Zagreb, July 6, 2011 – The fourth edition of the Weekend Media Festival will be held this year from September 22 until September 25 in the traditional venue, the old tobacco factory in Rovinj. This year the three festival halls will host the richest program so far, featuring a number of domestic and foreign lecturers, panel discussions and workshops.

“Last year we had over 3,000 participants and this year the expectations are high. There has already been considerable interest shown in attending the festival that the bar will most certainly be raised again. The reason for this is the fact that Weekend has become not only the central communication industry’s event but also the place  to be for the annual closing of the deals,” festival director Tomo Ricov said.

The practice of bringing some of the world’s biggest experts in communication industry onto the Rovinj stage will continue this year as well. Thus, Croatia will welcome James Whatley, blogger and marketing director at 1000heads, a London-based company specializing in word-of-mouth advertising and use of social networks, and Jay McGill, Senior Vice President of Hearst Magazines International, who has for the past five years been responsible for publishing and digital operations in the EMEA region. Whatley will tell us how fast bad news travel, while McGill will talk about the phenomenon of global media brands such as YouTube and Facebook, as well as ways in which media campaigns are being adapted to accommodate frequent and quick changes in the world of the media.

James Robinson, UK-based journalist, has for the past few years been following the media industry as the editor in the Sunday edition of The Observer and Guardian media correspondent. He has published a series of articles on Wikileaks and the recent phone hacking scandal involving UK's best-selling tabloid News of the World, privacy protection and probably the most influential media person in the world, Rupert Murdoch. His lecture in Rovinj will focus on the ever-interesting relationship between journalists and politicians. The Sarajevo-born American Sasha Savić, COO at the Havas Media North America, boasts considerable experience in the advertising industry and will come to Rovinj to talk about the changes in the way people communicate with each other, make shopping-related decisions or relate to brands.

Furthermore, Rovinj will welcome Simon White, Joint Managing Director at Grey London, Stefan Jenzowsky, Vice President of Siemens Communication, Media & Technology, and Richard Jakab of Red Bull Media House Gmbh, Austria. The turbulent times we live in have always been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the panel discussions at the Festival. This year the panelists will have heated discussions about the fragmentation of the TV market, phenomenon of the central news show Dnevnik, business in sports, charging for online content and mobile payments. The participants from both Croatia and the region will also talk about what the region actually is and how to conduct business in such close yet so different markets. Finally, one year following the last panel discussion on the radio scene in Croatia, we will once again talk about reviving the country’s radio as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the format and the original.

“The program will be expanded with certain new formats that will be introduced this year – the Weekend Ultimate Fight will provide 10 minute-slots for media players to present themselves to the gathered crowd, while Hard Talk is a one-on-one interview, without censure or beating about the bush! To top it off, we should hear from a rather intriguing speaker. We have also come up with the so-called Case Study,  where participants will hear about real-life cases and learn about what works and what doesn’t work in the online and advertising worlds,” festival program director Nikola Vrdoljak announced.

This year again we have some rather interesting and relevant workshops. Thus, for instance, Jasno&Glasno will teach us about the do’s and don’t’s of online appearance, while the artistic and creative collective Galerija 12+ will focus on the interactive art and production of special visual effects such as video mapping, 3-Ds and holograms.

The last bit of innovation at this year’s Weekend is the Weekend Content Market, a spot where for the first time event content manufacturers (production companies, media…) will be able to offer their “products”, that is, a place where everything from apps to soaps will be bought and sold.

PRESS ACCREDITATIONS

The press accreditation process for this year’s edition of the Weekend Media Festival has kicked off. All those media representatives interested in attending the event can send in their requests by September 10, 2011 the latest using the e-form posted on the following link.