WORLD PRODUCERS MEET IN CANNES

Executive producers of television commercials, representing 34 countries from five continents, met in Cannes, France, recently at the first plenary assembly of the World Producers Summit. Hosted by the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) and the Commercial Film Producers of Europe (CFP-E), and underwritten by the Eastman Kodak Company, the meeting was a ground-breaking event-the first time spot producers from around the world have convened to discuss business issues that influence the international commercials production industry.

“The session in Cannes was unique and historic,” said Matt Miller, president and CEO of AICP, who together with Francois Chilot, president of CFP-E, organized and led the gathering. “We wanted to see if commercial producers around the world could come up with a unified agenda. Were we all dealing with different challenges? Or were there many issues of mutual concern, issues we could work on together? We discovered that we have more in common than we thought, and it gave us an impetus to continue to look for global solutions, jointly.”

“In this time of profound economic changes, advertisers and agencies are better structured to have a global perspective and influence on their markets, that producers, individually, do not have,” said Francois Chilot. “We expect, in time, the Summit will give producers the tools that they need to adapt themselves better and quicker to those new rules which are going to define our profession in the future.”

Attendance at the program, which took place at the Carlton Hotel during the International Advertising Festival in Cannes, was restricted to owners and stakeholders of commercial production companies. Commercial production trade associations around the world were polled and asked to recommend delegates to the assembly. The focus of this first session was on opening communications channels and defining shared issues. Delegates were enthusiastic about the goals set, and agreed to meet again in six months to address a refined agenda.

Francois Chilot concluded, “The evolution of Cannes, not so much as a festival but as a professional and international advertising forum, helps make such meetings possible and fruitful.”

Executive producers in attendance represented the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay.

CFP-E is a European federation for commercial film producers. The members are the national associations representing commercial film producers. Production companies who are members of a national organisation registered with CFP-E are automatically “associate members” of CFP-E. Overall the CFP-E represents 550 productions companies throughout Europe. Its headquarters are located in Copenhagen.

The Association of Independent Commercial Producers represents U.S. companies specializing in producing commercials for advertisers and agencies, for broadcast via customary and unconventional channels. Its members account for 85 percent of all television commercials aired nationally. With offices in New York and Los Angeles and regional chapters across the country, AICP serves as a strong collective voice for this multi-billion dollar industry.