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Alessandro Panella
Managing Director and Head of Planning at Grey Worldwide Düsseldorf – Germany

Alessandro Panella has held this position since November 2007 after being a marketing manager at Vodafone in 2005, a project manager at Roland Berger Strategy in 2000 and an account director at Grey on several P&G brands in 1995. His areas of expertise include FMCG, Pharma, Retail, Food & Beverage and Telecoms.

Alessandro's interests are in behavioural science, fly fishing, cooking and badminton. He has two children and holds both Swiss and Italian citizenships.

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Aline Bardisbanian 
Business Unit Director at Bold Ogilvy - Greece

Aline Bardisbanian has been working in advertising since 1991. She started as an account executive at TBWA/Producta and 4 years later moved to McCann Erickson as an account supervisor. She then moved to Adel Saatchi & Saatchi. During those years, Aline has been part of teams that have handled brands of companies such as: BDF, Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Telestet Mobile Telephony, Unilever, Ideal Standard.

She started working at Bold Ogilvy in 2000 as an account director and in 2004 she had the unique experience of handling the account of ATHENS 2004 and working for the international image campaign of the Olympic Games in Athens. In 2005, Aline was promoted to business unit director, and since then has been responsible for handling important accounts such as: WIND(Telco), BP Hellas Fuels, FAGE (leading Greek yogurt brands), Food Plus (Pizza Hut and KFC) and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation S.A.

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Antonio Colaci
Business Developer at Now Available – Italy

Antonio Colaci started his career in communications consultancy at Grey Global Group as account manager in Milan and Rome. Having worked as a communications manager in a luxury goods firm, he entered into Now Available from the day it was founded, as an account director. Today, Now Available is one of Italy's leading independent agencies.

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Carolyn Dateo
Global Strategic Planning Director at Saatchi & Saatchi – Switzerland

It should come as no surprise that Carolyn Dateo switched to communication strategy after an early career in photography. It is part of her can-do style and willingness to make things happen. For the past 16 years her responsibilities have grown to encompass international and multi-national blue-chip brands such as Iams pet foods, Pampers, Kodak, Voltaren, Otrivin, Lamisil, Cheerios, and Fiber 1 cereal.

Carolyn has a strong commitment to real-people insights and inspiration and enjoys collaborating with creative and client leadership. She has been part of a winning team, driving strategies and tactics that have led to successful business growth and development in well-established markets around the world, as well as emerging market launches in China, India and Brazil.

A small-town girl from Massachusetts, Carolyn lived in NYC for 11 years and has been enjoying life in Switzerland since 2006.

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Dr. Cary Steinmann
Professor for Marketing, Consumer Behaviour and Brand Management at ZHAW School of Management and Law Zentrum für Marketing Management – Switzerland

Cary started his career in account planning at Lintas in 1987 and later became executive planning director at Aebi/BBDO Zürich managing accounts with clients such as Volvo, Mitsubishi Motors, UBS, Unilever, Elvia and Vitra. In 1992, he continued his career as an executive planning director at Scholz & Friends, Hamburg with key accounts such as BMW, Reemtsma, Compaq Europe, Tchibo, Müller Dairy, Deutsche Bank, Masterfoods, Stern etc. In 2000, Cary took over the role of Executive Planning Director at Wirz Werbung/BBDO Zürich and three years later became the chief strategic officer at TBWA\ Switzerland.

Between 2000 and 2003, Cary was a board member of the Swiss Advertising Association and also organised and lectured at the Intensive-Strategy-Seminar of BSW/APGS. In 2003, he became the president of the Account Planning Group of Switzerland for the next three years.

In 2006, Cary became a Professor in Marketing Communication, Brand Management and Consumer Behaviour at ZHAW School of Management and Law in Winterthur/Zurich/Switzerland. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Art Directors Club Switzerland. He was also a jury member of the Swiss Effie in 2008 and the Euro Effies in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

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Daniel Mikkelsen
Strategic Planner at Berlingske – Denmark

Daniel has worked as a strategic planner at Grey Copenhagen and as an account director at the Danish agency Co+Hogh. He worked with brands such as Coca Cola zero, Coca Cola light, Toms confectionery, Harboe brewery, Rynkeby juices, Cocio, Ferrero and Royal Brewery.

Today, he is a strategic planner at Berlingske Media working closely with media brands such as Urban, Berlingske, BT as well as a long range of e-commerce brands.

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Dušan Viszt
Marketing & Communication Director at Prima banka – Slovakia

Dušan Viszt has been working in the advertising and marketing industry for more than 15 years. He began his career in different advertising agencies such as Lowe/GGK, BBDO and McCann, working in the strategy and client service departments. In 1998, for one year, he was part of Leo Burnett and FCB Arellano in Mexico in the client service department responsible for P&G and SC Johnson health and home care products. In 2001, he was the marketing director of a local radio station – radio Twist – where he was responsible for the repositioning of the station. Between the years 2004 and 2005, Dušan was working as a Strategy Freelancer for Orange in Slovakia and in 2006, he joined Heineken, as a board member responsible for marketing and PR. He worked with brands such as Heineken, Zlaty Bazant, Corgon, Kelt, Krusovice. Four years later, he entered the financial sector as Director for marketing, research and quality management at Slovenska sporitelna, a.s. (a member of Erste Bank Group). Currently, he works for Prima banka (former Dexia banka), responsible for marketing, research and communication. In 2010, Dušan was Chairman of the Effie jury in Slovakia.

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Florentine Baron
Business Director at DDB Paris - France

Florentine Baron has been working in DDB Paris since 2002 and has worked on various accounts such as Bouygues Telecom (mobile phone and Internet provider), Maille (mustard), Unilever, France Galop (horse races), Président (cheese and butter market leader in France), Lactalis group, Loto-Française des Jeux, Le Petit Marseillais (shower gel and shampoos), Moulinex (small kitchen appliances), Seb Group, Epson (printers), Columbia Tristar (films) and Care (humatarian organization).

