PRESS REPORT – EYES & EARS CONFERENCE 2014

Cologne, 20.05.2014 – The Eyes & Ears Conference was held on Monday at the Comedia in Cologne. The European industry association Eyes & Ears of Europe had invited media professionals and other interested parties to the event on the subject 'CAPTURE YOUR AUDIENCE.' Around 180 participants from Belgium, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Ukraine and Germany came to discuss the key issues currently facing the media industry – How do I find my target group? How do I capture their enthusiasm? And how do I retain them? The Eyes & Ears Conference was hosted by Jochen Schropp.

The programme started with the Eyes & Ears Junior Highlights, introduced by Marcel Meyer, managing director of the creative studio finally. in Mainz. Last year, Meyer himself presented his final thesis 'My Favourite Childhood Nightmares – Animated Photography' at the Eyes & Ears Junior Highlights 2013. This year, from all submissions, three projects were chosen by a professional jury.

Under the title 'Neuland? – Corporate Design for the 7th Reception of the German film schools during the Berlinale 2014', three students from the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg – Iris Schwarz, Bennet Meyer and Paul Brenner – presented the corporate design of the event. Their central idea of abstract maps was implemented on all levels, from logo to catalogue, schedule, billboards, light boxes, press wall, guidance system, postcards, to screen backgrounds and the entire motion design.

Dominik Haas, Christian Schmidhalter and Don Schmocker from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste showed the audience how to produce a game for two players in 48 hours. In '..Schlicht – An atmospheric puzzle game for two players', the players control a shadow and a light ball. To reach the next level, players do not compete against one another, but play together against disturbances in the game.

Christian Freitag and Paul Kirsten, graduates of the Burg Giebichenstein Art Academy in Halle, provided insight into their interactive project 'Metaworlds – A bridge between interactive design & art'. The users are presented worlds in which they can descend. Their complete form is not apparent at first glance. A major role is played by the observer himself, because only through his actions can the 'Metaworlds' keep moving and changing their appearance.

All participants of the Eyes & Ears Conference had the opportunity to select their favourite from the three finalists. The project 'Metaworlds' was awarded the Eyes & Ears Newcomer Award 2014, kindly supported by Adobe Systems.

Christian Freitag and Paul Kirsten will receive a 12-month subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud. In addition, all three projects were awarded with the Eyes & Ears Junior Highlights Trophy.

For years, Eyes & Ears of Europe has stood for creative young talent and has offered them a platform to showcase their innovative work.

The Eyes & Ears keynotes started off with Emmanuelle Lacaze, Bernard Brechet, Nicolas Famery and Lieven Van Overbeke from the Parisian design and communications agency Gédéon. Under the title ‘What’s Your Story? – news is not a world apart’, they showed how news formats should be designed in order to be noticed by the viewer amongst today's enormous number of programmes. Of course, the central question here was: How do I get the viewer's attention? The French recommendation: Information programs should be designed like blockbusters. They used illustrative examples from current news formats to make their point.

Under the title 'How the Always-On Society lives, plays and works', Dietmar Dahmen, a specialist in branding and brand communication from Vienna, gave the audience insight into the history and the future of developments that are changing the world. He showed that development happens in jumps and is not a linear process. In his opinion, we are currently in the middle of such a jump. Many companies do not make this jump – but why not? Because instead of getting involved in this process, they think in familiar patterns. Another challenge for companies is that developments are getting faster. Here, keeping up with the changes is an important factor for success.

In his keynote ‘New Gatekeepers in the Living Room: Democratisation of the Entertainment Industry... Levelling the Field‘, entrepreneur, writer, publisher and innovation catalyst Richard Kastelein from Groningen explained how the TV market is changing. "TV is everywhere," Katelein said at the beginning. The challenge for TV companies is to respond to new players in the market who produce more and more good content. Thus, there is also more content that is no longer found exclusively on the traditional TV screen, but on all platforms where audiovisual content plays a role.

Prof. Peter Wippermann, founder of Trendbüro and professor for communication design at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen gave a lecture with the title 'The New Culture of Sharing'. Using vivid examples from the Internet, Wippermann explained that we can only create new offerings when we understand the cultural shift to a sharing society. For Wippermann, the mentality of sharing means access instead of ownership, collaboration instead of competition and technology as the basis for human relationships.

In the last part of the event, the Eyes & Ears Case Studies, Dominic Born, business development project manager at tpc in Zurich, introduced ‘diy.fm – The 'Do-it-Yourself'-Radio’. With diy.fm, the Swiss public broadcaster is attempting to unite all the possibilities of the Internet – such as retrieving certain content anywhere, anytime – in one tool. Thus, you can listen to individualized radio – 'do-it-yourself' style. "We are producing good content, but need to change our ways of thinking. The question that presents itself to us again and again is how broadcast can be combined with the Internet, so that beautiful 'children' are created," said Born.

In the final presentation 'Best Practice: Disney Channel Launch', Conny Roll-Oppitz, head of marketing communications TV, and Ole Türck, head of on-air at The Walt Disney Channel in Munich, gave insight into the preparation, launch and development of the Disney Channel, which was launched on January 17, 2014 in German Free TV.

Corinna Kamphausen, CEO Eyes & Ears of Europe, sums up the event: "I am very pleased we had the opportunity to discuss the challenges arising from a change in media consumption with important European players at this year's Eyes & Ears Conference. We have created an important event in the media industry, where international experts from different fields can exchange ideas and network," says Kamphausen.

