Eurobest announces first three out of eight jury presidents!

Sergio Valente, CEO and President of DDB Brasil, will take the role of Film, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury President. Over 25 years in the industry have seen him lead his agency to win the prestigious Agency of the Year award at Cannes Lions in 2009 as well as the Interactive Agency of the Year and a Cyber Grand Prix in 2005. Elected as a leader of the new generation of agency leaders in the domestic market by Meio & Mensagem, Sergio has held previous jury posts on both the Film and the Titanium and Integrated juries at Cannes Lions.

Commenting on his appointment Sergio Valente says, "Being a Eurobest jury president is a great opportunity to get a privileged look at what the European market is doing best. It's a huge challenge, but the opportunity for exchange and learning is even better. The expectations are high."

The Direct and Promo & Activation Jury will be led by Dagan Cohen, Executive Creative Director of Draftfcb, The Netherlands. Having worked as an independent artist before starting a career in advertising inspired Dagan to continually look to experiment and push the boundaries between traditional disciplines. The result is work that that has won numerous national and international awards, including two Cannes Lions. He has been a board member of the Dutch Art Directors Club for five years and has served as a juror at many award shows.

"In this category there's a lot of very inventive stuff being made. Besides, the borders between traditional, activation and digital are getting blurrier by the year, which makes sense, as engagement is becoming increasingly important. I am very excited to see this year's level of engagement," says Dagan Cohen about his role.

Heading up the PR Jury is David Gallagher, CEO of Ketchum Pleon Europe and Chairman of Ketchum Pleon London. David has been awarded with some of the highest awards in public relations and has served on juries and panels for more than a dozen public relations awards competitions. He councils international clients of some of the world's leading brands and companies on product communications, issues management and third-party advocacy. His commitment to the development and growth of PR is evident in his activities with the International Communications Consultants Organisation (ICCO) where he sits on the board; he is also a member of the PR Guild, the Global Health Advisory Board and the Global Agenda Council on Media, Entertainment and Information of the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

On his appointment, David Gallagher says, "Public relations has come of age, and Eurobest affords a unique opportunity in two parts - to see PR thinking at its best as a stand-alone activity and to see its power as a driver and amplifier of integrated communications efforts."

"Sergio, Dagan and David all have biographies that really do speak for themselves. Truly active and influential within their industry they have a mass of achievements between them and are all strongly committed to the development of their sectors. With the Festival growing year on year we need to ensure that we have the right people heading up the juries and in these three we have not only true talent but people that we can trust to lead their juries to award the best in European advertising," comments Philip Thomas, Eurobest CEO.