D&AD launches inaugural 'D&AD Festival' for 2016

In 2015 we covered the best of D&AD Judging Week, interviewing Tim Lindsay on exclusivity within the advertising industry. This year, D&AD have announced that they're expanding on this format with a 3 day festival, to include some great speakers from the world of advertising and media. The writing was on the wall, really - back in 2015 Lindsay gave an interview with Campaign, explaining "We've turned D&AD Judging Week into a festival of creativity ...We think London deserves a festival dedicated to creative excellence and the characters that make it happen (that’s you)."

Didn't it make sense to give it a rebrand? This year he has - it's 'Judging Week' no longer - welcome to the 'D&AD Festival'. But is this a change in name only - a superficial rebrand - or should be expecting a different kind of beast?

Headline speakers have been announced:

The D&AD Festival, which launches for the first time this April, will this year welcome world-famous Founder and CEO of WPP Sir Martin Sorrell, Oscar-winning graphic designer Annie Atkins and British artist Ralph Steadman as headline speakers for this exciting inaugural event.

D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay commented:

D&AD has always taken great pride in celebrating the breadth of creativity in all of its forms and we are hugely excited to welcome these inspirational leaders in the fields of advertising and design, to set the agenda and lead the conversation, at this our first D&AD Festival.”

Not tempted by the headliners? Check out the rest of the acts (this isn't a comprehensive list) -

● Ali Ali, director based in Egypt, represented by SONNY London, D&AD Judge for Film Advertising Crafts
● Gaston Legorburu, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro
● Kate Dawkins, Designer and Director, Kate Dawkins Studio, D&AD Judge for Spatial & Experiential Design
● Kevin Allocca, Head of Culture and Insights at YouTube
● Lucienne Roberts, D&AD Annual Designer 2016
● Marian Salzman, CEO, Havas PR North America, D&AD Foreman for PR
● Mark van der Heijden, CEO, Wanderbrief
● Nils Leonard, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Grey London
● Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, McCann Erickson India, D&AD Foreman for Writing for Advertising
● R. Balki, Chairman, Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas & Partners, India, D&AD Foreman for Film Advertising Crafts
● Sam Pond, Executive Producer, Creative Director, Pond Creative, D&AD Judge for Writing for Advertising
● Sarah Meiklejohn, Lecturer, University College London
● Shiho Fukuhara, CEO, Big Presence, D&AD Judge for Creativity for Good
● The Future Laboratory, Kirsty Minns and Jo Tulej
● Wayne Hemingway, Partner, HemingwayDesign and Vintage

If you're in London, or even if you're not - this (and I've been to my share of shitty events so this isn't a shill), actually looks worth making a trip for. According to D&AD, we should expect:

With four stages for talks and panel discussions, over 40 speakers from the world of design and advertising, sensory installations, fringe events, food stalls, photography exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and a few parties, it will be the ticket to the most exciting event in town.

Running from the 20-22 April 2016, a three-day ticket will cost an affordable £185 (£92.50 Members/ £55 Students) and "will enable an all-access pass to all main and fringe events."

There will also be "an edited version of the festival on the Saturday and Sunday, with free entry to the general public and a family-friendly series of events". So one for the kids - D&AD Yellow Crayons anyone?

More here: https://www.dandad.org/en/professional-awards-judging-week/

Might want to change that URL at some point though, chaps. Bit silly to go through all the trouble of arranging a 3 day festival and then keeping the old web address.