Naisbitt, Cunningham lead Ad Congress speakers

Two heavyweights in the realm of marketing and branding will be sharing their perspectives to the advertising industry during the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress in Subic.

John Naisbitt and BJ Cunningham are the plenary speakers for the forthcoming AdCon.

Naisbitt will talk about the Philippines in the context of the main developments of the first half of the 21st century. His session will include brand new insights about China, its transformation and influence on global markets and politics.

Naisbitt, author of the bestseller Megatrends, will give attendees plenty to think about and consider during his talk. As the world’s leading futurist, Naisbitt’s prognosis of the future post-global meltdown should be among the most relevant highlights of the Congress.

He is one of only 14 nonfiction authors who has had more than one title on the NY Times Bestseller List. He served as an Assistant Secretary of Education under President Kennedy, worked as Special Assistant to President Johnson, and delivered speeches to virtually every major corporation. John is indeed one of the most prominent speakers to grace the AdCongress.

Meanwhile branding and brand marketing expert BJ Cunningham is bound to become a favorite in this year’s AdCongress.

Cunningham is popular for establishing Death Cigarettes as the “honest smoke.” He used this to illustrate the power of provocation and how to flip a conservative market.

Main point being, authentic and powerful branding demands the truth; the future is about market depth and involvement, and not just awareness.

His reputation to challenge the norms led him to set up an integrated brand marketing agency, winning clients such as Volkswagen and Nokia to mention a few.

In what is to become the most fully loaded Ad Congress yet, the lineup of speakers reads like a Who’s Who of innovators and trailblazers in the advertising industry.

They are: Vishnu Mohan, CEO of Havas Digital Asia Pacific; Claudio Pinkus, Executive Chairman of Multiply; Ian Stewart, Head of Friendster Asia; Emmanuel Allix, Managing Director of Pudding Media; Mark Cripps, Asia Pacific Head of MRM; Kentaro Kimura, Co-CEO, Creative Director and Account Planner of Hakuhodo; Dirk Eschenbacher, Executive Creative Director of Tribal DDB Asia Pacific; James Jean, International Author, award-winning artist and illustrator; Pete Heskett, Head of Planning, JWT; Bernhard Glock, President of WFA; Jeremy Carr, VP of Turner Entertainment Networks; Andrew Kingham, Managing Director of The Marketing Store; Linda Kovarick, regional creative director of Coca Cola; Mike Schalit, chief creative officer of Network BBDO South Africa.