Main Media Partner:
Chairman of the Advisory Board
RUDI KOBZA
Chairman of Draftfcb Kobza and Lowe GGK AUSTRIA.
Rudi Kobza (40) is chairman of Austria's Draftfcb Kobza and Lowe GGK. Both agencies operate separately and lead successfully Austrias advertising scene.
He started his career 1986 in one of the TOP 10 agencies in Austria and consequently became Member of the Management Board in 1990.
1994 Rudi Kobza founded Kobza Communications, which merged to become FCB Kobza one year later. Subsequently, he diversified the agency into the sub-companies and specialty agencies FCB Kobza (classic advertising), FCB Retail (retail marketing), FCBi (interactive & direct marketing) and FCB Events & PR (events and PR). This way he reconfigured the agency to become TOP 3 in Austria.
Since 2005 Rudi Kobza additionally accepted to become the Chairman of Austria's top creative agency, Lowe GGK, and is therefore now heading Austria's largest agency group.
Draftfcb Kobza and Lowe GGK have won several awards including Lions in Cannes, Clio, Eurobest, Epica, New York, IAA, Effis and many more (as awards at the Golden Drums). Lowe GGK was the only Austrian agency which won a film lion in Cannes. Furthermore in 2006 and 2007 Draftfcb Kobza became this year No. 1 agency in the CCA (Creativclub Austria) and in the annual Austrian creative ranking and also the only Austrian agency in the ranks of the Gunn Report.
Both agencies serve as a center of excellence and hub for clients and the agency network in Central and Eastern Europe. Developing this region further and on the same creative top level is one of his key targets in the near future.
Rudi Kobza is board member of Austria's International advertising association and took part in several national and international award juries.
Key Partner of Mediamixx Group
Member of the Advisory Board
George Kouzmov
CEO of Mediamixx Group- the leading international media festival in Eastern Europe.
George Kouzmov is the publisher of Mediaboxx magazine - the magazine for Advertising, Medias and Arts.
He is Regional Agent of ChelloZone Bulgaria and President of Television World Foundation.
1993 1995 General Manager Second channel (National television)
Key Partner of Mediamixx Group
Memberof the Advisory Board
Karl Blecha
Was born on 16th of April 1933 in Vienna.
Professional and scientific activity
He studied psychology, ethnology and sociology at the Vienna University, and began to work as a vocational consultant for the Vienna Regional Employment Office then became advertising manager of a publishing company, lecturer in sociology, and from 1963 to 1975, he was head of the Institute for Empiric Social Research (IFES). Under his direction, this institute became one of the leading research centers for applied sociology in the German-speaking countries. He was member of the board of various Austrian and international scientific associations, was secretary of the Society for Sociological Studies, Vice-President of the Austrian Society for Sociology, and he is still President of the Austrian Society for Promotion of Research. He has written numerous essays on sociology and various articles and brochures on political principles.
The most distinguished research-outcome was without doubt the "Opinion-Leaders-Index", which Blecha developed in 1969 to record the opinion of special personalities, who can be indicated as a predictor of the general development of opinion. In 1979, Blecha established a computer-model for multi-variating-analysis to analyse and interpret of election-returns and he is co-founder of the streams of election-population, which is in use until today.
After his political carrier, he founded 1989 the MITROPA-Institute for economic and social research ltd, where he is Managing Director. MITROPA is an independant research and service institute. It supplies information for decision and gives support to economy, research, administration and media. It is mostly working in countries of Middle and Eastern Europe.The institute supplies clients with export data in those countries. Moreover, it selects and stores data of market- and public opinion research. Representative surveys are done with face-to-face-interviews and telephone interviews as well. It handles the coordination for media research (press, radio and TV ratings) and election research. The organization and coordination of comparative studies in economic and social research is one of the tasks of MITROPA. As service-institute it supplies its clients with data selection, -preparation, -processing, -administration and representation of data. Branch offices in various European Capitals and partner institutes.
Now MITROPA-Vienna is also 100-%-owner of the Austrian Institute for Empiric Social Research (IFES).
