With the theme ‘Empowering Creativity through a Multi-connected World’, the seventh edition of Communication Summit, Presented by Meghna Group of Industries held on 19th August, Saturday at Le Meridien Dhaka. The daylong summit was attended by around 350 professionals from business organizations, marketing and creative agencies. An initiative of Bangladesh Brand Forum, Communication Summit 2017 is Supported by RANGS Toshiba, Powered by The Daily Star, organized in Association with Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Communication Summit is the leading platform in Bangladesh, which brings experts and specialists in the field of creative communication, both local and global, under one roof. Commenced in 2009, the summit has been playing a vital role in Bangladeshi creative communication and advertising industry. This year, the summit comprised of 3 keynote sessions, 2 panel discussions, 2 workshops, and 2 agencies’ case studies presentations. Exclusive Cannes Lions showcasing was also there at the summit premises, for the attendees.
The distinguished speakers for this year’s summit were K V Shridhar, Founder & Chief Creative Officer, HyperCollective; Prof. Dr. Jonathan A. J. Wilson, Professor & Consultant expert in ABCDs of Business & Culture, Halal, Muslim & Ethnic Markets, GSM London; and Vikas Mehta, Ex-CEO, Lowe, Dubai.
Two intensive panel discussions took place having multiple local and global industry experts in the panel. Members for the first panel discussion were Tanzeen Ferdous Alam, Head – Home Care, Foods & Refreshment, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.; Taufique Mahmud, Consulting Executive Creative Director, Mediacom Ltd.; Shakib Chowdhury, Executive Creative Director, Bitopi Advertising Ltd.; Mohammad Nurur Rahman, Senior Creative Director, Grey Advertising Bangladesh ltd. The discussion was moderated by Shariful Islam, Managing Director, Bangladesh Brand Forum.
The second panel discussion had Asif Iqbal, Executive Director, Marketing, Meghna Group of Industries ; Neville Ferdous Hasan, Managing Director, Asiatic 3Sixty Ltd.; Gousul Alam Shaon, CEO & Managing Partner, GREY Advertising Bangladesh Ltd.; and Vikas Mehta. This discussion was moderated by Ashraf Bin Taz, President, Marketing Society of Bangladesh.
Two local advertising agencies presented separate case studies, focusing on their individual campaign stories, problems and ways of solving them. The agencies were – Grey Advertising Bangladesh Ltd. and Bitopi Advertising Ltd.
Alongside the sessions, two workshops were arranged at the summit. One workshop was specifically for the startup founders/co-founders, conducted by Prof. Jonathan A. J. Wilson. The other one was a walk-in workshop conducted by prominent and prolific Visual Artist Nazia Andaleeb Preema, Director, Bangladesh Brand Forum. The artist engaged her audience with several interactive activities and shared her thoughts on the importance of creativity.
An exclusive 64th Cannes Showcasing was also organized at the venue. Over 40 of the award winning advertising and PR campaigns were showcased with still images and campaign stories with the aim to educate local agencies on how to develop award winning ideas.
The summit was followed by Commward, Excellence in Creative Communication – an initiative of Bangladesh Brand Forum to inspire creativity in marketing communication and honor the best ad campaigns of the country which were launched and run during the previous year.
This year, Communication Summit is Presented by Meghna Group of Industries, Supported by RANGS Toshiba, Powered by The Daily Star and organized in Association With Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The events are also supported by Event Partner Le Méridien Dhaka, Strategic Partner Roaring Lions, Knowledge Partner Marketing Society of Bangladesh, Airlines Partner Eithad Airways, Life Style Partner Advanced Development Technologies, IT Partner AAMRA, PR Partner Masthead PR, TV Partner Ekattor TV, Radio Partner Radio Today, Social Media Partner Webable, Audio Visual Partner Aatosh, Digital Content Partner Fireflame Media, and Visual Content Partner Torun.
