Eurobest Advertising Festival 2011 : open for entries and announcement of the first jury presidents Sergio VALENTE, Dagan COHEN and David GALLAGHER on GoSee

Eurobest, Europe’s leading annual awards competition for the creative and communications industry, is delighted to announce the first three of eight jury presidents. Sergio VALENTE, Dagan COHEN and David GALLAGHER will take the lead at this year’s festival taking place in Lisbon 28, 29 and 30 November.

Sergio VALENTE, CEO and President of DDB Brasil, will take the role of Film, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury President. Thanks to 25 years of experience in the industry, Sergio and his agency won the prestigious Agency of the Year award at Cannes Lions in 2009

Sergio comments on his appointment: "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 – especially or even in advertising.

In addition to this, he pushes the boundaries between traditional disciplines. This has resulted in work that has won various national and international awards, including two Cannes Lions. Dagan has been a board member of the Dutch Art Directors Club for five years and has served as a juror at many award shows.

Dagan’s comment: “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."

Heading up our favourite jury, the PR Jury this year is DAVID GALLAGHER, CEO of Ketchum Pleon Europe and Chairman of Ketchum Pleon London. David has been awarded with several of the highest awards in public relations. Furthermore, he has served on juries and panels for PR competitions. He advises some of the world’s leading brands and companies on product communications, issues management and third-party advocacy.

David on his appointment: "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.

Eurobest entries are now open. For further information go to the Eurobest website.