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"It´s ok to go to a place you don´t know"," said Gideon Amichay (right) in Prague at the PIAF festival a year ago.

Recent partner and creative director of Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R and one of the most respected creatives of world advertising likes to try things no one else has. This is why he liked last year's PIAF with its innovative competitions and also why he won the Grand Prix for the work of his agency. Gideon will preside over the international jury alongside with 13 creative professionals and marketers from all over the world. We proudly announce the first Jury members:

• (left) Adam Kakembo, VP of Marketing and Products of the Wrangler brand for EMEA
  

• (middle) Luiz Sanches, of AlmapBBDO Brazil, last year's star on the global list of creative directors PIAFYS

This year’s creative partner is VCCP Prague.  The slogan „Out of the box thinkers welcome“ in addition to the campaign’s visuals confirm the fact that PIAF is different than those other advertising festivals. The creative director of VCCP Praha is Dejan Štajnberger.  Nydrle is in charge of PIAF digital work.

Key dates

The first running results of the worldwide creatives ranking in 2011/12 indicate a dramatic change in the top ten.  The results of the following festivals (taking place after PIAF 2011) were reflected in the ranking: Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, Loerie, D&AD, ADC Europe, Red Apple, Kiev International Advertising Festival, Golden Hammer, and Golden Drum.

First place is currently held by Mark Fitzloff and Susan Hoffman (Wieden & Kennedy Portland). Click here for additional results.

Next year's PIAF, Prague International Advertising Festival, will be held a little earlier than before – on April 25 and 26, 2012. The international jury will vote a day earlier. Once again, the two-day conference will welcome mostly foreign experts in the field of marketing and communication from all over the world.

The PIAF festival has already started working on its third year. The innovative competition categories, introduced in May of this year, have proven to be useful, and thus will continue to be the pillar of the festival. The festival organizers are striving to make an agreement with the National Gallery so that the festival can again be held at the Veletržní Palace.

The most comprehensive world rating of creative professionals in the area of advertising, PIAFindYourSelf, has ended its assessment of the period between PIAF 2010 (May) and PIAF 2011 (May). The title of Creative Professional of the Year went to Luiz Sanches, Creative Director of the Brazilian agency AlmapBBDO. Look for your name in the complete chart here.

You can also check the new PIAFYS 2011/12 ranking, which currently includes the following festivals:

ADC Europe, Cannes Lions, D&AD,  Golden Hammer and Kiev International Advertising Festival.

The PIAF conference on May 11 and 12th will host more than 30 top experts with international experiences from advertising and marketing. The program consists of workshops, presentations, panel discussions and screenings. How can brands involve more human senses? To what extend can creative advertising be effective? How to sell creativity in a company? How to cross the borders? On PIAF conference, agencies and their clients can see the direction where advertising is going.

„We have never had so many international marketing or communication directors presenting in any Czech conference so far. Through giving examples mainly from abroad we want to inspire the local marketing professionals to develop new solutions - brave and working at the same time," said Marek Hlavica, managing director PIAF. "Facebook, Wikipedia, Google, these are mere Beta versions of something, which is still ahead of us. Understanding that a brand will always be in its Beta version, is the key to success in the new world," claims one of the key note speakers Gideon Amichay.

From Tueday March 1st, the system for entering works to the Prague International Advertising Festival (PIAF) contest is open. PIAF will accept entries in its new categories till March 25th.

For more info about submitting entries please see www.piaf.cz/competition.

After its debut in 2010, the second year of PIAF is marked by major changes. We have innovated almost everything: a new venue for the festival to take place, the most prestigious jury with clients and creative professionals from 15 countries, and last but not least, a completely new system of categories never seen in any festival so far.

“Our Jury will judge creativity from the birth of a brand to creative forms of distribution and sales. At the same time, we are not looking for the best possible television ad or print ad. We want to honour creativity in delivering key brand messages to the target group using principles such as abbreviation, storytelling or inviting consumers to a playful interaction, for example,” comments managing director of PIAF, Marek Hlavica. 

This year, PIAF offers a unique chance for agencies and clients to participate to a contest, which is changing the way we think about advertising. The Call for Entries opens in one week precisely, on March 1st. Our twelve basic categories reflect crucial aspects of communication that brands should master today, such as creative sales support, creative use of technologies or audience engagement, to name just a few. In addition, we have two categories you won’t see in any other ad festival: "Best Beer Ad" and "State as an Advertiser". Find out more here.