Currently, she is in charge of the following accounts: B&You by Bouygues Telecom (mobile phone provider), Meetic (online dating services) and Hasbro (toys and games).

Florentine holds a master in marketing from Paris IX Dauphine University.

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Greta Koleva-Hikova
Head of Communication Consultancy Department at Graffiti BBDO Sofia – Bulgaria

Starting her career in mass communication at Graffiti BBDO Sofia back in 1995, Greta Koleva-Hikova has gained an undisputed level of knowledge and expertise through working on agency's major accounts. She has occupied various positions within the agency, such as group account director () and client service director (). In March 2008, she became the Head of communication consultancy department at Graffiti BBDO Sofia.

Greta has more than 17 years of experience in marketing and corporate communications, acquired through the development of communication strategies and campaigns for some of the leading brands and companies in the Bulgarian market in areas such as Finance, Retail and FMCG.

She has previously been a member of the jury for Effie Bulgaria in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

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Ivo Altanov
Managing Director at Noble Graphics – Bulgaria

Ivo Altanov joined the team of Noble Graphics in 2003 and has been playing a major role in the company's overall positioning ever since. His direction of the client service and the new business planning processes helped Noble Graphics gain rapid recognition as one of the premier creative advertising agencies in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe.

Starting his career at S Team Bates, Saatchi & Saatchi and then moving to New Moment New Ideas Company, Ivo has over 12 years of experience in marketing, account handling and strategic planning. He has also taken part in the creative process and has led numerous campaigns for both local and international accounts such as CocaCola, Carlsberg, Audi, Johnson & Johnson, DSK Bank, Sony and many more.

He became Managing Director of Noble Graphics in 2006, since when the company has continued its outstanding performance and has become the most awarded ad agency in Bulgaria for 2011, winning an EPICA, 2 Effies and the Agency of the Year award.

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Karin Lehmann
Strategic Brand Consultant & Lecturer on Brand Management at Vienna University of Applied Sciences – Austria

After a career in big advertising agencies, she finally became CEO at McCann-Erickson and Austria3/TBWA, handling clients such as L'Oréal, BDF/Nivea as well as several Henkel and Nestlé brands. Karin is one of the representatives in the Advertising Division of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce where she focuses on education programmes offered to their members.

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Katrin Hermann
Head of Planning at BrawandRieken Werbeagentur GmbH – Germany

For five years, Katrin was head of planning at Economia Gesellschaft für Marketing und Werbung mbH (BBDO). Prior to that, she was managing director at &Equity, Germany's first planning agency, for four years. She also did a 10 year stint at Lintas: 2 years as a researcher, 1 year as an international communications coordinator, 2 years as an account director and 5 years as an international planning director. Additionally, she served as a trained mediator in economic affairs.

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Kristján Schram
Head of Strategic Planning & Partner at Íslenska - Iceland

With nearly 20 years of building a career in the advertising industry, Kristján Schram´s strategic thinking and recognized managing talents span over 2 continents for a broad range of clients. Kristján began his career in the USA with the creative agency of Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis. 7 years into cultivating a client list of Volvo Trucks, S.C. Johnson, The Minnesota Office of Tourism, Samuel Adams Beer Co. and Harley Davidsson, he moved eastward to DDB in Chicago.

While a senior strategic planner for US West (known as Qwest today) – a regional Telco – Kristjan's North American chapter soon came to an end. His knowledge and experience were requested elsewhere and he journeyed to Europe, to his hometown, Reykjavik, to successfully partake in a start-up Telco as the CMO, which grew to be the second largest provider in Iceland today. In 2003, Kristjan returned to advertising as head of strategic planning and currently a partner at Íslenska, The Icelandic Advertising Agency. Award-winning international accounts of Icelandair Airline and ´Promote Iceland` campaign, Inspired by Iceland, a 2011 Euro Effie Grand Prix, IPA and APG UK winner, are just a few of the many clients that make up the roaster at Iceland´s most notable and largest agency.

Kristján lives in Reykjavik, married to his college sweetheart and has 3 bi-cultural children.

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Mafalda Henriques
Strategic Planning Director at GCI – Portugal

Mafalda Henriques began her career at GCI in 1995, as account executive, responsible for PR and media relations projects for clients such as Habitat, Boehringer Ingelheim and United Distillers. She then moved to Digital Branding in 1999, for 1 year, where she defined PR strategies for Metro Lisboa and Unicer.

Having moved back to GCI, she has led CSR and Innovation consultancy projects such as Delta – Tempo Para Dar and BES Seguros | GAV - Good Purpose Branding. She is also responsible for communication activities for campaigns such as Dove-Campaign for Real Beauty and the Sovena Nutritional Communication Program.

Mafalda is a Communication Sciences graduate of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and is a post-graduate in Reputation Management of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Universidade Complutense de Madrid.

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Mario Fraculj
Marketing Director at Kraš Food Industry – Croatia

As marketing director at the leading manufacturer of confectionery products in South East Europe, Mario Fraculj is responsible for market research, brand management, advertising and promotion. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science degree in strategic management from the University of Zagreb.

Having 10 years of experience in marketing, R&D and advertising, Mario took an active part in establishing the Effies in Croatia and acted as both jury president and moderator in the first year of the competition.

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Marius Petrukaitis
Brand Planner at MILK – Lithuania

13 years ago, Marius Petrukaitis started out at Leo Burnett as account executive and, like all executives, got to do the most menial jobs including brewing coffee for the account director! Back then, and in many Lithuanian agencies, there were no strategic planners in the agency.

2 years later, and after reading John Steel's famous 'Sex, Lies and Advertising', Marius thought that planning might just be for him and eventually became the first planner in the agency. 

After some time, he moved to a top management position, which in a small agency meant being responsible for strategy, new business and other strategic matters. The client-planner-creative director triangle is his personal Bermuda which he was part of for a long time.

After almost 10 years at Leo Burnett, he quit the agency and opened MILK with his partners in 2007. Milk quickly acquired a strong reputation and is arguably one of the most respected Lithuanian agencies, dominating the local advertising scene - winning Agency of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2011 at the Lithuanian national advertising festival ADrenalinas, as well as Most Efficient Agency in Lithuania in 2011.

