Kevin Bacon to headline 2014 Festival of Media in Rome

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Kevin Bacon, the award-winning actor and 'king of connections', will headline the Festival of Media Global 2014, taking place between 6-8 April in Rome at the Cavalieri Hotel.

This year's festival will focus on the technology, innovations, and strategies that make the media industry more connected than ever, as well as highlighting future forecasts and the power of disruption. Providing their insight on these global challenges will be directors and executives of some of the world's most powerful brands, including:

• Kimberly Kadlec, worldwide VP global marketing group, Johnson & Johnson - "Empowered Consumers"
  
• Craig Hepburn, global director, social media and digital of Nokia - "Media Directors Forum"
  
• Lewis D'Vorkin, chief product officer, Forbes - "Content Disruptors"

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Bacon, Kadlec and others will lead sessions on key trends in media today such as content, big (and little) data, the future of advertising in a multi-screen world, wearable technology, native advertising, and programmatic buying, to name a few. MTV founder and current CEO of Clear Channel Communications, Bob Pittman will join Festival of Media chairman, Charlie Crowe for an "In conversation with..." session, sharing his vision of the future of media and the role that technology is playing in transforming communications.

This year's three-day event will be bigger than ever, with a new second stage and additional activities offering festival attendees the opportunity to tailor their agenda by choosing the sessions that are most relevant to them. Other key presentations will include:

• "Social TV" - Steve Haskar, president, global product leadership, Nielsen
  
• "Playing with Data" - David Collet, director, Perform/OPTA with Ricardo Nasuti, digital content manager, AS Roma Football Club
  
• "Commerce, Loyalty & the Mobile Future" - Sarah Watson, group mobile manager, Net-a-Porter
  
• "Stories From the Future" - Sergio Bertolucci, director for research and scientific computing, CERN

Alongside the conference agenda, a panel of leading industry minds will judge 19 categories for the Festival of Media Global Awards 2014, led by Sameer Singh, VP of global media for GlaxoSmithKline, who has been appointed chair of the jury. Other brand judges appointed so far include Venky Balakrishnan, global vice president for marketinginnovation, Diageo and Tom Gill, global media director, Heineken International.

This year's awards will feature four new categories to recognise the best in the media industry: the Best Content Creation Award, Consumer Research Award, the Data Innovation Award, and The Retail Award.

Festival chairman and editor in chief Charlie Crowe comments: "We have responded to the media industry's rapidly changing pace and growth by offering the biggest and most diverse agenda yet, with more speakers than ever, covering the most pressing media industry issues from content marketing to native advertising and wearable technology. We will also be looking to the future, examining the trends, strategies and forces of disruption shaping the media industry.

"Not only does this year's event cover more than ever, but the new venue, format and agenda structure will provide numerous opportunities for delegates not just to learn but to do business in what is a more globally and technologically connected media industry than ever before."

Organised by C Squared, the Festival of Media Global is the media industry's only dedicated event, renowned for bringing together the most high profile figures and senior level decision makers from across the worlds of advertising, media and marketing.

To view the initial agenda please visit www.festivalofmedia.com/global, and follow on Twitter @FestivalofMedia.

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