24 exciting new European talents set for a Scandinavian creative cruise at the 5th Creative Express
The Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) is to take a selection of Europe’s hottest talents on an exciting creative expedition, with the latest edition of its rising star programme: the Creative Express. The Creative Express is a special three-day workshop that brings together the continent’s best young art directors, copywriters and designers, to draw inspiration and new methods of learning from their international peers in a unique setting.
For the fifth edition – hosted by Grafia, the Association of Visual Communication Designers in Finland – ferry operator Viking Line will set the real-world brief.
Attendees from 12 different countries will work together in teams to dream up their best, out-of-the-box ideas to encourage more consumers to choose the cruise liner. And to fully immerse them in the product, it will all take place on a Viking Line ferry as it travels the Baltic Sea.
24 creatives have been nominated by their respective ADCE member clubs, and from the U5 Academy for Communication and Graphic Design in Munich, Germany, to take part in the Creative Express:
- Austria – Julia Reischmann, Junior Art Director at DDB Vienna
- Austria – Jakob Paulnsteiner, Copywriter at DDB Vienna
- Cyprus – Asterios Kokkinis, Junior Designer at CherryCube Ltd
- Czech Rep – Ivan Soukup, Copywriter at VCCP Prague
- Czech Rep – Mayya Khabirova, Art Director at Saatchi&Saatchi Prague
- Finland – Taru Happonen, Graphic Designer
- Germany – Christin Buhse, Junior Concept Designer at Voss + Fischer gmbh
- Germany – Ahmed Fouda, Graphic Designer, U5 Academy
- Germany – Benedict Matern, Graphic Designer, U5 Academy
- Portugal – Maria Teresa Nata Verde Pinho, Copywriter at Fuel
- Portugal – Catarina Paulo, Designer at TUX
- Romania – Roxana Nita, Art Director at Publicis Romania
- Romania – Andrei Dragota, Copywriter at Propaganda
- Slovenia – Jan Omahen, Digital Content Editor at Luna TBWA
- Slovenia – Neja Činkole, Copywriter at Publicis Slovenia
- Spain – Manel Portomeñe Marques, Designer at VASAVA
- Spain – Hugo Fernández Rivera, Designer at Picmedia
- Switzerland – Mathias Kröbl, Graphic Designer at Publicis Communications Schweiz AG, BSW
- Switzerland – Andrea Klainguti, Junior Digital Art Director at Jung von Matt / Limmat
- UK – Hamish Aneurin Keir Gardner, Designer at Moving Brands
- UK – Caitlin Breeze, Copywriter at Saatchi&Saatchi
- Ukraine – Anton Kudinov, Copywriter at Cheil Ukraine
- Ukraine – Dmitriy Tolkachov, Writer/Journalist
- Ukraine – Anna Goncharova, Copywriter at Banda Agency
The Creative Express is the brainchild of Austrian Creative Director Hans-Peter Albrecht, ADCE Board alumni and director of the U5 Academy:
What makes the Creative Express so special is that you have all of these precocious creative talents from many different countries, being thrown together and asked to use their smarts and collective skills to tackle a legitimate industry brief.
It’s an exciting, inspirational and humbling adventure; and certainly we hope they’ll return with a new appreciation for their craft and a wealth of invaluable experience.
Of course, we give immense thanks to Grafia, Viking Line and the Creative Europe-EU Programme for making this exciting edition of the Creative Express a reality.
The 5th Creative Express sets sail from Helsinki on 11th November, where the attendees will be briefed on their creative challenge and split into teams. Here they’ll also have a chance to meet their expert industry mentors, who will be on hand to help guide their work and judge the final entries. Judges include Velvet Estonia Founder Janno Siimar, TBWA Helsinki Executive Creative Director Vesa Tujunen, and Havas Helsinki Creative Director Marko Vuorensola.
After sailing overnight, creative will have a chance to disembark and visit Stockholm before returning to the ship to work on their projects throughout the day. In the evening, each team will present to both the Viking Line client and the expert judges, and a winner is selected. To conclude, there will be time for a quick party before the boat sails back for Helsinki.
The Creative Express is a programme organized by the ADCE designed to provide professional training and promote young European creatives. Partners for the 5th Creative Express include: European Union – Creative Europe Culture Programme, Viking Line and Grafia
Previous editions of the Creative Express have taken place in Innsbruck-Vienna, Amsterdam, Munich and Tyrol. To be eligible to apply for the ADCE Creative Express, creatives must be under 28 years of age and have a minimum of two years professional experience and be selected by their national club.
The Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) is a not-for-profit association headquartered in Barcelona comprised of professional clubs and associations of graphic design and advertising from 18 European countries: Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Ukraine.
Founded in 1990, the ADCE strives to foster excellence in graphic design and advertising creativity at a European scale. The association represents more than 4,500 professionals from the field and internationally spotlights the best works accomplished at a local scale through its annual European awards. The association’s current president is Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer at DDB Worldwide, and one of the most recognized advertising creatives in the world.
The Creative Europe Culture Sub-programme invests in the thriving creative and cultural sectors as catalysts to arts, innovation and competitiveness of the European Union. The European Commission, through the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture (EACEA), supports the EU creative and cultural sectors, not only in financial terms, but also in pre- and post-project support. The Programme opens up international opportunities and audiences for artists and professionals of the culture and creative sectors by funding sustainable networks aimed to facilitate knowledge exchange, capacity building, transnational mobility of cultural players and circulation of works.
Creative Europe Culture is pleased to support the 5th edition of The Creative Express of the Art Directors Club of Europe and extend its wishes to all professionals and creative talents in their meetings, exchanges and outputs.
Grafia is a nonprofit organisation, which seeks to promote expertise in and understanding of graphic design, and to look after the professional, juridical and economical interests of its members. Grafia was founded in 1933 and it has approximately 1000 members. Grafia members are employed in various sectors within the field of visual communication: graphic design, marketing communications, digital visual design, illustration, layout design, as well as teaching, research and study of the graphic design field. Grafia has been organizing Vuoden Huiput – Best of Finnish Advertising and Design competition since 1980.