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Mikko Hovi
Strategy Director & Deputy MD at Bob Helsinki – Finland

Mikko formerly worked as strategy director and was head of new business at TBWA\HELSINKI. Prior to that, he was marketing director for DNA (ranked number three mobile operator in Finland) for 5 years. Additionally, he was product group manager for Panasonic for 5 years.

He has done client work for B to B and B to C clients, services as well as products.

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Mitja Tuškej
Marketing Strategist at Formitas BBDO, agencija za marketing d.o.o. Ljubljana – Slovenia

Mitja Tuškej started his professional career in 1984 in a large Slovenian trade company where he was a trainee. Once he completed his traineeship he took over the management of the Planning and Analysis Division.

In 1987, he was in charge of restructuring the production department where he first entered the field of marketing. When he first got in touch with Formitas BBDO, he was responsible for the launch of his first brand. After a successful launch of the brand, he switched to the agency side in order to work at Formitas BBDO.

He soon became a partner and stayed ever since; he has been a part of the agency for 20 years now. With his significant contribution to the growth of Formitas BBDO, the agency has developed from a team of 5 people into today's full-service agency of 40 experts. He specialises in analysis and strategic planning. In recent years, he has also become a lecturer at different marketing schools.

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Monica Miliori
Account Director at Fortune Advertising S.A – Greece

For the last 10 years, Monica Miliori has pursued her passion for creative yet effective communication at Fortune Advertising S.A. in the position of account director. Under the company's motto "Creativity that Sells", she works on offline and online advertising strategies for many of their key clients such as GOODY'S S.A. (Flocafé Coffee & Food chains) and Giochi Preziosi Hellas (Toys & Infant products).

Most of all, she believes in strong and flexible brand-building in the New Media era. Fascinated by advertising and marketing, she began her career in 1999 as an account supervisor at McCann Erickson Athens. Part of a talented team, she planned and implemented challenging campaigns for key accounts such as NESTLÉ (Coffee, Dairy & Infant Nutrition products), Cereal Partners Worldwide (Nesquik, Cheerios etc.), Johnson & Johnson Health Care and many more.

In 2000, she was introduced to the Effies world of effectiveness as a member of the communication committee of the 1st Effie Hellas Awards. And today she is a member of the Euro Effies 2012 jury.

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Peter Schaefer
Planning Director & Member of the Executive Board at Euro RSCG – Switzerland

Since 2006, Peter Schaefer has been planning director and member of the executive board at EURO RSCG in Zurich and Geneva. He is also a lecturer at the London School of Marketing at the Universities of St. Gallen, Zurich and Lucerne. Peter is president of the Account Planning Group Switzerland (APGS). He is responsible for marketing, branding and communication strategies for diverse clients in all industry sectors in Switzerland and within the worldwide Euro RSCG network, including Credit Suisse, Swiss Post International and the Swiss Federal Institute for Health

Between 2002 and 2005, Peter was strategic consultant and member of the executive board at Leo Burnett in Zurich and prior to that, he held the same positions in Young & Rubicam, Switzerland. He has also worked as a strategic planner at FCB Worldwide, New York, London and Johannesburg.

Peter holds an M.A. in Communication Sciences from the University of Johannesburg and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Raquel Gonçalves
Strategic Planning Director at Wunderman – Portugal

After obtaining a degree in business management and a post-graduate diploma in finance marketing from the Investigation Centre of Finance Markets and Assets (ISCTE), Raquel got her first job in the bond department at BNP Paribas. In 2000, she joined Proximity Portugal as an account executive. In January 2004, she became strategic planner for all the agency's accounts and in 2005, she was promoted to strategic planning director. She moved to Wunderman Portugal in 2006 where she holds the same position.

During the 11 years that Raquel Gonçalves has been working in communication, she has won several awards in relationship marketing at national and international festivals such as the Echo Awards, Caples, Cannes Lions Direct (the first and one of the only 3 awards for Direct marketing that Portugal has won up to date), the Prisma Awards, the Creative Club Awards and the CTT- Best in Relationship Marketing. Also, she developed and implemented CRM, promotional and digital projects for local brands and global brands such as Procter&Gamble, Masterfoods, Barclaycard, Citibank, Microsoft, Ford, Danone, Nestlé, Cofidis, Unilever, Bacardi-Martini, Yellow Pages and Beiersdorf.

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Renato Lopes
Executive Creative Director at Publicis - Portugal

Renato Lopes has been the Executive Chief Director at Publicis Lisbon for the past 12 months, developing work for Renault, L'Oreal, Sanofi, Nestlé and all of the agency’s clients. Before joining Publicis, he was Creative Director in Leo Burnett Lisbon for 3 years, leading work for brands such as Fiat, Diageo, Kelloggs, Red Cross and MTV, for whom he won 8 lions at the Cannes Lions. Prior to that, he worked in Brazil for 13 years as an art director for Giovanni/FCB, Africa and LewLara\TBWA. He worked on campaigns for brands such as Nivea, Kraft, Bristol-Meyers, ABN AMRO Bank, Nokia and Pedigree, among others. Renato has won awards in several advertising competitions, including Cannes, Eurobest, El Ojo Latinamerica, CCP, CCSP, ANDY and El Sol.

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Stuart Harrison
Strategist at M & C Saatchi - United Kingdom

After graduating from Pembroke College Oxford, Stuart Harrison joined M&C Saatchi’s Central Strategy Unit in London as a Strategist. He now plans across all key agency disciplines: advertising, digital, direct & PR. Stuart has worked on strategic and creative award winning campaigns for clients from a wide range of sectors, including public (Change4Life), financial (iShares) and FMCG (HP Sauce).

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Szilard Toth
Managing Partner of Mindshare – Hungary

Szilard Toth started his career at Leo Burnett Budapest in the media planning department in 1994. In 2000, he joined Mindshare Budapest as client service director and in 2007, he became managing partner of Mindshare Budapest.