Political activity
Karl Blecha has been politically active since his school time. He was the first Federal Chairman of the VSM, the Association of Socialist Junior High School Students, Chairman of the Socialist Students of Austria, and Deputy Chairman of the Association of University Students of the Vienna University, and later he became Chairman of the Junior Members of the Austrian Socialist Party. In 1958 Blecha was dedicated to organise an help-comity for the Algerian Liberation Front (FLN) during the Algerian-war and later an in different freedom-movements. Since this time, Blecha was connected very close to Bruno Kreisky, Austria's Foreign Ministry and later Federal Chancellor and Leader of the SPÖ.
In 1964 he became member of the board of the Socialists of Lower Austria. The province of Lower Austria, where he spent the first months of his life, has become his political home. From March 1970 to June 1983 and 1989 he was member of the Austrian parlament and spokesman for justice, science, culture, media and defence issues. Karl Blecha participated in all legal reforms performed since 1970, was involved in amendments of election and party laws, in school and university reforms and also considerably in the reform of the Austrian Broadcasting in 1974. He also dealt with community and security policy.
Within the Socialist Party he is regarded as driving force of party reforms and was chairman of the Editorial Committee for the party programme in 1978, which was drawn up by him.
Blecha was from December 1975 to May 1981 Secretary General of the Austrian Socialist Party. Than he was elected Vice-President of the Austrian Socialist Party in May 1981 and Bruno Kreisky's first Deputy in the Party. Now he is member of the Presidium of the Austrian Socialdemocratic Party.
In May 1983 he was called in the Austrian Federal Government, where he was appointed Federal Minister of the Interior.
Now he is President of the Society for Austro-Arab Relations, of the Austrian-Bulgarian Society and the traditionary Vienna Workers´ Gymnastics and Sports Club. He is also elected President of the Austrian Association of Pensioners with more than 385.000 members and of the "Österreichischen Seniorenrat", the official Representation of the elder generations in Austria. Since 2002 he is also President of the European Seniorens Organisation (ESO).
Memberof the Advisory Board
ALEX BAUER
Alex Bauer (44) has more than 20-year
s work-experience in advertisement and public relations in Austria and was essential in the growth and ascent of
DraftFCB+Kobza to the number one creative agency of the country.
As a Member of the Board and responsible for the customer's care he was
confronted daily with the wish for cross media campaigns.
Especially because the smallness of the Austrian market and the limited media budgets connected with it demand (in order to be able to exist against mostly international - media "Big Spenders") to roll out an advertising campaign in several different media channels. Moreover, Web and Mobile as the fastest growing channels are certainly playing a major roll in any campaign design.
Memberof the Advisory Board
Andreas Rudas
born on November 30th, 1953, in Budapest
Education
Matura (general qualification of university entrance),
Study of Medicine at the University of Vienna
Employment
1975 - 1981 - Manager at the Association of Vienna Youth Centers
1981 - 1983 - Central administrative office of Austrian Socialist Party
1983 - 1986 - Spokesman for Austria's Federal Ministry of Interior
1986 - 1994 - Spokesman and Manager of Public Relations and Marketing at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF
Additional duties: responsible for all advertising campaigns (OE3, Blue Danube Radio), for program promotion on radio and television; Head of the marketing conference.
Gerd Bacher's substitute at the Steering-Committee of the restructuring program "From Monopoly to Market Leader" - together with Cap-Gemini
Together with the "Industriellenvereinigung" initiator and ORF-coordinator of the Alpbacher Technology forum - with focus on media politics and new media
1993 - 1997 - University lecturer for marketing at the University of Vienna, Institute for Business Administration
1994 - 1997 Secretary General of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF,
Responsible for business planning, media politics, marketing and satellite broadcasting
Member of the program planning board and jointly responsible for the creation of the program broadcasting schedule
Central coordinator for all ORF activities connected with new media, multimedia, new fields of business.
