Ad Stars reveals complete line-up of speakers; Mr+Positive’s Peter Grasse joins the program

Ad Stars has unveiled its complete three-day program, which runs over three days from 23rd to 25th August in Busan, South Korea.

One of the region’s best-known executive producers, Peter Grasse (left), will present ‘Land of the Rising Craft – A guide to producing award winning content in Japan’. Grasse recently launched Mr+Positive, a production company that delivers world-class content by leveraging the best creative resources to deliver the best production value.

The Ad Stars program is divided into three streams: the Creativity stage will feature some of the world’s most brilliant creative minds; the AD tech stage will feature ground breaking technologists; while the Open Stage is open to the general public to encourage people outside the advertising industry to learn more about the business of creativity.

This year’s newly announced Creativity speakers include:

Keynote Speaker: Brian Suh, Director of YouTube Korea, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and China at Google (Chinese Taipei)

Brian Suh is presenting a session called, ‘Changes in Media’, in which he’ll revisit some of the biggest changes arising from the rise of online video services over the last five years. He will then examine another potential wave of changes on the horizon. After starting the career as a journalist, Brian has been working in the media, content and digital industries for major companies like Samsung SDS, Microsoft and Google. He is currently heading up YouTube partnerships across Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.

Keynote speaker: Jeongkeun Yoo, President and CEO at Cheil Worldwide (Korea)

Jeongkeun Yoo joined Cheil in 1987, and in a session called, ‘Brand Strategy in the Age of ‘Life Share”, he’ll explain why brands can no longer rely on sales or awareness to thrive. They need to create diverse, accessible ‘experiences’. Cheil suggests a new term for this paradigm: “Life Share”, which requires a new approach to brand strategy.

Bolaji Alausa, Executive Creative Director at Noah’s Ark Communications Limited (Nigeria)

Bolaji Alausa will present a talk called ‘Culture, Creativity and the African Continent’. The African continent is seeing a resurgence of work from markets like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, which have all found ways to seamlessly infuse elements of culture into their communications. Bolaji will showcase some of the most culturally relevant and resonant work from Africa, and share his thoughts on how the continent can close the yawning gap between its industry and the West. Noah’s Ark Communications Limited ranked 21st globally and 1st in Nigeria according to the current Lurzer’s Archive Agency Ranking.    

Andrei Ivanoff, Creative VP at MullenLowe (Mexico)

In a session called, ‘Pay Attention. What Do Consumers Really Want?’ Andrei Ivanoff will explain why people aren’t loyal to brands anymore, and don’t have time to waste with distraction. “My session will explore how companies are successfully getting an unfair share of attention by understanding what people really value,” explains Andrei, who has worked for agencies including MullenLowe, VML, La Comunidad/The Community, FCB, Datamidia FCBi, Ayzemberg Group and Siboney USA.

Cinzia Crociani, Senior Vice President Creative Director at EnergyBBDO Chicago (USA)

Cinzia Crociani is renowned for helping to create “Life Saving Dot,” an idea that transformed bindis into life-saving iodine patches for women in rural India. At AD STARS 2018, she’ll shed light on the making of ‘Prescribed to Death’, an incredible campaign for The National Safety Council, created by Energy BBDO and Ketchum. Featuring 22,000 pills carved with images of people who have died from prescription opioid ODs, the memorial was recently hosted by the White House in Washington, D.C. Prescription opioid abuse is an urgent crisis in the U.S., but stigmas about addiction make meaningful progress difficult. Cinzia’s talk is called ‘Can Creative Marketing Help Solve the Opioid Crisis?’

Gabriel Grunewald, Chief Editor of Adnews in Brazil                     

Brazilian advertising expert Gabriel Grunewald is travelling all the way from Brazil to moderate a session with Lenilson Lima (Agência Um) and Andrei Ivanoff (MullenLowe Mexico). They’ll discuss emerging advertising trends in Latin America.

Fumitaka Takano, Creative Director & Communication Architect at ADK (Japan)

Since Fumitaka Takano joined ADK Tokyo, he has been involved in major global campaigns for brands such as Toyota, Visa, Air New Zealand, IKEA, Mondelez, WWF and many others. His session is called, ‘The Power of Questioning’. He’ll reveal why looking for ‘doubts’, rather than answers, can deliver the best results. “When we receive a briefing from a client, we tend to start searching for the “answer” to that task and call that act creative. But we may end up choosing the easiest way,” he explains.

Tahaab Rais, Regional Head of Strategy & Truth Central at FP7/McCann Worldgroup MENA (United Arab Emirates)

Tahaab Rais has won hundreds of regional and global awards, including almost a hundred Effies, making him the most awarded strategist in the MENA region. He’s presenting a session called, ‘What Can Movies and Politics Teach Us about Content Creation and Marketing?’ “Let’s face it. Movie-makers and politics are better at creating as well as marketing and distributing content than advertising agencies are. So, it’s fair to say that there’s a lot that we can learn about effectiveness from movies and politicians when it comes to content marketing,” he explains.

Kash Sree, Executive Creative Director at Gyro, New York and San Francisco (United States)

Kash Sree joined Gyro, a B2B agency, in 2017. At Ad Stars, he’ll explain how joining a B2B agency has affected his approach to creativity, and how the fuel that drives you creatively while younger can be problematic as you move higher up the ranks. “Hopefully people will learn to be open and brutally honest with yourself,” explains Kash, whose career has taken him from England to Singapore, India, Australia and the USA, where he’s been since 1997. Kash has worked at SS+K, Pereira O’Dell, JWT, BBH New York and Wieden and Kennedy, Portland.

Ad Stars takes place from 23rd to 25th August at Bexco (Busan Exhibition and Convention Center) in the beautiful beachside city of Busan.

To purchase tickets, visit adstars.org