He has 15 years professional experience in international media agencies in the field of advertising, media and strategic business planning. Szilard leads a team of 30+ media professionals and is in charge of the development of communication/media strategies for the agency's clients as well as portfolio management, segmentation studies and media consumption analysis.

He holds a MBA degree from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University (UK) and is fluent in Hungarian, English and German.

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Tamina Plum
Business Director at ZenithOptimedia Worldwide – United Kingdom

With a client set that has included Oracle, BlackBerry (RIM), Emirates Airlines, Sun Microsystems and Morgan Stanley, Tamina Plum has spent much of her media planning and activation career with a focus on digital technology and high net-worth individuals.

Originally from Chicago, Tamina relocated to London 5 years ago to gain global and regional account experience across the Publicis Groupe network. She currently runs the Oracle and Lexus accounts across the region at ZenithOptimedia and is responsible for talent development/training for ZO Worldwide.

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Tina Tomažic
Head of Marketing and Development at Fructal d.d. – Slovenia

Holding a BA degree in communication studies, Tina has been head of Marketing and Development at Fructal d.d. since 2007. She has 13 years' experience in trademark management, integrated marketing communication, project management, strategic planning and market research. She is also used to co-operating with advertising agencies and media buying agencies and she is familiar with PR and internal communications.

In 1998, she began her career as a project manager in the marketing department of the Slovenian mobile phone operator Si.Mobil. In 2005, she joined Petrol, the leading Slovenian energy company, where within the department of marketing research, communications and development, she was responsible for managing marketing and sales activities in Slovenia and in foreign markets.

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Tom Theys
Head of Strategy and Managing Partner at Publicis – Belgium

After winning a copywriting contest against all odds, Tom Theys started his career in advertising in 2003 as an account planner at a local Belgian hotshop, Duval Guillaume. In 2005 he was promoted to planning director, working on key accounts in telecom and fmcg.

In 2009, Tom joined Publicis Brussels which was awarded as the Belgian Merit Agency of the Year 2011.

Tom has 20 years' experience in marketing, R&D and advertising and he was behind 7 award-winning Effie cases in Belgium.

Tom lives in Mechelen and is engaged with 2 children

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Tomi Hakanpää
Strategic Director at DDB - Finland

Tomi has 16 years' experience in marketing including 8 years in the FMCG industry at Fazer Confectionery and 8 years in advertising at DDB. Throughout his career, he has been working on several multi-market campaigns.

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Veronique Rheims
Strategic Planning Director at McCann Erickson Paris – France

In 2005, Veronique Rheims joined McCann Paris as senior strategic planner. Since then, she has been in charge of brand communication strategies for Mastercard Europe, Nespresso, Unilever ice creams, L'Oreal, Waterman Parker, Bacardi Martini and Boots Healthcare. Between 2001 and 2005, she was deputy general manager at Futurebrand, a brand & design consultancy agency, more specifically in charge of brand consulting. Previously, she worked for 13 years at BETC EuroRSCG where she gained extensive experience in FMCG marketing and communications. <+

Véronique is a graduate of ESCP Europe.

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Vincent Garel
Strategic Director at TBWA\Paris – France

After graduating from the Paris Graduate School of Management, Vincent Garel started his career at Lintas Paris in 1990, as an account manager. In 1993, he specialized in strategic planning and handled strategic responsibilities for both pan-European clients as well as large French brands. In 1996, he moved to New York where he became Partner in charge of Strategic Planning at Ammirati Puris Lintas. Vincent returned to Paris in 1998, to head the Strategic Planning department at Lowe Lintas. He joined BBDO Paris at the end of 2001, as Managing Director with a special focus on international clients. Since 2003, he has been strategic director at TBWA\Paris.

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Vladimír Lefik
Strategy Director at Wiktor Leo Burnett – Slovakia

Vladimír Lefik is responsible for developing brand and communication strategies for clients.

He has been working on several internationally and locally awarded campaigns including campaigns awarded with a Golden Effie.

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Wiebke Dreyer
Head of Planning at VCCP Berlin – Germany

Wiebke Dreyer graduated from the University of Arts with a Master of Arts in Communication Science. She has more than 10 years' experience in strategic planning. She spent 7 years at DDB Berlin developing brand and communication strategies for clients such as Volkswagen, Vattenfall, DB and Ikea Austria. She always had a strong focus on customer insight – what makes them tick and how to get them involved with a brand. Prior to VCCP, she spent 2 years with TBWA leading several NIVEA accounts strategically on a global level, which included several international insight studies on women and femininity around the world as well as product concept development. Wiebke joined VCCP in March 2009 and is responsible for all strategic issues within the German market.

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Wilbert Kragten
Managing Director of BSUR - Netherlands

Wilbert Kragten is an international marketeer who has built 15+ years of expertise in the international marketing and advertising field. He has a strong personal drive to deliver, a proven track record of commercial success and has worked in cross-functional and cross-cultural environments.

Wilbert has a cum laude marketing Bachelor from the Netherlands, two internal management MBA trainings and has fulfilled senior marketing management roles at major international FMCG companies.

He has lived in 3 continents, travelled to 5 and has visited well over 70 countries in the world. He is married to his wife Annette, plays water polo, runs triathlons & marathons, plays golf and has a strong interest in travelling, cultures, reading about modern art and Chinese history, movies and music.

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Willem-Albert Bol
Manager Media and Marcom Planning at Vodafone – Netherlands

Willem-Albert Bol is a true marketing and communications guy. He started in 1998 in the media industry working at the publishing house VNU/ Sanoma where he held multiple positions and later was appointed advertising marketing manager. Later he switched to the agency side, to work for TBWA where he was a connections director. Since 2008, he is working on the advertiser's side where he is the manager media & marcom planning at Vodafone in the Netherlands.

Next to his work, he is active as a board member for different organisations such as GVR and MWG. He is also a jury member at the Dutch Effies and the AMMA (Dutch media awards).

