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Tag: Amir Kassaei

  • The jury members will meet in Cannes to judge work in the new Product Design, Film, Media and Promo & Activation Lions categories

    Cannes announces jury list for four categories

    By a correspondent

     

    The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the members of a further four juries who will meet in Cannes to judge work in the new Product Design,  Film, Media and Promo & Activation Lions categories.

     

    Commenting on the formidable jury line-up including the new Product Design Lions jury, Terry Savage, Chairman of Lions Festivals, said, “As a global festival celebrating the best creative ideas in brand communications, it is important to embrace all facets of this ever-changing industry, and as such we very much look forward to welcoming the members of the first ever Product Design Lions jury to Cannes Lions along with all our other juries. By judging and awarding only the very best work using integrity, commitment and unbeatable industry knowledge, this esteemed group of industry professionals selected for these juries, will ultimately help drive the industry forward on a global scale.”

     

    As implemented last year, there will be a two-stage judging process for the Media Lions category. A 40-strong jury of media professionals from around the world will be divided into eight sub-groups of five people tasked to cast the first round of votes that will determine the shortlist. Jury president Matt Seiler, Global CEO of IPG Mediabrands, will spend time with each sub-group but will not vote during this first round. At the second voting stage, the shortlist will be judged and the winners selected by the Awarding Jury made up of 13 media industry leaders including the jury president.

     

    The three other juries will be led by Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Worldwide, USA (Film Lions); Susan Credle, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, USA (Promo & Activation Lions) and Donghoon Chang, Executive Vice President, Samsung Electronics, South Korea (Product Design Lions).

     

    Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Worldwide, USA is the Jury President for the Film category while Matt Seiler, Global Chief Executive Officer, IPG Mediabrands, is the Global - Jury President + Awarding Jury for the Media category.

     

    Susan Credle, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, USA is the Jury President for Promo & Activation while Donghoon Chang, Executive Vice President, Samsung Electronics, South Korea is the Jury President for Product Design category.

     

  • He also hinted at boycotting Cannes next year if a proper investigation was not undertaken by the organizers of Cannes for this year's jury decisions

    I’m not sure if DDB will participate in Cannes next year: Amir Kassaei

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Amir Kassaei has indicted some Cannes Lions 2012 jurors of bias. Mr Kassaei alleged that judges of certain global holdings had been ordered to vote for work from their respective groups. In a video interview to Campaign Brief, Mr Kassaei said that the integrity of Cannes was at stake and the authority as well as the value of the festival was being undermined. In the same interview, he also hinted at boycotting Cannes next year if a proper investigation was not undertaken by the organizers of Cannes for this year’s jury decisions.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t27gPMSJND0[/youtube]

    Mr Kassaei said: “We (DDB) as the most awarded network in the history of Cannes will go into a very tough discussion about next year because we cannot accept that the people are willingly voting against the best work in the jury.”

     

    Mr Kassaei’s accusations follow claims by WPP’s Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell that Cannes judges could have been pressured into block voting, which has damaged his agencies chances of winning. Sir Martin Sorrell was quoted in The Guardian saying he had heard rumours of certain jury members being pressured into voting for selected entries and dismissing quality pieces of work from the judging process without due cause.

     

    The jury in question was chaired by Mainardo de Nardis, the Chief Executive of OMD Worldwide and Manning Gottleib OMD, Omnicom-owned media buying agency won the Grand Prix award for a Google Campaign.

     

    Reacting to Sir Martin Sorrell’s allegations that Omnicom somehow rigged the Media Lions award in favour of Manning Gottlieb OMD’s work for Google, Mr Kassaei said that WPP executives were ordered to discriminate against Omnicom agencies’ work in the jury voting: “I have since been notified by no fewer than 12 jury members that people from other holding companies this week are being briefed to kill Omnicom, especially BBDO, DDB and TBWA, this is a fact.”

     

    He added, “What differentiates Omnicom from WPP is the creativity and innovation. I would respect them if they did the better work. Just look at the objective facts, in the media category, WPP is doing better than Omnicom, so accusing us that we’re playing silly games is not right.”

     

    Furthermore, Mr Kassaei said: “The problem we have at the moment is that Cannes used to be the World Cup of advertising because of the qualification and the result of the juries, and at the moment I don’t have a feeling we are at the World Cup of advertising because a lot of people are playing politics instead of judging the best work of all.”

