Stockholm, Seal Beach, Calif. and Wellington, December 31 (JY&A Media) The Medinge Group, a Stockholm-based think-tank on international branding, will conduct a round table discussion at the CELSA campus of La Sorbonne in Paris on Friday afternoon, February 6, 2009. The group will share ideas about brand creation and relationship-building in the wake of the current economic crisis.
   The Medinge Group bases its core ideas on humanism and compassionate conduct, and strives to influence organizations from the inside and out through an annual series of initiatives. These include yearly dialogues on the brand discipline, an awards’ programme, and publication of an annual online journal of their evolving thought. Medinge is composed of 18 career professionals, representing interdisciplinary practices (strategy, place branding, high technology, luxury, consumer goods, narrative, industry, NGOs, academia). See www.medinge.org for more information.
   The round table at La Sorbonne/CELSA will begin with comments on why flat communications preclude building genuine relationships between brands and consumers in the business environment. Thanks to Medinge’s international membership, participants from the group will introduce perspectives from the UK, Sweden, Russia, France and the USA.

Panel title
Can branding help counter the current crisis in your country? A Round Table with the Medinge Group.

Date
Friday, 6 February 2009, 2–4 p.m.
The panel will run from 2 to 4 p.m., in the format of a one-hour discussion, followed by a Q&A.

Venue
CELSA École des hautes études en sciences de l’information et de la communication
77, rue de Villiers
92200 Neuilly sur Seine
Téléphone 33 1 46-43-76-76
Télécopie 33 1 47-45-66-04
Mél

Panellist bios in brief
Pierre d’Huy, moderator
   M. d’Huy, Medinge director and CELSA alumnus, today teaches Branding and Innovation Strategy in CELSA’s curriculum. He also serves as Dean of International Education at MIP (Management Institute of Paris), and consults privately to global business. As the inviting professor, he will moderate the panel.

Thomas Gad
   Mr Gad, Founder and Chairman of the Medinge Group, is a distinguished brand professional and a principal at the Stockholm-based Brandflight. He was international creative director at Grey Advertising for 17 years. His practice encompasses brand development, communication and advertising solutions in Scandinavia, western Europe and Russia. Thomas is the author of 4-D Branding, with a foreword by Sir Richard Branson (London: Financial Times–Prentice Hall, 2001).

Ava Hakim
   Ms Hakim, an executive for IBM Global Solutions, develops large-scale projects internationally from a base in Chicago.

Patrick Harris
   Patrick is a world-class brand strategist based in London. His work for France Telecom–Orange was a cornerstone of that brand’s foundation.

Nicholas Ind
   Oslo-based, Dr Ind has worked with prominent NGOs, including Greenpeace. He is a widely published author, expert and respected public speaker.

Sergei Mitrofanov
   A specialist in the emerging Russian market, Sergei serves as director of the Medinge Group, and CEO of Brandflight’s Moscow office.

Stanley Moss
   CEO of the Medinge Group, Mr Moss has broad experience in international business, finance and luxury brands. He is founder and principal of Diganzi, and divides his time between Seal Beach, California and Europe.

Anette Rosencreutz
   Ms Rosencreutz, a founder and director of Medinge and a principal of Brandflight in Stockholm, is an authority on personal branding, a published author and brand advocate.

Ian Ryder
   Mr Ryder is CEO of the British Computer Society, and a Director of the Medinge Group. He is former VP Marketing for Hewlett Packard, and VP Brand and Strategy for Unisys.

About University Paris–Sorbonne
Founded in 1257, la Sorbonne offers an enriching and coherent curriculum in the field of the humanities: languages, literature, and the human and social sciences, to a population of 26,000 students.

About CELSA
Founded in 1965, CELSA is the ‘Grande École’ of University of La Sorbonne on SIC (Information and Communication Science). CELSA offers postgraduate and doctoral degree programmes in communications, human resources, marketing and advertising, multimedia and journalism. Recognized for the quality of its courses and teaching faculty, the school trains 800 students and professionals each year.
   A decade ago CELSA was first in France to launch a Master 2 (M.Sc.) programme in the branding specialization, training students to become brand strategists or strategic planners primarily in advertising and communications.

About the Medinge Group
Founded in 2002, the Medinge Group first published a brand manifesto of eight statements encapsulating a vision of healthy brands for the future. In 2003, the group authored a collection of essays entitled Beyond Branding, which explored the ways in which brands could add value within alternative business and social models. In 2004, the group established the annual Brands with a Conscience list to recognize organizations who epitomize humanistic behaviour; in 2006, Medinge added a special category of recognition named in honour of its late colleague Colin Morley, which acknowledges excellence by an NGO, in keeping with Colin’s humanistic vision. The Medinge Group maintains an online, automated speakers’ and experts’ bureau accessible through its web site, www.medinge.org. In 2007 Medinge launched an online resource, The Journal of the Medinge Group, a digital anthology of papers and articles written by Medinge members.

Related sites
The Medinge Group www.medinge.org
Medinge Säteri www.medinge.com

Related documents
The Medinge Group fact sheet
The Medinge Group Q&A
Brands with a Conscience criteria
The Medinge Group Brand Manifesto
The Medinge Group members’ roster