events / current

Sharon Badrian

Head of Production, Promo Department, Keshet Broadcasting LTD, Israel

After eight years as a news producer for channel 2 news and the sports channel news, Sharon Badrian joined the promo department of Keshet Broadcasting as a promo producer. For the past seven years she has headed up the production team, working alongside the creative team building up the best and most successful promo department in Israel. In 2011 Badrian initiated and produced the first PromaxBDA creative clinic in Israel, sponsored by Keshet Broadcasting.

Roberto Bagatti

VP Creative & Creative Director, MTV Networks International

Roberto Bagatti is the VP of creative for MTV Networks International (MTVNI) and creative director for its World Design Studio in Milan. In this role Bagatti is responsible for reinforcing and communicating MTVNI’s unique position as a leading creative powerhouse. He works to align creative output with brand content as well as oversees and directs international branding projects across channel and property identities, building consistency between on-air, online, print and beyond.

Bagatti and his team are instrumental to the collaboration and coordination within MTVNI’s content and creative talent around the world needed to drive innovative and operational excellence. To ensure this vision and consistency is achieved, Bagatti works in close partnership with regional creative directors across the globe, in Europe, Latin America and Asia, as well as the regional design studios in Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Warsaw.

In 2009 Bagatti and his team led the creative development and execution of MTV’s first ever international rebrand.

Prior to his current role, Bagatti served as creative director of MTV Networks South Europe. Bagatti first joined MTV Italia in 1999 as a senior designer in the London based on-air department. In 2005 he was appointed creative director for the Italian MTV channels including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, QOOB and La7 (a Telecom Italia Media terrestrial channel).

Bagatti is the recipient of several European and worldwide awards recognizing his creative expertise. These include Gold and Silver awards at the PromaxBDA World Gold Design Awards in 2005, as well as two gold awards at PromaxBDA Europe in 2007 for Best Show Branding and Best Use of Existing Music. In 2008 he received gold and silver awards for Best Daytime Promo at the PromaxBDA World Gold Awards.

Nikki Bentley

Business Director, BDA

Nikki Bentley’s career has spanned continents and multiple broadcast disciplines. She started out in the South African film and television industry working on more than 100 TV commercials before moving into content production and producing live entertainment for pan-African digital satellite service DSTV. With more than 150 hours of live broadcast under her belt and numerous long-form sponsored programmes distributed globally, Bentley moved to the UK. She joined creative agency BDA where she is now business director for all branding and campaigns, leading the agency’s global branding activity and building their international client base. Bentley is a director and treasurer of Promax UK and is committed to advancing creativity within the media industry.

Jim Booth

Creative Director, RTÉ

Jim Booth is the creative director of RTÉ, Irelands National Broadcaster and media provider. Booth started his career in TV in 1972, and has progressed through all aspects of presentation-related TV activity. He joined RTÉ in 1998 after 26 years at ITV in the UK and leads a team that has collectively won 56 international awards in the last 10 years, including a couple for himself! Booth does not believe in micromanaging creativity, giving his producers a free hand whilst ensuring brand values are met. Booth is a past chairman of PromaxBDA Europe and EBU Connect, and has lectured in Rome, Barcelona, Athens, Moscow, Dubrovnik and Johannesburg.

Jeff Conrad

Managing Director, The Council

Is Jeff Conrad psychic? We’re not sure, but he can see inside the mind of the consumer – and he knows exactly how to give them what they want.

Conrad’s reputation as a media-branding expert is so broad that everyone wants a piece of him. He appears frequently on TV and radio and is a seasoned speaker on the global conference circuit.

So, really, it was only a matter of time before he realized he needed to strike out on his own – and so The Council was born.

Previously business director at Red Bee Media and head of design at the BBC’s in-house creative division, Conrad has a long and successful track record of leading effective, award-winning work.

His foresight and unique knowledge of media brands, digital innovation and consumer insight has led to some pretty flashy success stories.

