MIPTV featuring MILIA 2008 will see advertisers and brands out in force, both in the conference programme and the exhibition space.

Richard Dickson, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Media & Entertainment, Mattel Brands, will give the Advertising Keynote on Tuesday 8 April and Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group, will give the opening speech of the Mobile Media day on Wednesday 9 April. Ogilvy will also be the first advertising agency to exhibit at MIPTV featuring MILIA and is a sponsor of the advertising and media conference track which will take place on Tuesday 8 April.

Global advertising agencies and their subsidiaries and affiliated companies from several countries are on the rise at MIPTV featuring MILIA this April: including TBWA, Havas Entertainment, Euro RSCG, WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne Worldwide, OgilvyAction and some of the many global brands to participate will be Dove, Nike, American Express, Fanta, Ford, BP and Kodak.

Commenting on the growing force of digital for both the advertising industry and content producers , Paul Johnson, Director of the Television Division for Reed MIDEM, said, “All of the distribution solutions, whether they are traditional or digital, will increasingly need a strong advertising partner in order to succeed in a cross-platform world.

The growth of advertising agencies and brands participating at MIPTV featuring MILIA 2008 reflects their sincere desire to join the entertainment content production and distribution players – at a development stage - as strategic partners.”

In his keynote speech entitled “The Evolution of a Living Brand,” marketing pioneer, Richard Dickson will share his experience in evolving an American icon, Barbie, to continue to stay relevant after 50 years of existence. He will also explore how Mattel, a leader in toy manufacturing, branded entertainment, online and kids’ advertising, is harnessing its Intellectual Property to challenge how brands and media will work together to engage today’s digital consumer.

Richard Dickson’s keynote will close the “Advertising & Media Day” which will gather major brands and advertising agencies with entertainment content producers and distributors. Rory Sutherland will give the opening speech of the Mobile Media day entitled, “Engaging the Consumers in new ways: The Power of Mobile”. He will examine how mobile could play a unique and important role in engaging consumers with brands, through personalized or location-specific advertising content.

For the second year, Ogilvy will sponsor a category in MIPTV’s international cross media competition, Content 360. Ogilvy’s category, entitled “Using the power of the brand for the power of good,” attracted more than 100 projects from 27 countries this year and has already drawn interest from several multinational brands including American Express, Fanta, Ford, BP and Dove.

The competition’s goal is to champion the potential of new media producers worldwide and help them deliver innovative digital services and applications. The BBC, The National Film Board of Canada and The Korean Broadcasting Commission also have categories in the event.