Today, we present the rest of our Jury members. In festivals, everything is about people – and celebrities, of course. In May, 19 top professionals including Susan Credle (Loe Burnett USA), Guido Heffels (Heimat), Pete Favat (Arnold Worldwide) and Ian Armstrong (Honda Europe) will join the PIAF jury.

But in PIAF everything turns around BRANDS. The Festival brings a key new element to the competition. Categories are not formed according to traditional media use, from film to outdoor or digital, but they all follow the process of brand building. Respected personalities in the PIAF jury will search for creativity in the whole marketing process, from positioning, product launch to creative means of sales promotion. You can follow the showcase of their work and more information on Facebook and www.piaf.cz. PIAF will announce the categories and call for entries till the end of February and will accept entries till the end of March. Discover the profiles of all Jury members here.

The international PIAF jury faces some difficult work ahead – shortlisting and then choosing the best entries in the festival's brand new categories. The Jury, headed by Michael Conrad, will assess the ability to shape or change the position of a brand and communicate it to the target groups. This time, the competition will also cover creative forms of sales and sales support.

The jury will not rest solely on the experience of its president and other widely awarded legends of world advertising. Apart from them, the jury will also include professionals representing the young creative generation, as well as representatives of some of the major clients. Meet the first part of the Jury here.

Michael Conrad has been one of the most prominent figures in the world of advertising of the past 40 years. His rich experience led him to the perception that creativity is a general principle of work in various professions.

In 1975, he co-founded Lürzer, Conrad Frankfurt, which merged in 1980 with Leo Burnett Germany. In 1982, the agency was renamed Michael Conrad & Leo Burnett.

In 1986, he moved to Chicago as President and Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett International and in 1996 was named Vice-Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide. In 2000, Advertising Age named Leo Burnett Worldwide 'Global Agency of The Year'. In 2001, Leo Burnett Worldwide got the title of "Most Awarded Agency in the World" by the Gunn Report. Michael retired from Leo Burnett at the beginning of 2003.

Michael has chaired many juries in local, regional and global advertising festivals and is an honorary member of the Art Director Clubs of Germany, Austria and Europe. With the ADC Germany he founded the "Berlin School of Creative Leadership" (www.berlin-school.com) at Steinbeis University and serves as its president. He lives in Zürich, does some consulting in marketing and communication, and is a member of the BOD of Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett in Switzerland.

The Prague International Advertising Festival 2011 will be held on May 11 and 12 in the subterranean section of the National Gallery in Prague. The call for entries is planned to be announced in early March of next year. The major change from this year's competition will be a completely different system of competition categories.

"Many experts have confirmed our opinion that the present division of competition categories based on media types is outdated. Coming up with a new viewpoint is risky and no established festival has yet dared make such a move. Who else but a brand new enterprise has the chance to push a new, more current point of view?" adds Hlavica. The fine-tuning of the individual categories is yet to be done. Everything needs to be finalized by the end of February 2011, when PIAF starts accepting competition entries.

Three groups of competition categories will assess not only the ideas of creative minds, but also the ingenuity with which the advertised message gets to the target group and the reaction it elicits. The categories also include creative marketing with an outreach to the phase of sales support. Apart from advertising agencies, PIAF will also more intensively address clients and the media. Furthermore, one advertising project or campaign may score in several categories at once.

PIAF is to keep the typical Czech category of beer ads. Moreover, it will add a special competition for advertising ordered by the state and its institutions.

Advertising projects will be assessed by an international jury in two rounds. Gold, silver and bronze trophies will be handed out to the best on the shortlist of finalists. Entries awarded in several categories will have the greatest chance of winning the Grand Prix award.

The National Gallery in Prague ranks among the country's most significant monuments built in the functionalism style. It was destroyed by fire in the early 1970s. Following its reconstruction, it was once again opened to the public in the early 1990s. On five floors, it currently presents art of the late 19th century, last century as well as contemporary art. Among other things, it also boasts an extraordinary collection of French cubism.

Underground, the original screening room was restored, allowing the unused subterranean space to be used creatively. This is where the lectures, workshops and discussions will be held. The flat roof of the building, where a restaurant used to be, will be the venue for the farewell party.

Just like the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Prague is an architectural artifact by itself. At the same time, it offers a top quality collection of both world and Czech fine art.

"I think that holding an advertising festival in a concealed, concrete underground part of a building which is home to works of so-called high art is symbolic, just like a boisterous party next to the works of Picasso, Braque, Miró and other greats is," says festival director Marek Hlavica.