Here is Paul’s Banff official opening keynote description.
“CBC Opening Keynote: Paul Lee, President of ABC Entertainment Group
Paul Lee has had an illustrious career in the entertainment industry. Spending several years at BBC as CEO and founder of BBC America before becoming President at ABC, Lee has shepherded in 13 new series, working with some of the industry’s biggest names, including Tim Allen, Darren Star, Ashley Judd and Steven Spielberg. He is the head of all creative and business operations for ABC Studios and Times Square Studios. As head of all development, programming, marketing and scheduling operations for ABC Entertainment, Lee will deliver the CBC/Radio-Canada opening keynote at BANFF and will discuss the exciting future of the entertainment broadcast industry.”
“Jeanne Beker Host Bell Media’s FashionTelevisionChannel
Jeanne Beker is one of the most iconic and influential women in the fashion industry, both here in Canada and around the world. Jeanne is currently host of Bell Media’s FashionTelevisionChannel – Canada’s first and only 24-hour channel dedicated to fashion, beauty and design. Host of Canada’s leading fashion series FASHION TELEVISION for 27 years, Jeanne is also a contributing editor for The Toronto Star, a columnist for Metro, a published author of five books (the latest two released in Spring 2011 – Finding Myself in Fashion and Strutting It: The Grit Behind The Glamour) and a regular style correspondent for CANADA AM and ETALK. Jeanne also added a dose of style to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics with regular fashion segments for CTV and launched an exclusive clothing line titled “Edit by Jeanne Beker” available at The Bay stores across Canada. Last year, Jeanne travelled to London, England as a CTV Royal expert covering all things fashion as the world tuned in to watch William and Kate tie the knot at the Royal Wedding on April 29, 2011.”
P.S. As a big fan of fashion, I want to mention the insightful fashion reporter Tim Blanks is the King of Fashion TV to me and I had been a big fan of Fashion File until CBC cancelled it.
“Steve Hannah
President & CEO
The Onion
Had it not been for an incredible stretch of bad luck and an unfortunate series of largely unsubstantiated mishaps that resulted in a half dozen felony convictions, Steve Hannah would most likely be President of the United States today.
Instead, much to the eternal chagrin of his late mother, for the past seven years he has been President & CEO of The Onion: America’s Finest News Source and Relentless Self-Promoter.
Embarassing, really.
Nevertheless, The Onion is a multi-platform (VC’s like people who talk like that, right?) media company that reports the news to a largely gullible public in print (newspapers and magazines), on a strange thing called the Internet (10 million unique visitors), on all manner of mobile devices, by way of exceedingly fancy apps, via web video (its Onion News Network has collected more Webbys than any other legitimate news organization and in 2009 won the prestigious Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting along with Saturday Night Live and Sixty Minutes) and most recently on television, where its Onion Sports Network debuted on Comedy Central and the Onion News Network show (and was renewed) launched on IFC.
Today, the Onion and its subsidiary organizations constitute the biggest, scariest, most powerful, most omniscient, most virulent, most vindictive news gathering organization in the world. For example, if he chose to do so-which he would not because he has learned to use his influence judiciously-he could wreck every single one of your personal and professional lives. Read the rest of this entry »
Duncan explains and share his experiences with using Sport Chek (a Canadian Tire owned and operated brand via FGL Sports) to experiment with new/cool social media, Google/YouTube and Facebook advertising/marketing campaigns. I agree with Duncan that the best way (when everything is so new) is simply by “trail and error” to figure what actually works and what doesn’t. Find out what contributes to the bottom-lines and makes money and what actually destroys shareholders’ equity. Once what works are found (via Sport Chek), then applying the lessons learned to Canadian Tire as a whole. Very interesting real world examples.
“Duncan Fulton Senior Vice President of Communications and Corporate Affairs Canadian Tire Corporation
Duncan Fulton is Senior Vice President of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Canadian Tire Corporation & Chief Marketing Officer of the Forzani Group, including mega sport retailers like Sport Chek and Sports Experts. Duncan is a member of the Canadian Tire and Forzani Group executive teams and works across all the company’s business areas, including Canadian Tire Retail, Automotive, Part Source, Petroleum, Mark’s, Financial Services and the company’s charity, Jumpstart.
Duncan currently represents the company as a board member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and is also on the Board of One X One,a non-profit foundation committed to supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children at home in Canada, Haiti and Africa.
Before joining Canadian Tire, Duncan was the General Manager and Senior Partner of the Toronto flagship office of international public relations company, Fleishman-Hillard Communications. During his seven years with Fleishman-Hillard, Duncan led and worked on the company’s largest accounts across multiple practice areas. As a key strategist within the Omnicom network, Duncan played an important role in multi-agency campaigns, bringing together experts in advertising, social, experiential, direct to consumer, and paid and earned media.
Prior to Fleishman-Hillard, Duncan was a communication advisor and press secretary for Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Duncan was also Communications Director for the Minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Press Secretary for the Hon. Dalton McGuinty – now Ontario’s Premier – and communication assistant for Premier Frank McKenna.”
