Event: Some of the thinkers and practitioners who are shaping the future of the advertising and branding industry will gather at the conference “And the Brands Played On,” produced by the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at The University of Texas at Austin.
Presenters include: Gay Gaddis, president and CEO of T3 (The Think Tank); Bob Garfield, author of the “Ad Review” TV-commercial criticism feature in Advertising Age and co-host of NPR’s “On the Media”; Keith Reinhard, chairman of DDB Worldwide; Roy Sekoff, founding editor of The Huffington Post; Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo, a futures “think-do” company; and Carsten Wierwille, general manager for Frog Design’s New York office.
Registration information is available online.
When: April 12, 7:45 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Where: ATandT Executive Education and Conference Center on The University of Texas at Austin campus.
Background: Keith Reinhard, chairman of DDB Worldwide, one of the largest advertising agency networks in the world, says “Can we stop focusing on technology already? And focus once more on ideas? There are new media, old media, new ways to use old media and old ways to use new media. What’s important is the creative idea that brings brands and consumers together.”
Neal Burns, director of the conference, says, “There is an obsession across the globe. It’s about digital technology, metrics, geography, software and tablets-important stuff. But what about the idea-the driving force at the crux of the communication business. ‘And the Brands Played On‘ is about the idea, which is the reason for advertising’s existence.”
