Cannes Lions 2009 seminar programme online

The program schedule for the 2009 Cannes Lions festival is now online. The festival, schedued to take place between 21 to 27 June this year, is currently open for delegate registrations.

Among some of the key highlights of the festival this year include the Cannes Debate moderated by WPP’s chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell on the theme ‘What does the Recession mean to us?’ The panel will include marketers, such as Mary Beth West, executive vice president, chief marketing officer - Kraft Foods Inc; Marc Pritchard, global marketing officer - P&G; Mary Dillon, executive vice president, global chief marketing officer - McDonald’s Corporation; Nigel Gilbert, group marketing director - Lloyds Banking Group.

Maurice Lévy, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe will be talking to Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO, Google to answer questions about key issues of the day and how Google sees the future.

Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corporation will be talking at Cannes this year on living up to the promise of online advertising. In addition, Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the United Nations and President of the Global Humanitarian Forum, and David Jones, global CEO of Havas Worldwide and CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide, will hold a crisis debate on the human face of climate change and the role that only the creative community can play in changing 'Climate Change' to 'Climate Justice'.

Y&R will be bringing two music industry legends to Cannes this year—The Who’s iconic front man Roger Daltrey and Harvey Goldsmith. The duo will talk about their careers and how they’ve leveraged their art to do good in the world.

Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe is also a part of the seminar line-up. Plouffe will talk about the importance of consistent leadership and how to harness the power of social networking to connect a dispersed group of people and engage them to perform outstanding feats. He will also demonstrate the innovative ways in which the Obama campaign built brand loyalty and how these same tactics can be used by other organisations.

Other key highlights at the festival this year include master classes by Alex Bogusky, co-chairman- Crispin, Porter + Bogusky; Tham Khai Meng, worldwide creative director - Ogilvy & Mather; Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer - Leo Burnett Worldwide and Bob Greenberg, CEO - R/GA.