Award-winning media innovator heading here

One of the advertising industry’s most innovative and disruptive thinkers is in New Zealand this week.

Faris Yakob, award-winning strategist, creative director, writer and co-founder of the location independent innovation and strategy consultancy, Genius Steals, is in Auckland as a guest of media agency, OMD. He will be speaking at OMD’s industry update event, Tea and Toast on Thursday 11 February.

OMD Managing Partner Andrew Reinhold says this will be an opportunity for organisations to hear key learnings from Faris’ book Paid Attention.  The book explores how ideas “move people” and how advertising can, and should, change in response to changes in the communications landscape.

Andrew sees a synergy between Faris’ philosophy when it comes to solving business problems and OMD’s global philosophy to “media planning”.  

“The onus now is less on traditional advertising and increasingly on developing creative business solutions,” says Andrew. “In an ever-changing media environment where competition for attention is fierce, media and creative agencies need to be constantly evolving their approach.”

Faris is a dual citizen of both the UK and New Zealand, and is delighted to visit his other home country, which he believes “punches far above its weight in advertising terms”.

The innovator and recent author is looking forward to speaking about ideas from his book, about how attention is a finite resource and one that is threatened by a tragedy of the commons.

“If we are to be leaders in this industry, we need an understanding of the parameters of attention, its quirks, how to hack it and maybe even how to stop the ‘adblocalypse’,” says Faris. 

Faris will be speaking at both OMD’s Tea and Toast event as well at its annual conference on Friday 12 February along with wife and business partner, Rosie Yakob. The couple has spent the last two years traveling the world helping brands use creativity to solve business problems. They have visited more than 30 countries, and have worked with iconic brands Marriott, Coca Cola, P&G, among others.