In the UK, Conrad led the teams that delivered the ITV network rebrand, the multi-platform re-launch of BBC Three, the now infamous launch of Dave, which preceded the entire UKTV network rebrand, and the rebrand of Virgin1.

In Europe Conrad has worked with brands big and small, public and commercial, including Canal+, Telecom Italia, Discovery EMEA, Red Bull, VRT, NPO, Sky Italia, Belgacom, ERT and Disney EMEA.

His global reach has extended to clients such as CCTV in China, NineX News in India, and ADMC in Abu Dhabi.

He is currently retained as a consultant by the Spanish satellite platform DIGITAL+ to ensure he enables their brand to grow bigger and better. 

Federico Gaggio

VP, Executive Creative Director, Discovery Networks UK & Western Europe

Federico Gaggio heads up the award-winning creative team at Discovery in London, providing creative leadership on brand, advertising, on-air promotions and marketing activities across Discovery Networks’ UK and Western European Markets.

Working with the heads of marketing and programming to inform brand, editorial and marketing strategy, he is responsible for creative strategy, network and channel branding, programme promotion, sponsorship integration and advertising campaigns across all media. He also leads the creative development of innovative marketing and content ideas to drive viewer engagement in the digital space.

Prior to joining Discovery, Gaggio worked as a creative director for a number of leading broadcasters and branding agencies in the UK and Europe. Gaggio and his team have been awarded many industry recognitions, including the PromaxBDA World Gold Award for Best In-house Creative team in 2011.

Gabriel Galluccio

Platform Creative Director , SKY Italia

Bio coming soon.

Chiara Gatti

Creative Director, Shared Services, EMEA Kids Brands, Turner Broadcasting

Chiara Gatti started her career in media as a journalist and writer for teens, working for magazines and publishers in Italy. Shortly after moving to London, Gatti joined Turner Broadcasting as a creative producer responsible for the launch and brand development of Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Boing Italy. In 2009 she was appointed creative director in the newly created Turner Content Division, leading the team responsible for branding and franchise campaigns for the kids channels across EMEA.

Pia Hagström

Head of Customer Insight, YLE News, Finnish Broadcasting Company

Pia Hagström has 20 years of experience in diverse positions within strategy and business development, media, journalism and marketing communication.

Currently she leads news brand renewal projects at YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Company. Before joining YLE, Hagström worked for Sanoma, McKinsey & Company and Taivas Ogilvy Group.

Isabelle Hen-Wollmarker

Head of Marketing , Google Switzerland & Austria

Isabelle Hen-Wollmarker is an international brand builder specializing in media and entertainment brands. After leading the international brand strategy and communication for AETN's TV channels (History, BIO, Crime & Investigation Network, A&E) out of New York for 10 years, she relocated to Zürich, Switzerland in 2008, where she started her own brand consultancy before joining Google as head of marketing for Austria and Switzerland.

At Google, she oversees marketing for products including AdWords, Google Display Network, Maps, YouTube, Google+ and more.

At AETN, she oversaw channel launches in Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. She developed new channel concepts and brand identities such as the very successful Crime & Investigation Network and spearheaded the global redesign of BIO (formerly known as The Biography Channel). She lead the creative strategy for all global consumer and trade campaigns and developed AETN's acclaimed affiliate and client programming and branding intranet and conferences.

Prior to joining A&E Television Networks, Hen-Wollmarker was project manager for Premiere, the leading German pay-TV service, where she developed and managed consumer loyalty and communications programs. Before that, she held marketing positions at L'Oreal and Cartier.

Markan Karajica

Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer, ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland GmbH

In January 2011 Markan Karajica became chief marketing and commercial officer and part of the managing board of ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland GmbH, responsible for all marketing and commerce activities of the group.

Before this, Karajica worked as SVP of central marketing and creative solutions since 2009. From June 2010 to October 2011, he also took over the management of SAT.1 Marketing.

