Uroš Goričan, recipient of the Dragan Sakan Scholarship, has successfully finished his study at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership

On November 14th, Uroš Goričan, Creative Director Publicis Groupe Slovenia, successfully finished his studies at Berlin School of Creative Leadership. In 2010, Golden Drum Festival, in partnership with the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, announced the “Dragan Sakan Scholarship” to honor of the achievements a true legend of advertising, friend and long-time supporter, Dragan Sakan. Upon receiving the Dragan Sakan Scholarship, Uroš Goričan started his study at the Berlin School Executive MBA in Creative Leadership program on 4 September 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

On behalf of the Golden Drum Festival I would like to sincerely congratulate Uroš Goričan for his graduation at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. We are proud and honoured to grant the Dragan Sakan scholarship to Uroš who proved to have become a real Creative Leader. We wish Uroš lots of success in his future career

Barbara Krajnc,

Executive Director Golden Drum Festival.

Students of the Executive MBA in Creative Leadership program must be accomplished senior creative executives with a strong professional background and track record of creative excellence. A BA degree is also required.

In his master’s thesis, Uroš Goričan tried, through dramaturgical, strategic and business aspect, to answer the question, what can brands learn from creators of content (writers, producers and media houses).

In his master’s thesis, Uroš describes how there is a popular belief in the marketing profession, that brands have to stop interrupting (media) content with advertisements and start creating their own. Does this mean that they have to start acting as media houses or publishers of content? And what happens when brands leave the area of traditional advertising formats? What are the most appropriate contents? Who is best qualified to create such stories? What will be the new ecosystem between clients, agencies and media houses and who will prevail in it?

The foundation for any content is, of course, story. There is no universal recipe for a good story, but there are ways how the creators of stories can help brands to create their own and how they can become a part of their communication strategy.

The first Golden Drum festival was organized in 1994, beginning as a modest idea many considered bold and overreaching. Since then, the Golden Drum International Advertising Festival has grown not only into a European manifestation but also into a prominent event noticed worldwide. From Trieste to Vladivostok, from Helsinki to Tel Aviv, the Golden Drum is recognized as one of the biggest, most important and most visible advertising overviews and events of the year. In the two decades of its existence it has gained the reputation of the friendliest among the bigger advertising events. The festival celebrates genius loci, the spirit of the place, and always lives up to its motto “sharp competition, good school, crazy party and devilish challenge”.

During the past 20 years Golden Drum brought together more than 26,000 professionals from 40 countries all across the world. Over 36,000 entries have been submitted to compete for highly prestigious and cherished Golden Drum Awards. The Golden Drum Festival proudly welcomed numerous advertising and other celebrities as jury presidents, jury members and guest speakers. In 2010, Golden Drum has honoured its most loyal and passionate contributors and supporters in the Golden Drum Hall of Fame for the first time. Since then new members are honoured yearly. Golden Drum is proud to recognize Jure Apih, longstanding president and current Honorary President of Golden Drum, Adrian Botan, Farid Chehab, Michael Conrad, Ivan Čimburov, Meta Dobnikar, Ami Hasan, Jan Mariusz Demner, Jirži Mikeš, Juli Nemes(+), Milka Pogliani, Daniel Ružička, Dragan Sakan(+), Juraj Vaculik, Vital Verlič, Darek Zatorski and Jarek Ziebinski as members of the Golden Drum Hall of Fame.

In a joint venture with affiliated regional festivals from Asia-pacific (ADfest), Ibero-America (FIAP) and the Art Directors Club of Europe (ADC*E), a new global as well as anti-globalist advertising award – The Intercontinental Advertising Cup (The Cup) – was launched. All shortlisted entries in Golden Drum Competition gain an exclusive right to compete for The Cup awards.