White Square is one of the largest international creativity festivals in Europe. White Square Festival celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2023.
Every year entries from 35+ countries of the world, including Europe, the USA, China, the MENA region, CIS countries, Asia, Latin America and others are submitted. The geography of the Festival participants is expanding annually.
White Square Festival, promoting creativity, highly values ideas and people in the industry. The square initially became a kind of symbol of creativity in advertising, because today advertising is an art – an applied art that performs certain marketing tasks. There are limitations here, but there are no limits to the creativity of the creators. White Square is a cocktail festival mixed with professional excitement, passion and inspiration of advertisers from different countries.
The festival shares the principles of socially responsible marketing, peacefulness and defends universal human values. Social projects at the Festival are supported annually by partners and special prizes.
The jury of White Square Festival is annually represented by professionals with worldwide recognition in the advertising industry, numerous awards and experience in judging prestigious creativity festivals around the world.
Professional competence and impartiality in the evaluation of entries are one of the strengths of White Square Festival. The winning entries of the Festival are published annually on the website of the Festival and numerous industrial media around the world. Publications contribute to the promotion of agencies and the best ideas in the international creative community.
In total, there are 205 nominations in 8 contests at White Square Festival: CREATIVE
BRANDING
MARKETING SERVICES
DIGITAL
MEDIA
MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
MASS MEDIA CONTEST
CRAFT.
White Square Festival is included in the rankings: global creativity ranking AdForum Business Creative Report;
TopFice ranking;
creativity ranking of Central Asian countries;
ranking of Baltic agencies;
ETKAL ranking;
ACAR ranking;
ACMA ranking.
The business and educational program of White Square Festival is full of various master classes, seminars, panel discussions about the latest trends in marketing, branding, digital. The headliners are internationally recognized personalities in the communications industry from different countries, creators of successful brand promotion projects, jury members, participants and media representatives.
White Square Festival receives many warm words from the participants every year, which is especially valuable for us, thank you!
Ali Rez, Executive Creative Director of Impact BBDO MENA, UAE, who was repeatedly a chairman of the White Square creative jury: "Advertising festivals are extremely useful because they not only promote creativity as an industry, but also inspire and motivate creatives to create all the best projects. This is the wave that lifts all boats. White Square annually demonstrates a collection of the best works that certainly deserve recognition and promotion."
Riccardo Rachello, Senior Art Director of Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam agency, who was a member of the White Square jury: "In my opinion, festivals are an excellent opportunity to take a break and measure the pulse of the industry. I think in any field of activity there is time for action and time to weigh what has been done in order to evaluate your next steps. For a creative, working in a jury is a great chance to move away from their own evaluation criteria and see what the industry is guided by, drawing a line between outstanding works and not so good ones. A big plus of White Square for me personally is that here you can see works that are not always understood to people from Amsterdam, but are created in and for another culture. For the industry as a whole, festivals are the place where works that will become benchmarks for next year are awarded, the time when the industry is thinking about which direction to go in order to match the time”.
Tommaso Mezzavilla, Executive digital Creative Director of ROBILANT ASSOCIATI, who was a member of the White Square jury: "For me, participation in the advertising festival means an excellent opportunity to share experiences, establish contacts and develop: this is exactly what happens on White Square. Share experiences on White Square. You see thousands of works, you exchange the vision of the future, the role of creativity, creative ideas with people with representatives of the advertising industry from all over the world. Make contacts on White Square. This is one of the best places I've ever been to expand my network of contacts. Every year I meet wonderful creatives, talented young people, innovative managers here, and some of them become not even connections, but friends!"
Folker Wrage, founder of Wrage / Antwort, Switzerland, who has been a member of the jury of the Festival on several occasions: "White Square is truly dedicated to giving each participant the opportunity to learn as much as possible during three inspiring and insight-filled days. I know of no festival more focused on inspiration and education than White Square. That's why I always try to find a way to be here."
