Third OMD Creative Masterclass to focus on innovations in mobile advertising and branded entertainment

The one-day conference, organized by OMD Middle East and London-based C Squared, will be staged on May 28 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel Conference Centre, where 250 invited guests are expected to attend.

Among the speakers addressing the audience of marketing and media executives are Charlie Stopford, Nokia Global Activation's head of media and former European media director at Unilever, Alistair Hill, a senior analyst at M: Metrics consultancy, CitizenSound's Paul Bay and Nigel Waller, chairman of the Branded Content Marketing Association.

They will identify the latest developments and trends in their respective media platforms and help the audience conceive creative ways of deploying them to communicate with consumers more effectively.

"The first two OMD Creative Masterclasses have proved tremendously useful to create a solid foundation and common ground between our clients and teams on the issue of media creativity," explained Eric Bequin, OMD MENA's regional managing director.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, our investment in our creative product has lifted our performance, both internally and externally. There is an eagerness to break with convention and provide the clutter-cutting benefit of innovation to our clients' brands."

Unlike the previous editions, this OMD Creative Masterclass is themed and focuses on key topics of interest to regional advertisers.

The region's record mobile penetration figures indicates that consumers are in the process of leap-frogging fixed-line Internet and rely more and more on broadband mobile Internet.

Branded content, be it music or movie/TV based, is also on the rise thanks to the engagement value it carries.

"This event is evolving to meet our clients' expectations, current and future," added Shadi Kandil, General Manager of OMD Dubai.

"If a conventional approach to media is still required to meet the most basic of goals, innovations are the boost and differentiator brands need to score with consumers.

Sticking to tried and tested formulas will only get us so far so we must push the envelope. It is our duty to stay alert to market developments and capitalize on trends as early as possible."

"The OMD Creative Masterclass is a great initiative. It proved very stimulating, with interesting findings and options to consider," said Jumeirah's Emma Fraser of the first OMD Creative Masterclass.

Co-organizer C Squared is a consultancy for the global media industry and publishes magazines, such as Cream and M&M, as well as running the Venice Festival of Media.

Its CEO, Charlie Crowe, applauded the region's enthusiasm for media creativity.

"When we launched the first Masterclass in the Middle East with OMD, we never expected it to grow from strength to strength in such a short time. It is fascinating to see the Middle East produce such exciting work and have some of the case studies selected by Cream being awarded trophies in media competitions," he enthused.

The event is sponsored by Rotana Media Services, Fox Movies, Arabian Business and Kassab Media to demonstrate their support for creativity in media.