he has been developing the communication agency Czech Promotion, which with a turnover of over 300 million is one of the largest in the country.
Michal Novák, Creative & Marketing Director, Czech Promotion
A sociologist by education, a marketer at heart with a love for data and common sense. In Czech Promotion, he helps clients with strategy and creative in the spirit of Ogilvy's "If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative".
Leonard Savage, Chief Creative Officer, McCann Prague
Leonard Savage has been a creative leader in advertising for over 15 years. He began his career as a designer and art director in Boston. He moved to global leadership as a founding CD of Leagas Delaney Prague, working as the worldwide creative lead for Skoda Auto. He returned to New York after 6 years in Europe to become an ECD within both Grey NY and Grey London. Since 2014 he has lead a global group of diverse clients from P&G, NFL, Nokia and British Petroleum. He partnered with Gillette on the Handle With Care project, which resulted in the creation of the Gillette Treo, which won 7 lions and was awarded invention of the year by Time Magazine.
Leo is currently CCO at McCann Prague, and has just won a silver Cannes Lion within this agency network and he still tries to make time to design. Tries being the operative word.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Orlando Wood, Chief Innovation Officer, System1 Group
Honorary Fellow of the IPA and author of Lemon (IPA, 2019) and Look out (IPA, 2021). His research is a unique combination of neuroscience, cultural history and advertising research, which describes and explains a change in creative style that has occurred in today’s technologically-disrupted world – one that has undermined advertising effectiveness.
Importantly, Orlando’s work also provides evidence and guidance to show how we might reverse this. Orlando led the IPA’s Creativity and Effectiveness research in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, looking at the greater effectiveness associated with fluent devices, a term he coined, and the features of advertising that sustain attention and elicit an emotional response – and lodge brands in memory.
Orlando has repeatedly worked with Peter Field, and recently collaborated with both Peter Field and Karen-Nelson Field for a keynote presentation at Cannes Lions, 2022. His work has influenced thinking and practice in research, marketing and advertising, earning him recognition from the ARF, the AMA, Jay Chiat, ISBA, the MRS, ESOMAR and the IPA.
Thomas A. Bata, CEO & Founder, MGG
Experienced entrepreneur and marketeer, he has worked in various commercial roles in Europe, North America and South America, notably as CMO of Bata Group from 2015-2018. Additionally, a great promoter of entrepreneurship, he has served on the board of Junior Achievement and been involved in various roles in Czech Republic and abroad since 2013. He founded MGG to create more transparency and accelerate the transition in fashion to a more sustainable and ethical environment, both in terms of the environmental footprint of the activities and the social footprint that the industry has on workers and communities. Additionally he runs a fund investing in sustainably minded start-ups, in Czech Republic and abroad, that make a real difference in defining what the future of consumer goods will look like.
Jan Tušl, Member of the Board of Directors, Vekra
He studied social geography at the Faculty of Science of Charles University and economic policy at the University of Economics in Prague. Before he established himself in the window and door industry, he worked for almost 15 years in the real estate market and investment banking. In 2010, he became a director and later a partner of Window Holding a.s., which owns the Vekra brand.
Alexandros Samaras, Partner, F.H. Prager
He is studying Marketing Communication and PR at Charles University. He has experience in the marketing team of the online supermarket Rohlík and as an organizer and promoter of electronic music concerts. For the past two years, he has been leading the project F.H. Prager together with Petr Musila as a part of the Kofola ČS group Incubator.
Klára Poliakov, Marketing Director, Lasvit
In her role, she specializes in the long-term strategic building of Lasvit brand in the global context of contemporary design. Klára studied economics and law at the Sorbonne in Paris, then obtained an MBA at Pepperdine University in California. She worked at the European Commission in Brussels, Christie's auction house in London and Pietro Filipi and Kara. Prior to taking on the role of Marketing Director, she held the role of Area Manager for LASVIT in New York for several years.
Aleš Najbrt, Founder and Creative Director, Studio Najbrt
He graduated from the UMPRUM in Prague (1982–1988). For three years (1990-1993) he worked as art director of Reflex and was editor-in-chief and graphic designer of Raut magazine (1991-1996). He won, for example, the Grand Prix XVII. Biennial of graphic design Brno, bronze medal Tokyo Typedirectors Club 1996, Czech Grand Design 2007.
Studio Najbrt, which Aleš leads together with Zuzana Lednická, deals with visual communication and the development of visual styles. Praha, Ostrava, Kunsthalle Praha, National Gallery, DOX, Czech Television, Linet, Bechyně, House of Lobkowicz, Footshop and many others have logos from Studio Najbrt. The studio also creates a visual identity for the Czech Philharmonic, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Kunsthalle Prague and others. He also designs books and various cultural projects.
Gregg Harper, Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson
Gregg Harper is creative director at marketing agency Wunderman Thompson. He comes from the UK. During his career, he led creative in Ogilvy, Havas and CCCP agencies in many countries, from Kazakhstan, through New York, Dubai to Amsterdam and Budapest. In Prague, he connects creativity with the most modern technologies for Snapchat, Dr.Max, Ford or Komerční banka.
Marek Řípa, Brand Manager, Seznam
Since 2022, he has been working in Seznam's marketing department, where he is primarily responsible for Seznam's brand and its strategic partnerships. He came to Seznam from a media agency, where he gained experience with media planning and research. This is also why he is currently working on connecting online data with research data.
Adriana Jurdová, CMO, Footshop
A big data science and e-commerce enthusiast, whose career path led her to the field of marketing. Currently working as the CMO of the most followed company on social networks in the Czech Republic, Footshop. She is responsible for the marketing strategy, hundreds of thousands of customers and fans in almost all EU countries and sales exceeding one billion CZK.
Eduard Krečmar, Strategist, Publicis Groupe
He has been working in digital marketing since 2010. He has worked through the agencies Arbo Interactive, Brandz Friends and Red Media. Today, in Publicis Groupe's communications group, he helps to design marketing strategies for new clients.
Lukáš Jakoubek, Business Director, Publicis Groupe
He started with media planning at the digital agency Red Media. Today, he leads a team of media consultants at Publicis Groupe, with whom he prepares media strategy, planning and purchasing advertising space for companies such as Samsung and Jägermeister.
Zuzana Dudová, Global Brand Marketing Manager, Plzeňský Prazdroj
From the beginning of her working life, she has worked for iconic Czech brands. It started with Becherovka, where she developed the brand abroad. Since 2018, she has been working in marketing on the beer market both in the Czech Republic and abroad. Today, as Global Head of Pilsner Urquell & Grolsch, she is responsible for the international marketing strategy and communication of the most famous Czech beer brand.
Marek Hrkal, Founder, odprezentuj
Marek has been professionally involved in presentations since 2010, when he founded odprezentuj and was the very first person in the Czech Republic to write presentation creator on his business card. In 2018, he summarized his experience in preparing presentations for clients from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland in the book Odprezentuj. Slides from his agency have already successfully accompanied dozens of speakers at conferences organized by Blue Events. This time, Marek will stand in front of his slides in person.