“Glen Mazzara Executive Producer AMC – The Walking Dead
Glen Mazzara is currently showrunner and Executive Producer for AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” He was most recently showrunner/Executive Producer of TNT’s medical drama, “Hawthorne.” Mazzara was previously a member of the core writing staff of Golden Globe®-winning “The Shield,” FX’s groundbreaking cable police drama, and has also written for “Life” and “Nash Bridges.” In 2008, he served as creator, executive producer, and showrunner of “Crash,” the first scripted drama on the pay-cable network STARZ”
“Nikesh Arora Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer
Nikesh oversees all revenue and customer operations, as well as marketing and partnerships. Since joining Google in 2004, he has held several positions with the company. Most recently, he led Google’s global direct sales operations. He also developed and managed the company’s operations in the European, Middle Eastern and African markets and was responsible for creating and expanding strategic partnerships in those regions for the benefit of Google’s growing number of users and advertisers.
Prior to joining Google, he was chief marketing officer and a member of the management board at T-Mobile Europe. While there, he spearheaded all product development, terminals, brand and marketing activities of Read the rest of this entry »
“The Bachelor/The Bachelorette – Masterclass with Mike Fleiss
Mike Fleiss has created more than three dozen network television shows over the past two decades. The hallmark of his career? Controversy. Among his most controversial shows are: “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?,” “Breaking the Magician’s Code,” “Are You Hot?” and “The Bachelor.” Each of these programs were ratings monsters, fueled in large part by their controversial nature. Fleiss will illustrate the role of controversy on modern television and how it has become an essential part of his career.
* How to create and embrace controversy?
* What role has controversy played in reality television?>
* How to handle the publicity surrounding a TV controversy?
* How is controversy your best marketing tool?”
Note: I want to be clear that I am still no fan of the reality TV genre but I just find Mike insightful and fascinating.
“In Conversation With: Ustinov Award for Comedy Winner Chuck Lorre
Join us to celebrate this year’s Ustinov Award winner, Chuck Lorre — award-winning television creator, writer and producer known for such hit comedy series as “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mike & Molly”. For the past 20 years, Lorre has delivered such hit shows as “Grace Under Fire,” “Dharma & Greg,” “Roseanne” and “Cybill.” He co-created the blockbuster comedy series “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory” – which both rank as the #1 and #2 comedies among total viewers on all of U.S. television. The Ustinov Award recognizes a creative talent that has made an outstanding comedic contribution to the media industry, and Lorre is a natural fit. Past recipients include: John Cleese, Martin Short, Kelsey Grammer, Rick Mercer, Ricky Gervais and James Burrows.”
“Boardwalk Empire – Masterclass with Terence Winter
A few short years after his tenure on The Sopranos ended, Terence Winter brought the gangster genre roaring back with Boardwalk Empire, a sweeping epic set in Prohibition-era Atlantic City. Along with Executive Producer Martin Scorsese, series Creator Winter deftly weaves fact and fiction to pull back the curtain on the worlds of both crime and politics. Join Winter as he discusses what it takes to create and produce an award-winning period drama.
What was the creative process of adapting an episodic series from a novel?
What are the challenges and limitations of integrating real-life figures with fictional characters?
What is it like collaborating with Martin Scorsese, one of the true masters of cinema?
What are the creative limitations and benefits to producing a period drama?”
“Boardwalk Empire – Masterclass with Terence Winter
A few short years after his tenure on The Sopranos ended, Terence Winter brought the gangster genre roaring back with Boardwalk Empire, a sweeping epic set in Prohibition-era Atlantic City. Along with Executive Producer Martin Scorsese, series Creator Winter deftly weaves fact and fiction to pull back the curtain on the worlds of both crime and politics. Join Winter as he discusses what it takes to create and produce an award-winning period drama.
* What was the creative process of adapting an episodic series from a novel?
* What are the challenges and limitations of integrating real-life figures with fictional characters?
* What is it like collaborating with Martin Scorsese, one of the true masters of cinema?
* What are the creative limitations and benefits to producing a period drama?”
Four days of Banff World Media Festival 2012 flew by quickly. I braved my huger by skipping a few lunches so I could attend a few more sessions, master classes and meet more people so I can bring you a few reports. Stay tune today and the next few days for more reports and videos to come. I promise my video coverage will be sometimes insightful, sometimes funny, sometimes even a bit shocking, hopefully you will learn something from my four days of #awesome experiences.
My good friend the news producer/documentary filmmaker Gingi Baki asked me who is the most interesting person I met at Banff 2012? Tough question! All of the above luminaries could easily top any “interesting” list. After thinking hard for a few moments, I answered that the most interesting person I met in #banff2012 , to me, is Paul Chard, Global Head of Content, MediaCom. I will start my series of Banff 2012 report with an article with video sharing why I think Paul is, again, to me, the most interesting person I met in #banff2012.
I am deeply saddened to hear the passing of Norma Reveler (THR, Ottawa Citizen) via @gregobr I found her #banff2010 article still insightful now following #banff2012 I can now better see why the likes of Netherlands-based Endemol is so creative.
I reported alongside Norma during a few Banff World Media Festivals, in particular 2009 and 2010, and we even had a brief email exchange as I knew she was having chemo and I tried to be supportive. To me, reporters like Norma set the benchmark for bringing insights to news. Norma, I was looking for you during banff 2012, you are missed.
I ended a long day by working the computer hard to get all the 3+ hours footage ingested them. Will take me some time to edit the footage and post something. Stay tune.