The main stage lineup is now complete, bringing together a group of speakers whose work goes beyond visible campaign results and into the mechanics that actually shape communication — user behavior, market dynamics and the shifting relationships between brands, platforms and agencies.
From 7 to 10 May in Rovinj, the festival will once again gather several thousand participants across nearly 100 sessions and 200 speakers, but the ambition remains consistent: not to gather the industry, but to open the questions that define how it currently operates and where it is heading. This year’s main hall reflects that approach, focusing less on surface-level trends and more on the forces underneath them.
THE ADVERTISER PERSPECTIVE, FROM THE INSIDE
A global view of how expectations are set — and how they are changing — comes from Stephan Loerke, head of the World Federation of Advertisers, who represents more than 150 of the world’s largest brands and over 60 national advertiser associations.
In his talk Inside the Minds of Global Advertisers, Loerke focuses on the evolving relationship between clients and agencies, with particular attention on new global guidelines for agency selection and pitch processes developed by WFA and VoxComm. Recently adapted for the local market through HURA’s Intelligence Hub, these frameworks reflect a broader shift toward more structured and transparent partnerships.
READING THE MARKET BEYOND THE NOISE
A different kind of clarity comes from Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist at IAB Europe, whose work centers on understanding how the advertising market actually moves — not just how it is discussed. In Tomorrow’s Advertising Market, Today, Knapp uses data on investment flows, media development and regulatory frameworks to distinguish short-term fluctuations from long-term change. The focus is on where budgets are truly being reallocated, which segments are driving growth and how those shifts translate into decisions at a strategic level.
WHAT ATTENTION REALLY MEANS
The question of effectiveness is further examined by Mike Follett, co-founder of Lumen Research and one of the key figures behind the concept of the attention economy. In The Long and the Short of Attention and Memory, Follett draws on extensive eye-tracking research to explore how attention translates into memory, how short-term and long-term effects differ and why a large number of campaigns fail to move beyond visibility into lasting impact. His work challenges traditional metrics and positions attention as a more reliable indicator of communication value.
DESIGNING FOR CONNECTION, NOT CHANNELS
At a time when user journeys no longer follow a single path, Daan Klaver, co-founder and creative director of Build in Amsterdam, approaches brand-building as a connected system rather than a sequence of isolated touchpoints. In Commerce, Designed to Connect, Klaver looks at how consistency can be maintained across platforms, why organizational structures often fail to reflect actual user behavior and what it takes to design experiences that hold together regardless of channel.
A BROADER CONTEXT FOR THE MAIN STAGE
The program also features a range of speakers whose work is shaping the direction of the industry, including Jürgen Schmidhuber, the unconventional father of modern artificial intelligence, Julie Supan, an elite brand strategist who laid the foundations for YouTube, Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit and Discord, Mark Pollard, one of the most influential strategists in the world today, Chris Do, a renowned designer and creative mentor known for redefining how creatives position and price their work, Steve Keller, an expert in sonic branding, Dora Pekeč, one of the key communications experts behind Zoran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign, Alex Cattoni, founder of The Copy Posse platform, which brings together a community of more than half a million marketing professionals, Neil Patel, a global expert in digital marketing and growth behind billions, and Jule Kim, an expert from Amazon and Microsoft in leadership, communication under pressure and decision making in complex situations.
Taken together, the main stage does not aim to offer simplified conclusions, but rather a more grounded understanding of how communication functions once campaigns are no longer just ideas, but part of a wider system shaped by users, platforms and market forces.
With the festival starting next week, registrations are still open for those looking to be part of this year’s edition, with more information available here.