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Yonca Aslanbay
Head of Advertising Department & Coordinator of the Communication PhD program at Istanbul Bilgi University – Turkey

Yonca Aslanbay is a Professor in marketing. She received her PhD degree in 1992 and has been lecturing in different universities since then. The extent of her printed academic research studies and teaching expertise lies in marketing, consumer behavior and research methodology. Her recent research focuses on the new types of collectivities building through networking in the cyberspace. 

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Arvid Boström
Managing Partner at MEC – Germany

Arvid's motivation in working with clients and their brands has always been the curiosity for consumers and why they are actually – most of the time unconsciously – acting like they are. His specialization in this field started during his university studies, where he wrote his master's thesis on the intensely discussed topic: Neuromarketing. Ever since, he continuously extended his holistic understanding of consumer behavior and - more precisely - how we can effectively influence behavior with the most efficient brand communication.

He is a fan of Sergio Zyman and loves his realistic view on advertising.

After studying international business administration in Cologne, Cape Town and Munich, he started out his 'life in media' at MediaCom - Germany's biggest media agency - in 2006. 

While his first major focus was the consulting of strong national and international FMCG brands he quickly widened his field of activity to retail and finance during very dynamic years at MediaCom.

In 2009 he moved within the strong GroupM family and became part of the progressive and very vibrant media agency MEC. There, he was first part of the integrated team at Arthur Schlovsky, which offered a true full service product in between the walls of content and context. After MEC won over the world's most famous car manufacturer in 2010, he repositioned himself exclusively on the legendary brand, which he continues to work for until now.

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Ben Lukawski
Group Planning Director at ZenithOptimedia – United Kingdom

Ben Lukawski started his career at Motive, the media agency for BBH which later merged to become Starcom. For 10 years at Starcom Motive, Ben worked on numerous brands both in the UK and International including Honda, Levis, Nintendo and the beer brands Stella Artois, Becks & Brahma, rising up to lead all the agency's youth business. He moved to Mindshare in 2006 to run Diesel, PlayStation, Heineken and Kraft Foods. Ben left Mindshare in 2011 to become the group planning director at ZenithOptimedia International working on Toyota and planning across the agency's other clients. He has won numerous awards including Media week, M&M and a Cannes Lion for Nintendo in 2003.

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Brigitte Cerfontaine
Director Brand Building Integrated Communications at Procter & Gamble - Belgium

Brigitte is a Director in Brand Building Integrated Communications for Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest advertiser. Brigitte is based in the Brussels Innovation Center and has consulting responsibility for Global Laundry in developed markets. This includes partnering with Marketing teams and Communication agencies to guide brand equity decisions and to help create breakthrough communication ideas integrated across all touch-points including TV, Print, Digital, and In-Store.

She spent the first years of her career at P&G in Marketing, leading key brands like Pampers, Dash, Dreft, and Mr Proper. As Marketing Director, she helped expand P&G’s Health & Beauty Care portfolios by launching Pantene, Vidal Sassoon Styling, Head & Shoulders, and the Olay and Vicks ranges. Her passion for people and ideas led her to join the global team of internal consultants on equity and communications, assisting P&G decision makers and agency partners build billion dollar brands. She served on several billion dollars brands, including Ariel, Dish, Pringles, Oral-B, and Gillette for the EMEA and international markets and is most proud of the role she played in shaping the strategic positioning of Swiffer and Febreze in their first years of launch.

Born in Brussels - Belgium in a European family, Brigitte graduated as Business and Management Engineer from the Louvain School of Management (LSM) at the Universite Catholique of Louvain (UCL) with a major in Marketing and New Technologies. In 1995, she was inducted as one of the first Fellows of LSM for a track record of business success and for her continuous curiosity for what the academic world has brought, can and will bring to the marketing field. Her willingness to help create new capabilities and to transmit knowledge leads her to regularly share her experience at business schools like LSM, Insead, Ephec and Ichecs and to contribute to publications such as European Business Forum magazine and Professor Jean-Jacques Lambin’s book “Changing Market Relationships in the Internet Age”.

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David Patton
CEO & President of Grey Group EMEA – United Kingdom

David Patton took up the position of Group President of Grey Europe, Middle East and Africa in January 2010 and prior to that he was CEO of Grey London. After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Business Management, David started his career at Nintendo in 1991 as UK Product Manager.

During his career on the client side, David oversaw the production of over 100 TV commercials – most notably 'PlayStation Double Life' which won the Grand Prix at the British Television Advertising Awards in 1999, 'PlayStation Mountain' which won the Cannes Grand Prix in 2004, 'Bravia Balls' and 'Bravia Paint' which was a Grand Prix winner of the British Television Advertising Awards 2007. His brief is to drive growth and creativity across the region, develop key client strategies and ensure that the rich array of Grey resource is offered to clients across all communication disciplines.

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Elyse Kopecky
International Digital Product Manager at Electronic Arts – Switzerland

Elyse Kopecky started off her brand communications career 7 years ago with Nike as an associate digital producer and continued climbing the ladder within Nike until 2010. She moved up to digital manager for Nike EMEA where she managed digital communications for basketball, running and football campaigns and launched nikebasketball.com in Europe.

In 2009, she became global digital producer where she managed interactive, social and mobile programs for nikerunning.com and nikewomen.com, created inspirational athlete and product films for advertising, ecommerce, retail and PR and helped develop Nike’s global social strategy & principles.

In 2010, Elyse decided to try her luck with entrepreneurship and she succeed by founding Brandvine, specializing in social media marketing strategy and communications and managing the social and content strategy for Nike Running across 50+ global social networks.

Recently, Elyse has joined Electronic Arts where she manages EA Sports FIFA Ultimate Team marketing for Europe, oversees the digital landscape in key territories and seeks out innovative digital marketing opportunities.

Elyse is a marketing and communications graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School. In her spare time she enjoys blogging at freshabits.com.

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Erwin Jansen
Co-Chairman & CEO of Y&R Group Benelux – Belgium

Erwin Jansen is a regular contributor to the trade press and is also a speaker/presenter at various national and international conferences. He also teaches at various business schools.