Daniele Fiandaca, founder of Token Man Consulting, Great Britain: "Festivals like White Square are sources of inspiration. And considering that diversity lies at the very heart of creativity, I enjoyed discovering gems there that are sometimes lost at other festivals due to cultural differences."
Fernando Pérez, Senior Designer at Interbrand, Spain: "White Square is a meeting place for minds and creatives, where heads and hearts unite for innovative and bold moves. I hope to convey my vision and experience of combining strategy and creativity from the stage of White Square in order to inspire the participants to take significant steps."
Francesco Guerrera, Chief Creative Director, Different, Italy who has repeatedly been a member of the jury of White Square Festival: "The presence of festivals is our huge advantage as an industry, because culture is the last barrier against ignorance that we all see on social networks and around us. Festivals are one of our most important values. The White Square is vital for the region as a breath of fresh air and a new look from the outside. It was the same in Italy 5 years ago, when we decided to establish the IF! festival, thanks to which the reputation of the industry has grown significantly today."
Christoph Nann, General Creative Director of FCB Hamburg: "There are places where the concentration of inspiration is off the scale. Where there is so much inspiration that it seems as if you are breathing not air, but ideas. An example of such places are advertising festivals, and especially judging rooms. For the creative, this is the best "food" that can only be. That's why I love working in the jury so much and that's especially why I'm waiting for White Square".
Nikolina Popovic, Creative Director of Grey MENA: "I believe in the power of creativity. Undoubtedly, he drives business, influences the development of culture and changes the world. Therefore, advertising festivals are a pure concentrate of amazing results in business, culture and the creative industry. It's like continuously injecting first-class creativity intravenously for several days. You increase your ambitions and expand your horizons. This is exactly what happens on White Square, and even more. The festival is organized in such a way that all participants are closely connected with each other throughout the time, whether they are members of the jury or accredited delegates. Today it is priceless. Being a Slavic soul, I enjoyed the festival and bringing cultural values to advertising."
Michelangelo Cianciosi, Executive Creative Director of DigitalGo, Italy: "If it is true that genius is 1% talent and inspiration and 99% hard work, then this one percent is absolutely important! Advertising festivals in general, and such young and innovative ones as White Square in particular, are just the places where I look for inspiration and (why not?) becoming a muse for others!"
Steve Colmar, Executive Creative Director, Publicis Groupe Portugal: "It's easy to forget that advertising festivals are more than just awarding the best entries. Most often we focus on recognizing entries, congratulating their creators, celebrating the contribution of brands and rejoicing in the evolution of our industry. To be honest, I personally see the role of festivals not only in this. Festivals are always an exchange of experience, different points of view, new approaches to work, and, of course, interesting people we meet here. Every meeting is a chance to improve yourself. And thus create the future of the industry. Therefore, it is safe to say that the White Square has a high mission: to build a bridge between advertisers and marketers, to create a space where all of us together can create an open future for brands."
István Bracsok, Executive Creative Director and founder of White Rabbit Budapest: "In a nutshell: if there were no Olympic Games, could someone run 100 meters in less than 10 seconds? In more detail, creative work is the main task of agencies. That is why creativity is the most important criterion for making a decision on choosing an agency. Clients are looking for someone who could offer innovative ideas, impulses and innovative thoughts that they themselves could not come to. Ultimately, prestigious festivals of creativity, such as the White Square, serve as a demonstration of the fulfillment of this main industrial task. Creative awards turn agencies into successful agencies. And they make them more attractive to new creative employees, who in turn will be able to improve the quality of the agencies' work. I know many will disagree. But hey, I'm a CCO! And what would happen to our industry if creative leaders stopped believing in the power of creativity!"
Sergio Spaccavento, Chief Creative Director of Digitouch mkgt agency, Italy, who has repeatedly been a member of the jury of White Square Festival: "Whoever wins - benefits, whoever loses - benefits doubly, because he will work even harder". White Square is an ideal place where you can see creativity, good people, successful ideas, as well as those who are motivated by all this to do a better job in the future."
