DK2026
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WFA, IAB and global experts at DK2026: What awaits the communications industry
Final lineup announced: the last speakers revealed, including the head of the WFA, the chief economist of IAB Europe, and experts in attention and shopping as an experience.
DK Festival will take place from May 7 to 10 at Hotel Lone in Rovinj, featuring nearly 100 program segments and activities, 200 speakers and several thousand participants, where the communications industry gathers once a year – advertisers, agencies, media, platforms and others. Behind such a gathering stands a clear program ambition: not only to bring the industry together, but to open questions that directly affect how communication functions today and how it will function in the future. It is in this context that the main hall lineup is being finalized, bringing together speakers whose work goes beneath the surface of visible results into the realm of actual user behavior, measurable effectiveness and the relationships that shape the market.
THE HEAD OF THE WORLD FEDERATION OF ADVERTISERS AT THE FESTIVAL
A strategic perspective of global advertisers at DK Festival will be brought by Stephan Loerke, executive producer of the World Federation of Advertisers, who will, in talk Inside the Minds of Global Advertisers, offer insight into the industry from the position of advertisers who define expectations, budgets and standards. As the head of an organization that brings together more than 150 of the world’s largest brands and over 60 national advertiser associations, Loerke provides an overview of the changes already taking place in relationships between clients and agencies. A special focus will be on new global guidelines for agency selection and the conduct of pitches developed by WFA and VoxComm, recently published in Croatian by HURA’s Intelligence Hub, with answers and working standards that are shaping the future of industry partnerships.
IAB EUROPE’S LEAD ECONOMIST PRESENTS INDUSTRY FORECASTS
A broader picture of the market and the forces behind industry shifts and volatility will be presented by Daniel Knapp, IAB Europe’s lead economist, in his lecture Tomorrow’s Advertising Market, Today. Knapp focuses on analysing the European and global advertising market, drawing on data on investment, media trends, platform development and regulatory frameworks. His approach is aimed at distinguishing short-term trends from long term shifts, with a focus on where budgets are truly being reallocated, which market segments are accelerating growth, and the direction of change that will serve as a basis for decision makers and senior leaders at the festival following the presentation.
PIONEER OF THE ATTENTION ECONOMY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTENTION AND MEMORY
The question of the real effectiveness of communication is further explored by Mike Follett, a pioneer of the attention economy and co-founder of Lumen Research, who will appear in Rovinj with his talk The Long and the Short of Attention and Memory. Drawing on one of the largest global studies of the relationship between attention and memory (dentsu Brand Reset), Follett analyses how much attention is needed for communication to leave a lasting impression, how short term and long term advertising effects differ, and why most campaigns fail to cross the line between “seen” and “remembered”. His work, based on extensive eye-tracking data, directly challenges established metrics and introduces attention as a key indicator of the true value of communication.
CONNECTED COMMERCE IN PRACTICE
Daan Klaver, co-founder and creative director of the Build in Amsterdam studio, will appear at the festival in his conversation Commerce, Designed to Connect, opening the question of brand consistency in a time when the user experience is no longer linear nor tied to a single channel. Through his work with global brands such as Adidas, Polaroid and Akris, Klaver has developed an approach in which the brand is built as a connected system rather than a series of separate touchpoints. His conversation will focus on how to design an experience that remains consistent regardless of platform, why most organizations are still structured around internal processes rather than actual user behavior, and what connected commerce truly means in practice.
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.
Together, these speakers shape the main hall program, which will not offer simple conclusions, but rather a deeper understanding of the relationship between communication, users and the market, with an emphasis on what remains after a campaign ends.
The festival begins next week, and time to register is running out – all those who want to be part of this year’s edition can find more information on the official festival website.
Photo: Borna Jakšić / PIXSELL
ABOUT DAYS OF COMMUNICATIONS:
Days of Communications has been recognized as one of the best events in the world by the Association Excellence Awards for its out-of-the-box approach, unique festival offering, and high-quality production and organization. The twelfth edition of the festival—known for bringing together key representatives of advertisers, agencies, public relations experts, media representatives, and other professionals from the communications industry who are essential in creating and driving change—will once again welcome all those who both love and hate the communications industry next spring at the Lone Hotel in Rovinj. Thanks to this festival, which wholeheartedly gathers the communications community, no one can remain indifferent to it. More information is available on the official festival website: www.danikomunikacija.com
ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS:
The Croatian Association of Communications Agencies (HURA) is the leading professional association in the market communications sector in Croatia. Its members include some of the best and most awarded local agencies. HURA organizes the national market communications festival Days of Communications, along with its associated competitions Effie, IdejaX, MIXX, and Young Lions; the HOWtoWOW marketing academy; the regional advertising agency showcase BalCannes; regular educational programs; and many other projects. It actively works to improve market conditions and advance the entire industry, including lobbying activities, negotiations with legislators, promotion of the profession, numerous industry research and statistics, consulting, and more. Internationally, it operates within the global agency association VoxComm, the European Association of Communications Agencies, and serves as the exclusive representative in Croatia for Cannes Lions and Effie Worldwide. Through the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Croatia, it is also part of the IAB Global Network.
Follow us on our official Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and learn more about HURA at www.hura.hr.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Croatia is the collective representative and ambassador of the interactive marketing industry and the global IAB network in Croatia. Operating within the Croatian Association of Communications Agencies (HURA), it connects key stakeholders involved in the growth of interactive marketing and advocates for the highest standards. Through this initiative, the Croatian market has gained access to a wide range of materials, specialized education, awards, research, analyses, and a network that will be exclusively available through IAB Croatia.
More information is available at www.iab-croatia.com, as well as on Facebook and LinkedIn.
