First round of speakers for Margaret River based Emergence 2016 creative festival announced

Emergence Creative, set to take place in the Margaret River region of Western Australia from Wednesday 16th to Saturday 19th March, 2016, has announced their first round of speakers along with their Early Bird Ticket Sales for the fourth instalment of the festival,

Emergence, considered the State of the Union for Australia’s creative industries, each year brings creative entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, change-makers and professionals from music, film, advertising, digital and the visual arts to one of the world’s most beautiful locations, Margaret River, for a world-class conference embedded in a mind-blowing creative festival.

Now in its fourth year, Emergence which is owned and run by south-west not-for-profit the Creative Corner has attracted film-makers, producers, creative directors, photographers, designers, musicians and a host of others from around the globe to be a part of the innovative festival and conference.

The first keynote to be announced is Zena Loxton, a Creative Director at VICE, New York.  A hybrid creative, producer, director and platform strategist, Zena’s work spans film and digital with documentary storytelling, advertising, interactive artwork, music video, television and the best performing branded gifs on Tumblr of all time.

Born and raised in Perth and a graduate of ECU, Loxton was a creative at London advertising agencies Mother, BBH and Fallon before landing at VICE in NYC. Since then she has been Creative Director a host of innovative projects for brands including AT&T, Samsung, Stride Gum and Intel. In recent times Loxton has shifted her focus to directing and developing documentary and scripted series for Live Nation TV.

Coming from Colombia is Jose Miguel Sokoloff, President of Lowe Global Creative Council & Co Chairman and CCO Lowe SSP3 Colombia. Sokoloff is one of the leading Latin American creatives and agency leaders whose work towards bringing about a new, peaceful Colombia is at the heart of his multi-award-winning FARC Guerrilla demobilization campaigns, which have been awarded around the world.

Sokoloff has been recipient of the only D&AD Black Pencil awarded to a Latin American agency and a Titanium Cannes Lion – again a Latin American first. He also has a prestigious UK IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix, a Jay Chiat Grand Prix and an El Ojo Grand Prix. The agency he co-founded with Francisco Samper, Lowe SSP3, was awarded Advertising Age’s International Agency of the Year.

Joining Loxton and Sokoloff will be Ram Castillo, an award winning Design Director, Blogger, top ranking Podcaster, Speaker and Author of the internationally acclaimed book ‘How to get a job as a designer, guaranteed’.

The Sydney-based creative has 12 years experience working for globally renowned agencies including Ogilvy & Mather, DDB and McCann Worldgroup on clients including Audi, McDonald’s, Qantas, Coca-Cola, Google and The Louis Vuitton Group and started the blog GiantThinkers.com in 2012.

The first CO-LAB Speaker announced is the UK’s Paul Clarke, formerly a recording artist, producer and current PRS Songwriter/Composer Member, Paul has lots of ‘previous’ in the music industry including being signed to the likes of Epic Records, Warner Chappell and MCA Music. Currently one of Sonoton Music’s most prolific producers/composers for TV, Film and Radio, his more recent working life has seen him transform into the business world; building and establishing several successful companies from the ground up, primarily in the marketing and cloud software space.

With a unique blend of music and business backgrounds, Paul’s broad experience includes everything from touring with the likes of Gary Numan to working with household names such as Adidas, Coca Cola, Mott MacDonald, Honda and BMW.

Jennifer Wilson, Director of The Project Factory will be another CO-LAB speaker.  She is a producer of creative multiplatform/transmedia projects across web, mobile, social media, games and virtual worlds and is the author of several books and papers exploring the digital space.

In 2013, Jennifer was awarded ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Digital Industry’ by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association.

Capping off the first round of speakers is CO-LAB speaker Nicole Velik, a creativity and innovation facilitator, trainer and consultant. She is the founder of an innovation company, The Ideas Bodega.

Velik has facilitated and trained organizations across The United States, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Asia. Her clients include The United Nations, Nike, BBDO, TBWA, Coca-Cola, Caltex, Pepsi, JWT, One Green Bean, Edelman PR, eBay, Havas Worldwide, STW Group, Ogilvy PR, Hill + Knowlton, Foxtel, Seven Network, BBC and Google.

Keeping things fresh, the Emergence Creative Conference in 2016 will take place at the stunning Willy Bay Resort, with a host of new festival venues including Xanadu Winery and Clancy’s Fishpub in Dunsborough. An exciting new program of events, CO-LAB sessions and workshops is also lined up for 2016 as part of the festival and will be released very soon.

For more information and Early Bird Ticket Sales, click here.