In 2001, Karajica was appointed creative director, head of sport promotion and deputy director of creative services at Premiere Medien GmbH & Co KG. After four years there, the Hamburg native moved to ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion GmbH, where he headed the creative solutions department until November 2008 and held the post of executive creative director in Munich and Berlin at the same time. On 1 December 2008, he also became a member of the executive board at ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion GmbH.

Luca Magnani

Senior Director of Programme Brands, EMEA, Turner Brodcasting System Europe, TimeWarner Group

BA (Honours) Economics and Marketing at LUISS University in Rome (Italy), in 1997 Luca joins Saatchi&Saatchi, developing and implementing marketing and communication strategies for key accounts, such as Renault, Pfizer and a number of local clients for the Italian market.

In 2000 he joins the Digital department at S&S UK, based in London, and one year later he sets up the Interactive Division for the Italian market, developing cross-media communication strategies for key clients, such as Telecom Italia, Enel, Visa, Sony and Renault.

Since starting at Turner in 2004, Luca has overseen various areas of the Italian business, from Marketing&PR and Digital to Business Development and Franchise Management.

As part of his current responsibilities at Turner Europe, he is developing the Franchise Management process across Europe, Middle East and Africa and leads the Shared Creative Services. Luca is currently working on the global launch of The Amazing World of Gumball and the roll-out of pre-school channel Cartoonito.

Rafael Sandor

EVP, Creative & Marketing, Fox International Channels and National Geographic Channels

As EVP, creative and marketing, Rafael Sandor supervises the global brand development of all Fox International Channels and National Geographic Channels.

Based in Rome, Italy, Sandor works together with creatives and marketers across FIC's 30 offices to ensure the shared development of truly global brands across its 140 channels worldwide.

Prior to this job, Sandor was part of the small management team that launched in 2003 and led the growth of the successful Fox International Channels Italy, which is now the absolute leader in that market. The team he has set in place is still recognized as the benchmark for creative quality and innovation in Italy.

In 2002, he performed as programming and creative director for National Geographic Latin America and Iberia, implementing a new channel strategy that increased its ratings twofold in a year.

From 1999 to 2001 he was creative director for Fox Kids Latin America, leading its original production and on-air promotions.

During 1997 and 1998 he was creative director of Buenos Aires Television, leading a multi-awarded team that provided services ranging from original productions, on-air promotions to creative and production services, to all sister companies of the Clarín Group, the Argentine media group.

Previously, he worked since 1987 as producer, copywriter, filmmaker and creative director for various international channels.

His work has received numerous international awards.

Olivier Schaack

Director of Creative Services, CANAL+

Olivier Schaack has worked in television promo and design for almost 20 years. After formative experiences at M6 and TPS, Schaack joined Group CANAL+ in 2000 as on-air promotion manager. Since then Schaack has developed the CANAL+ Promo Factory, which produces on-air promotions for 26 channels broadcast by the group, taken charge of the design department of CANAL+, and become director of creative services. Schaack co-chaired PromaxBDA Europe with Liz Dunning from 2009 to 2011.

Gábor Varga

Head of Creative Services, HBO Central Europe

Gábor Varga is the head of creative services in HBO Central Europe. Facing new challenges in the industry, HBO felt it necessary for the on-air promo team to develop into creative services. Next to creativity, the team has formulated new goals and perspectives as well, such as synergy, material sharing, effective communication among platforms, integrated platform communication and the development of new workflows. Varga’s most important task is to provide effective support for the company’s new objectives, namely territorial expansion and launching new services with an integrated and efficient combination of communication between old and new platforms. One of the most important tasks of creative services is the launch of HBO GO, which is available through the Internet in Central Europe.

Varga started his career as a cameraman and director, mostly taking part in the production of documentaries and TV series. He worked for years in the public TV sector and took part in the launch of the very first Hungarian commercial channel (SBS-TV2). Later on, his main activities included broadcast design and on-air promos. He was a founder as well as the chairman of the ON AIR GROUP professional organization then worked as a creative director for one of the Hungarian public service television channels. Varga is a member of Art Directors Club Hungary. He has fulfilled many assignments in several TV channels with his company 6miles Branding.