1997 - 2000 - Secretary General of the Socialdemocratic Party (SPÖ) of Austria
Media Spokesman and Head of negotiations for all new media laws (radio as well as cable and satellite statutes, new statute on private radios)
2000 - 2001 Vice President for Public Relations Special Projects at Magna Europa AG - responsible for corporate communications and investors relations in Europe and additionally responsible for the company's sports engagement in Austria
Vice President Media Initiative at Magna Entertainment Corp. - responsible for the implementation of a TV betting channel in the USA and for the development of strategies with European partners
2001 - 2005 Vice President Communications & Human Resources at Magna Steyr AG & CoKG (former Magna Europa AG) and Member of the Management Board
Jan 05 - Dec 05 Vice President Communications & Corporate Affaire at Magna International Europe AG
Jan 05 - Aug 06 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of JoWood Productions Software AG
Dec 05 - Dec 08 Executive Director of WAZ Ost Holding, based in Vienna (subsidiary of WAZ Media Group)
Responsible for Austria, South Eastern Europe and Vietnam
Member of the Management Board of WAZ Media Group
Responsible for foreign business
As Executive Director of WAZ Ost Holding responsible for strategy, subsidiary management as well as M&A activities in 10 countries with 33 newspapers, 20 advertising papers, 27 magazines and 1 TV station. The portfolio contains the leading news magazine and the most profitable regional newspapers in Hungary, the two leading daily newspapers in Bulgaria, the best known newspaper in Romania, the leading daily newspaper and regional magazine in Serbia, the market leader on the advertising market in Croatia, nearly a daily newspaper monopoly in Macedonia, a leading TV station in Albania, meanwhile four regional newspapers in Russia as well as one publishing house for professional journals in St. Petersburg and Moscow. One business- and one women's magazine will be published in Vietnam shortly.
Since Jan 09 - Executive Vice President Regional Operations & Business Development Central and Eastern Europe at RTL Group's headquarters and member of the RTL Group Executive Committee.
Various publications on health politics and public relations, media politics and new media.
Memberof the Advisory Board
OLIVER AUSPITZ
Born 17 November 1975 in Vienna/Austria
Divorced
Austrian nationality
Education:
1981-1985 - elementary school, 1130 Vienna - Speising
1985-1994 - gymnasium, 1130 Vienna, Wenzgasse (natural scientific line) graduation
MStudies at Universities:
1994-1995 - studies of economic sciences, WU - Vienna
1995-1999 - studies of law, Juridicum - University of Vienna
Occupations:
1993-1995 - Wiener Konzertmanagement- Marketing
1995-1997 - ORF/Hitradio Ö3 - editor, reporter, anchorman
1997-1999 News Gruppe/ Antenne Wien - projekt development - commercial radio, anchorman, editor
1999-2004 - Talk TV ProduktionsgmbH producer TV i.a. "Karlich Show", "Natur im Garten", "Millionenshow Casting"
2000-2004 - ORF - anchorman "Domino Day", "Song ´04", "Taxi Orange" and others
from 2004 till now - MR-Film Group management development/PR, member of managing board, partner
Freelance as - Auspitz&Partner KEG - as limited partner and Auspitz Trading GmbH - as managing partner in the division of petrol-trading und consulting, media consulting, participations
Further education:
1995-1997
- scholarship for journalism / Kuratorium Salzburg
- language training / Prof. Frauendorfer, ORF
- media coaching, presentation, editorial work / BAF, ORF
- radio coaching 1+2 / BCI, Nürnberg
1997-1999
- NEWS summer akademy for journalism / NEWS, O.Lehmann und A.Worm
- radio-journalism and personality training / GWR, England
1999-2005
- presentation and media training / BCI, Nürnberg
- personality training 1+2 / Margarete Bittner, Köln
- media presentation and PR / Seegang, Markus Wolter, Hamburg
- format development for TV and film / PRO7, München
- business presentations / Fischhoff, Wien
Special knowledge:
- driving licence A+B
- computer: Word, Exel, Powerpoint, diff. specific programmes as Business Tools, accounting, etc.