Pictures of the Eyes & Ears Conference 2014 at https://www.facebook.com/EEOFE

Event Partners

TOF Intermedia, ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland, RTL NITRO, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, Adobe Systems, KISD Köln International School of Design, SUPER RTL, Warner/Chappell Production Music and the City of Cologne

Media Partners

MEDIEN BULLETIN, FILMDIENST, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Medienforum NRW

Hotel and Travel Partners

Villahotel Rheinblick, Deutsche Bahn

Eyes & Ears of Europe is the association for design, promotion and marketing of audiovisual media. For almost 20 years, the industry association has been the professional communication platform for all those involved with the strategic planning, creation, implementation and management of audiovisual communication.

How to turn ordinary brands into strong brands

EYES & EARS CONFERENCE 2014

Cologne, 13.05.2014 – The Eyes & Ears Conference was held yesterday at the Comedia in Cologne. For the occasion, the European professional association Eyes & Ears of Europe had invited media experts and the interested public to discuss around the theme ‘CAPTURE YOUR AUDIENCE‘. Some 200 guests from Belgium, France, Great-Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Ukraine and Germany took part in discussions on the main issues currently facing the media industry – How do I find my target group? How do I capture their enthusiasm? And how do I retain them? The Eyes & Ears Conference was moderated by Jochen Schropp.

“How can today’s players play an important role in an increasingly fragmented media world?“ With this question, Zeljko Karajica, chairman of Eyes & Ears of Europe, opened the conference. “I am convinced that this goal can only be achieved with strong brands. In this case, it does not matter which communication media are used in the future. Therefore, our challenge lies in our ability to make strong brands out of ordinary ones“, he added.

„TV producers and marketers are increasingly faced with the challenge of staging on various platforms at the same time different stories which complete each other and form a whole. This is not only the case for new TV formats, but also applies to the fields of design, promotion and marketing“, said Corinna Kamphausen, CEO of Eyes & Ears of Europe. „I am really glad for the opportunity we had yesterday at the Eyes & Ears Conference to discuss with European players the challenges resulting from changed patterns of media consumption. The Eyes & Ears Conference has become a major event in the media industry, and gives international experts from various disciplines the possibility to exchange information and establish networks“, she added.

Speakers of the Eyes & Ears Conference 2014: http://www.eeofe.de/download/Conference_2014/Programm_EEofE_Conference_2014_E_Online.pdf

First pictures at https://www.facebook.com/EEOFE

Event Partners

TOF Intermedia, ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland, RTL NITRO, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, Adobe Systems, KISD Köln International School of Design, SUPER RTL, Warner/Chappell Production Music and the City of Cologne

Media Partners

MEDIEN BULLETIN, FILMDIENST, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Medienforum NRW

Hotel and Travel Partners

Villahotel Rheinblick, Deutsche Bahn

​'CAPTURE YOUR AUDIENCE'

EYES & EARS CONFERENCE 2014

Cologne, 12 February 2014 – On 12 May 2014, the Eyes & Ears Conference 2014 will take place at the Comedia in Cologne. The theme of the creative conference organised by Eyes & Ears of Europe is 'Capture Your Audience'.

"Where is my target group? How do I excite them? And how can I retain my target group? These are questions that media professionals deal with more and more. Therefore, the theme of the Eyes & Ears Conference 2014 is 'Capture Your Audience'", says Corinna Kaphausen, CEO of Eyes & Ears of Europe. "The conference is intended to broaden awareness of new perspectives – regardless of medium."

The focus of the Eyes & Ears Conference will be current projects, trends and future prospects in the areas of design, promotion and marketing of audiovisual media. In addition to the Junior Highlights, inspiring keynote speeches in the areas of TV, film, internet, mobile, games, events, advertising, art and culture will be held by well-known industry players. For design, promotion and marketing professionals and newcomers alike, the conference is a valuable trend indicator and a high-profile communication platform for European developments in the audiovisual field. "The media are changing more rapidly and need to be prepared for new challenges. A platform like Eyes & Ears of Europe, that gives media professionals from a wide range of fields the opportunity to exchange views on trends and future perspectives, is becoming increasingly more important. The Eyes & Ears Conference, in particular, offers a sneak preview of where the future might lead us", says Zeljko Karajica, President of Eyes & Ears of Europe.

The Eyes & Ears Conference consists of three programme points:

Under the title Eyes & Ears Keynotes, both national, European and international industry players from TV, film, Internet, mobile, games, events, advertising, art and culture give insights into their projects and provide new perspectives. By addressing current media developments, trends and challenges, the speeches offer inspiration and points of reference for the participants' own work. Therefore, the keynotes are an important contribution to the design and examination of audiovisual communication.

The Eyes & Ears Junior Highlights give young talent a platform to showcase their innovative work. Practical, inspiring, and promising, they present their projects to an expert audience as part of the European Conference for Design, Promotion and Marketing. The industry meeting offers them the opportunity to get to know those who are always looking for young creative talent. At the same time, these young talents give long-time media professionals creative ideas for their own work.

Rounding out the conference will be the Eyes & Ears Creative Compilation – a feast for eyes and ears alike that leaves you wanting more.

The Eyes & Ears Conference 2014 will take place in cooperation with the City of Cologne.

More information regarding the different parts of the event and the detailed programme will be released at a later date.