Currently, he co-chairs Y&R Group Benelux that encompasses the advertising agency Y&R, the digital agency 'These Days' and the direct agency Wunderman in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In 2005, he was voted 'Young Entrepreneur of the Year' by JCI and in 2008, he won the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at Mixx (IAB). He is also the author of the booklet "Return of Marketing Investments" (2010).

He holds a Masters in New Media & Information Technology and a post-graduate degree in corporate communication.

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Gilles Masson
CEO of M&C SAATCHI.GAD – France

Gilles Masson is CEO of M&C SAATCHI.GAD, a global communications group he created in 2005 with two creative directors: Antoine Barthuel and Daniel Fohr. With more than 90 people and 7 experts, the group is servicing leading brands such as Yves Rocher, La Banque Postale, Havana Club International, Pernod Ricard, Nespresso, Suez Environnement and Lyonnaise des Eaux.

Gilles began his career in 1986 at Havas and was later appointed research and development director at TBWA\ Paris in 1992. He co-founded BETC Euro RSCG in 1995 and then joined EURO RSCG C&O as vice-president. In 2002, Gilles was appointed vice-president of Publicis in France and then president of Leo Burnett.

Gilles has over 20 years of experience in brand strategy, R&D, communication and in managing leading communications firms.

Gilles graduated with an MBA from HEC and Sciences Po Paris. He also holds a Masters in economic sciences and a BA in philosophy. He lives in Paris, is married and has three children. 

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Gordon Nemitz
Chief Strategic Officer of Wirz Werbung/ BBDO – Switzerland

Gordon Nemitz started his career in advertising at Scholz & Friends Hamburg as a junior account manager in 1999. In 2001, he switched into strategic planning and over the years worked his way down south from Equity and Jung von Matt in Hamburg via TBWA\ Düsseldorf to his final destination Zurich. Since 2008, he has been with Wirz Werbung where he started as a Planning Director and was appointed Chief Strategic Officer in July 2011.

Since he really liked it in Switzerland, he also got married to his Swiss wife and is father of a baby girl.

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Gurdeep Puri
Founding Partner of The Effectiveness Partnership – United Kingdom

Before starting up The Effectiveness Partnership, Gurdeep Puri and his co-founder Janey Bullivant both worked at Leo Burnett, where Janey was a planning director and Gurdeep was head of effectiveness. One of his primary responsibilities was to help embed Effectiveness into the culture of the agency. He has worked across Leo Burnett's businesses including Kellogg's, Procter & Gamble, McDonald's, Fiat, Heinz, Morgan Stanley, John West, Holiday Inn, Nintendo, Barclays and the COI.

He has personally won 5 IPA Effectiveness Awards (including double Gold in 2006), and 11 European Effectiveness Awards, including 3 Golds. The Effectiveness Partnership has helped its clients win over 25 Effectiveness awards globally. He has worked with industry pioneers such as the late Dr. Simon Broadbent, and is a former member of the IPA Value of Advertising Group and IPA ROMI committee. He also runs workshops at the IPA, APG and the EACA on Effectiveness Strategy and Econometrics. He was part of the pioneering IPA Data Bank analytics group and was also involved in leading the IPA VAG Industry Effectiveness research project. Gurdeep is an international speaker on the topics of Communications Effectiveness and has represented the UK and European industry at conferences globally and with its dialog with the financial markets.

Gurdeep is a qualified econometrician and previous to his career in marketing he worked in research and the financial markets.

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Jane Reeve
Chair & CEO at JWT – Italy

Jane Reeve has been working as a communications expert in the Italian market for more than 20 years.

Following a degree in English Language and Literature at Oxford University, she started her career in retailing with Marks & Spencer.

In 1983, she joined Marketing Solutions, an independent marketing consultancy (subsequently acquired by Omnicom) providing strategic consultancy and implementation for communication plans including advertising, direct marketing, promotions and events.

In 1987, Jane moved to Milan, Italy as Managing Director for the Italian office of the newly launched AMC Group (TBWA’s marketing and promotional agency group).

In 1990, Jane’s career continues as General Manager of Wunderman in Milan until she is enticed into the branding consultancy world of Interbrand in 1994, where as General Manager she was responsible for reorganising and expanding branding services (corporate identity, brand valuation, naming, packaging) in the Italian market.

Jane joined RMG Connect (JWT Group) in 2003, where she turned the office into one of the key players in the Italian relationship marketing arena.

Jane has been Chairman and CEO of JWT Italia since 2010.

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Jere Teutari
Managing Director of Family Inc. – Finland

Jere Teutari is an experienced marketing professional with a background in advertising, media and mobile gaming. Prior to his tenure at Family, he was part of the TBWA\ Helsinki management team as well as the European brand team.

Jere is an active member of the Finnish marketing society and he is Chairman of the Board of the local trade association MTL.

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Jon Chase
CEO of Velvet Rock Communications - United Kingdom

Jon has been passionately involved in the communications industry for more than 20 years. For most of that time he has worked in a variety of senior management and client leadership roles within some of the biggest and best global communications agencies such as Publicis/ZenithOptimedia, Aegis/Carat and IPG/Universal Mccann. In turn, he became a trusted partner with many of the largest marketing and media owner brands in the world such as Toyota, BA, Disney, Philips, Puma, HTC, Google and Microsoft.

Prior to working within the communications world, he also undertook higher education studies at Liverpool University & Business School - gaining a bachelor degree in Management & Business Economics and a Masters in Marketing Management.

More recently, Jon decided to apply his experience and expertise to the growing number of entrepreneurial opportunities within the communications industry. In 2011, he set up Velvet Rock Communications – an advisory business – that focuses primarily on driving growth and profitability for a variety of independently-owned businesses (particularly within - mobile, social, online video, experiential, websites, digital technology and data). Jon is also involved in developing 2 e-commerce businesses planned to launch later in 2012.

Alongside the above, Jon stays well connected within the wider communications industry via his role as Chairman of the European Media Agencies (members of the EACA organisation).