     

    In an interview to Afaqs on the judging of Media Lions, Dominic Proctor, President, WPP’s media holding company, Group M, said: “I’ve heard a lot of whisperings in bars and restaurants that there did seem to be some kind of strange voting…I heard rumours that certain blocs of votes were being encouraged. If that’s the case then it would be a worry because if Cannes wants to be taken seriously as a media and a creative platform, then we need to make sure that the process is not in any sense corrupted.”

     

  • The Goafest Committee has announced the names of three renowned speakers for Goafest 2012 Knowledge Seminars. Amir Kassaei, Rishad Tobaccowala and Prof John Philip Jones will impart their knowledge and expertise at the Goafest 2012 Knowledge Seminars on April 20 & 21.

    Amir Kassaei, Prof John Philip Jones & Rishad Tobaccowala to speak @ Goafest

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Goafest Committee has announced the names of three renowned speakers for Goafest 2012 Knowledge Seminars. Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Worldwide, Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, VivaKi and Prof John Philip Jones, Emeritus Professor at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, New York will impart their knowledge and expertise at the Goafest 2012 Knowledge Seminars to be held on April 20 and 21.

     

    Commenting on the exciting lineup of speakers for Goafest 2012 Knowledge Seminars, MG. Parameswaran, Member of GoaFest Committee said, “We have lined up a galaxy of globally renowned speakers with an interesting mix of creative, branding, digital and media experts for the Knowledge Seminar this year. We conducted a survey last year and realized that the young delegates wanted Goafest 2012 to cover all aspects of communication at our seminars. Hence we left no stone unturned to get the best speakers to enrich and enlighten young minds this year.”

     

    “To reiterate our promise of having a bigger and better Goafest 2012, we have brought the best minds from across the globe to be a part of the fest and engage in conversation through their thought provoking ideas and discussions. I am certain that these speakers will add immense value to our event,” added Arvind Sharma, Chairman, Goafest Organizing Committee.

     

    Amir Kassaei is the Chief Creative Officer DDB Worldwide and one of the most lauded creatives in the world. Born in Iran, raised in Austria, and educated in France, Amir settled in Germany in 1997, gaining experience early in his career in a variety of roles ranging from Account Manager to Strategic Planner to Art Director and Designer at agencies such as TBWA, Barci & Partner and Springer & Jacoby. At Springer & Jacoby, Amir advanced from Copywriter to Creative Director and finally to Executive Creative Director on the global Mercedes-Benz and smart accounts. In 2003, Amir joined DDB as Chief Creative Officer and Associate Partner of DDB Germany, where he quickly helped reshape the agency. After joining the agency as the youngest DDB Chief Creative Officer in Europe, he quickly transformed it into one of the most creative and successful agencies in Germany. Under Amir’s leadership, DDB Germany has also been ranked the most awarded German agency in the Gunn Report. During his tenure at DDB Germany, Amir founded and established Tribal DDB Germany as a modern and multichannel agency. Amir and his teams are the recipients of more than 2,000 national and international awards, including 40 Cannes Lions in the past five years.  He was named TheBig Won Report’s Top Chief Creative Officer” in 2009, and has been one of TheBig Won’sTop 3 Chief Creative Officers for each of the last three years.

     

    Rishad Tobaccowala helps guide strategy and serves as a catalyst to innovation efforts across Vivaki – a Publicis Groupe entity that combines the collective scale, clout and talent sitting inside of Denuo, Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) and ZenithOptimedia. Working closely with brand CEOs and VivaKi Country Chairs, he helps VivaKi’s companies show clients the way forward in an exciting and changing time for marketing.

     

    Prof. John Philip Jones was born and educated in Britain and graduated with the Economics Tripos from Cambridge University (BA with Honors and MA). He spent twenty-seven years working in the advertising agency business, mainly in branches of the J. Walter Thompson Company in Europe and as a market researcher and manager of the advertising for major international clients. For eight years he was international account director on Unilever’s Lux Toilet Soap, the largest-selling bar soap in the world. He has also published sixteen books and 100 articles in professional and academic publications: all on branding, marketing and advertising.

     

    Goafest 2012 is being organized by AAAI and Ad Club Bombay in partnership for the 5th year. Over the years, specialist areas like Out of Home & Ambient, Design, Digital & Mobile Advertising, Direct, and Integrated Advertising have been growing in importance. In recognition of this phenomenon, in 2012, Abbies at Goafest will have provision for Grand Prix in all the nine verticals- the Grand Prix is being introduced in the media awards as well.

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