- Languages: Englisch fluent in spoken and written - excellent, French fluent in spoken and written - satisfactory
Hobbies:
- skiing, golf, German literature, history
Memberof the Advisory Board
Kerstin Trikalitis
CEO
OUT THERE MEDIA
Kerstin Trikalitis has over 11 years of international experience in the mobile industry and has held leading management positions since 2001. Prior to her appointment as CEO of Out There Media, she was the Managing Director of WIN SA, a subsidiary of LSE-listed mobile services provider and SMS aggregator WIN plc. Her previous position was Managing Director of Imako Interactive, which she successfully transformed from a loss-making web development firm into a profitable supplier of mobile services that she sold to WIN plc in 2005. Kerstin started her career in Marketing at Unilever, a position which formed the foundation of her solid knowledge in the fields of Marketing and Communications. She holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration, and an MBA from ESADE in Barcelona, and she is a regular Keynote Speaker at international conferences within the mobile industry. She is half Danish and half Greek and speaks six languages.
About Out There Media:
Out There Media is an international leader in Mobile Advertising. The company is headquartered in Vienna and has subsidiaries in Athens, Los Angeles, Kiev and Skopje. Today Out There Media has partnership agreements with 15 network operators across 14 countries and reaches over 100 million subscribers - out of which 38 million are exclusive - via its mobile advertising marketplace, Mobucks. Mobucks is a cross-operator, cross-advertiser marketplace that matches demand and supply for advertising over mobile telephones. The company's website can be found at www.out-there-media.com.
Memberof the Advisory Board
HANS MAHR
(Born May 17th, 1949 in Vienna, Austria)
1967 - Studies of Economics at the University of Vienna
1969 - Reporter for major Austrian newspapers: "Neue Zeitung", "Express", and "Kronen- "Zeitung". Also TV-work for Austrian Television Network ORF.
1972 Political Editor and columnist for Austria's most widely circulated newspaper "Kronen-Zeitung"
1977 Head of the Office of Mayor in Vienna under the Honorable Mayor Gratz
1979 Director of Public Relations and Media Adviser to Austrian Chancellor Dr. Bruno Kreisky
1984 Consultant to "Kronen-Zeitung"- owner Hans Dichand and Director of RTL Bureau in Austria
1986 Vienna Bureau Chief for the largest German magazine "Stern"
1989-1994 General Manager of "Kronen-Zeitung"
1993 In addition to "Kronen-Zeitung", General Manager of "Radio 1" and General Manager
of "Tele 1". Also Vice President of the Austrian Association of Publishers
1994-2004 President News and Sports at RTL Television, Germany's largest private Television Network
1999-2004 Deputy CEO of RTL Television, Germany
2000-2002 CEO of RTL NEWMEDIA, RTL's new media Company
2002-2005 Executive Co-ordinator for Group Synergies, RTL Group
2005-2006 Premiere AG
Member of the Executive Board, Sports and New Business
Since 2006 mahrmedia Cologne and Vienna (Media Consulting)
Special advisor to RTL
Group for CEE and Asia, Luxemburg
(Free and Pay TV)
Board Consultant to Arcandor / Quelle for CEE and Essen (Germany)
(Teleshopping and Mailorder)
Consultant to Hutchison H3G, Vienna (Austria)
Memberof the Advisory Board
NICK ANTONOV
Dr. Nick Antonov is CEO of Infonicks GmbH, a media consultancy firm based in Vienna (Austria). He founded Infonicks in 2004, after leaving Factiva, at the time a Dow Jones and Reuters joint venture where he was a Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Factiva is the largest on-line news and information database.
Prior to Factiva Dr. Antonov was working for five years in Vienna as a Media and TV Manager for Reuters for Central and Eastern Europe, Austria, Switzerland, CIS, Turkey and Greece.
Nick Antonov started his professional carrier as a journalist in Sofia in 1980. In 1985 he started working as a stringer for Reuters and in 1990 became a correspondent for the news agency.
He covered civil war in former Yugoslavia, political changes in Bulgaria, Albania, Romania and other East European countries.
As a journalist he worked for a number of international news organizations.
After 1993 he became Country Manager of Reuters for Bulgaria.
Currently based in Vienna, Dr. Antonov is focusing the efforts of his company Infonicks (www.infonicks.com) to secondary news and information markets, intellectual property rights, news gathering and provision of information services to corporations and media organizations.
He is also teaching journalist in Vienna University.
Born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1960, married with no children.
Tel.: +43 664 216 9769
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