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Judd Labarthe
Executive Planning Director at G2 Germany GmbH - Germany

Judd Labarthe first got involved with the Effie Awards when he was a planner at DDB's Chicago office in the mid-1990s. He helped that office win a record number of Effies across 4 years, for clients ranging from the big and rich (Budweiser, McDonald's) to the small and pro-bono (Library of Congress.)

Judd's passion for Effie has survived and moved to Europe and Asia and back to Europe, and his Effie haul has grown accordingly. With multiple wins in Singapore and heavy involvement in his agencies' efforts in other Asian and European Effie countries, Judd has now had a hand in over 40 winners across 3 continents.

He has been a featured speaker at Effie conferences in Europe and Asia; a judge and moderator of the Global, Euro and Singapore Effies; has been an advisor to Effie organizing committees in Sri Lanka and Malaysia as well as to the Effie Worldwide Board; and, as chairman of the Asia-Pacific Effies, was instrumental in the creation and successful launch of this important new regional program.

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Luc Wise
Founder and Managing Director of Herezie – France

After studying Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University (BA, MA) and at Sorbonne in Paris, Luc Wise worked as a strategic planner for agencies such as Optimus, TBWA and Publicis.

During his time at Publicis, he worked on the strategy of many international accounts including Renault, SFR-Vodafone, Thomson Multimedia/RCA and Coca-Cola.

Between 2003 and 2010, Luc was a shareholder in V agency (DDB group) heading their strategic planning department. During his 7 years at V, he instigated many widely acclaimed and highly effective campaigns for Volkswagen, LG, 118 218, Skoda, Neuf Telecom, Banque Populaire, Occitane or Auchan.

In 2010, Luc founded Herezie along with Andrea Stillacci and Pierre Callegari.

In Herezie's first 18 months of existence, the agency has successfully pitched for 16 clients, including Samsung, Nespresso, Essilor, Chevrolet, Cofidis, Harmonie Mutuelles or Unilever.

In 2011, Herezie was voted « Young Agency of the Year » in France and its multidisciplinary team continues to grow.

Luc has won many advertising awards including 7 Effies in 7 successive years (the most recent in 2010 for Herezie's first Isla Delice "Halal"campaign). He has also had the honour of winning the French Effie Grand Prix twice, rewarding the most effective campaign in French advertising (once for Volkswagen and once for 118 218). He also represented France at the first ever World Effie Festival in Singapore in 2008.

Finally, Luc has dual Franco-British nationality, allowing him to speak « franglais » from time to time!

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Marcel Rijkenberg
Partner at ONLY – Netherlands

Marcel Rijkenberg has been a partner at ONLY since 2001 where he is responsible for several clients and strategy. Prior to that, he held the position of Joint managing director at Benjamens Van Doorn Euro RSCG where he worked with several international and local clients. In 1982, he joined Sara Lee | Douwe Egberts and 3 out of the 10 years, he was responsible for the total brand portfolio which consisted of brands such as Douwe Egberts, Pickwick, Van Nelle, Kanis & Gunnink and Moccona.

Marcel is a winner of 6 Silver Effies and 1 Bronze Effie and he has also been a member of the Dutch Effie jury since 2008.

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Milin Djalaliev
Managing Director of Saatchi & Saatchi – Bulgaria

Milin Djalaliev's experience within media & public relations, development of advertising materials, account planning and agency business development brought him to Saatchi & Saatchi in 2008 where he was appointed managing director. He has worked in a range of different positions and levels from sales representative to client service director to business development manager which has enriched him with valuable skills and knowledge within communications. Milin holds a Master's degree in Business Administration and is married.

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Mireille Spapens
Director Communications at Deloitte - Netherlands

Mireille Spapens began her career at the CZ Group health insurance company as a PR Officer.

From , she worked as an independent marketing strategy & communications consultant.

She has been working for Deloitte for over 15 years within the marketing, strategy amd communications sectors in The Netherlands, EMEA and Global. Currently, she is Director Communications and responsible for advertising, sponsoring, and internal & corporate communications. The team has won several prizes for their campaigns, including an Effie for their innovative approach to online and social media platforms.

Mireille is a jury member of the Dutch Effies as well as board member of the Dutch Advertisers Agency (BVA).

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Nathalie Cogis
President of Draftfcb Paris – France

Nathalie Cogis has been president at Draftfcb since 2011 after beginning her career with Young & Rubicam in 1983. In 1996, she joined Jean & Montmarin as an associate where she worked with clients like Nestlé, Teisseire, Yoplait and many more. Six years later, she was appointed vice-president of Draftfcb working with international brands such as Nivea. In 2009, she founded her own agency By Art, an agency that creates effective communication for brands by collaborating with contemporary artists. She created a limited series for Ballantine's together with the digital artist François Brument.

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Paul Duncanson
Managing Director of Creativebrief – United Kingdom

Paul Duncanson joined Creativebrief at its launch in 2003, bringing with him over 20 years of experience in marketing and general management. This experience has been acquired whilst working with major consumer companies and brands worldwide - from consumer goods (including Coca-Cola, Beecham, Andrex and William Grants /Glenfiddich) to telecoms and entertainment software (including Sony and Carlton), the latter two companies where he held marketing directorships.

At Creativebrief, with his wealth of client experience, Paul ensures that the external marketing supplier requirements of brands are understood and the most appropriate solutions are provided.

Paul is an accomplished senior executive with a strong blue chip grounding in marketing and general management and team leadership skills and looks forward to helping the Euro Effies in a judging capacity in 2012.

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Paulius Senuta
Founder and Partner of Not Perfect | Y&R – Lithuania

Paulius Senuta is founder and partner of Not Perfect | Y&R, one of the most influential agencies in the Baltics. Not Perfect | Y&R currently operates two offices: one in Vilnius and one in Riga.

He is chairman / strategic planner & new business director at Not Perfect | Y&R Vilnius and chairman / CEO at Not Perfect | Y&R Riga. A planner by trade, he has worked with 100+ brands in every imaginable sector. He has led the group of experts that created Lithuania's image development concept in the world.

Before starting his agency career, he has worked on the client side as marketing director and has been involved in various entrepreneurial activities from show business to computer trade.

Paulius holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration from SSE Riga and has attended various Arts studies. He is a constant writer to the business press and speaker at conferences on the subject of marketing and branding.

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Peter Brawand
CEO of BrawandRieken Werbeagentur GmbH – Germany

Following his MBA graduation at the University of Hamburg, Peter Brawand started his career in advertising at Lintas in 1983, back then Germany's largest and most renowned agency. 

Peter has worked for global key clients such as Procter & Gamble and Philips for a total of 9 years. In Hamburg in 1999, Peter established the JWT Centre-of-Excellence EMEA for their pan-regional key clients Kraft Foods, Unilever and Schick. In 2005, he also assumed responsibility as managing director of JWT Hamburg. 

At the end of 2007, Peter moved to Economia/BBDO as managing director where he and his creative partner Torsten Rieken accomplished a significant turn-around and impressive series of new business wins in just 2 years. 

Based on those achievements, Peter and Torsten founded their own agency BrawandRieken, opening up January 2010 with 22 employees and 7 starting clients. 2 years later, BrawandRieken staff adds up to 34, servicing in total 15 clients.

Peter, 55, is married, has a 22-year-old daughter, loves to play golf, tennis and guitar in a band, and much enjoys watching Hamburg Football teams HSV and St. Pauli win - and Bayern Munich loose.

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Pia Grahn
Chief Growth Officer of McCann Nordic & Benelux - Sweden

Pia Grahn is the Chief Growth Officer of McCann Nordic & Benelux in Stockholm, one of the leading agencies in Sweden with a number of Swedish and Nordic clients. Before joining McCann, Pia used to run the Advertising Association of Sweden and prior to that she was a trade journalist for Dagens Industri covering the advertising and marketing industry for the leading business daily. 

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Szymon Gutkowski
Partner & Managing Director of DDB Warsaw – Poland

Although he is a manager, Szymon Gutkowski continues to keep his role as an active consultant and helps to create, successfully launch and build many brands. He has worked and continues to work with, among others, McDonalds, IKEA, Levis, Knorr, Lipton, Algida, Nissan, SAB Miller, Societe General, Allianz, Lays, and many local brands. His experience has been acquired on several Eastern European markets. Szymon has also been responsible, as DDB team leader, for promoting several governmental reforms (Pension Fund Reform, National Privatisation Program) and social campaigns (EU accession referendum, election pro-turnout campaigns). Additionally, Szymon has worked on political campaigns and since June 2011, he has been nominated as a voluntary advisor to the President of Republic of Poland.

Szymon was one of the very first planners in the Polish market and under his strategic leadership, DDB Warsaw has become the Polish Effie Agency of the Decade winning most awards in the first 10 years of the local Effie. He has been an Effie juror in 11 out of 12 competitions held in Poland and has been an Effie Jury vice-president twice, making him the most experienced Effie juror in Poland. During his career with DDB Warsaw, the agency has won a great number of awards both local and international. In 2011, DDB won Gold and Silver in Portoroz and in 2009 and 2010 it received the Polish Agency of the Year Impactor Award.

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Toygun Yilmazer
Head of Planning & Vice-President of TBWA\ ISTANBUL - Turkey

In the course of 11 years at TBWA, he played a vital role in carrying TBWA\ ISTANBUL to the top spot and to become the biggest and the most awarded agency in Turkey.

Toygun Yilmazer started his career at IXIR, the disruptive ISP company and at the end of 2000, he joined TBWA\ ISTANBUL as an account planner. He gained experience in TBWA\'s London & Hamburg offices. He worked with international accounts such as Nivea, Henkel, Adidas, Absolut, Nissan and with local accounts such as Beko, Avea, TTNET, Turk Telekom. He has also been organising and moderating Disruption workshops for clients.

Besides advertising, Toygun is passionate about film and music. He has an MA in Film & Television and he is following new artists in mainstream and avant-garde music.

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Ulbe Jelluma
Marketing Manager at Print Power Europe – Belgium

Ulbe Jelluma is a seasoned marketing and advertising professional. He is the Marketing Manager of Print Power, the pan-European, industry-wide initiative to promote print media among marketing, media and advertising professionals. Prior to moving to the advertiser’s side of the table, Ulbe held various positions in The Netherlands and Belgium at Ogilvy, TBWA, Future Brand and BBDO, where he was the Managing Director of BBDO/BC in Brussels. He worked for several international projects including InBev, Unilever, Canon, Philips, Sappi, HP, Infonet/BT and American Express.

He was a winner of an Effie Award and a Board member of the Belgian Marketing Foundation. He was also a member of the organisation committee of the Belgian Effie Award and was involved in the organisation of the Euro Effies. Ulbe holds a Master in Political and Communication Sciences and Business Administration of Leuven University. He is married and has two children.

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Vasso Vassiliou
Managing Director of Leo Burnett/ Starcom – Cyprus

Vasso Vassiliou is the Managing Director of Leo Burnett/ Starcom Cyprus which is among the top advertising agencies in Cyprus with international accounts such as P&G, Chevrolet, Opel, Citroen, Emirates and M&S as well as several local key accounts mainly in FMCG and finance.

Vasso holds a BA in Psychology and Communications from Boston College, USA. In 1996, she started her career in marketing, joining the Market Research firm Synovate (now part of IPSOS). There she held the position of Research Manager being responsible for numerous multi-country projects across the CEEME (Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East) region and beyond. Her involvement was mostly in FMCG, tobacco, electrical appliances and automotive. 

In 2003, she was promoted to the 'Champion' of Synovates' brand & advertising tracking model for the CEEME region, called BrandVision, handling among others Coca Cola, Unilever, General Motors , Samsung and BMW.

In 2006, she turns to the advertising industry, becoming Managing Director of Leo Burnett/ Starcom Cyprus.

Vasso is Vice-President of the Cyprus Advertising Agencies Organisation. She is also in the Board of Directors of the Cyprus SRO. 

Vasso lives in Nicosia and has 3 children.