Great Eight: the 'Uber' Among Festivals?

Last week Moscow hosted its first festival of digital creativity – Great Eight Festival organised by Red Keds creative agency. The goal of the festival was to unite creative people from all over the world and establish a welcoming environment for the development of the creative industry. 

G8 Festival offered 30 nominations, divided into six categories: Interactive projects, Media, Craft, Social Media, Mobile and Innovation. 

The festival immediately attracted attention due to the fact that participants had an amazing and rare opportunity to submit an unlimited number of works for the contest at a democratic price - only $1 for an application - so everyone can afford it.

"We are 'Uber' among festivals," joked G8 CEO Vitaly Bykov.

The name 'Great Eight' was chosen not without a reason: eight top Сhief Сreative Officers were invited to become Grand Jury members:

- Malcolm Poynton – CCO Cheil Worldwide Network

- Claudio Lima – CCO Ogilvy Brazil

- Michael Knox – CCO Grey HK

- Ferdinando Verderi – Co-founder and creative director Johannes Leonardo

- Andre Kassu – CCO and Partner CP+B Brazil&Miami

- Eric Schoeffler – ECD Havas Europe

- Dave Roberts – Executive Brand Director The Partners UK

- Nico Ammann – ECD Heimat Zürich

The Great Eight jury members were in charge of the short-list and voting for winners,  who were announced on 28th November during the awards ceremony.

The Grand Prix went to creative agency POSSIBLE for the work 'Earth 2050', in which famous futurists, researchers, artists and scientists were engaged to predict what Earth will look like in 2050. Possible created an interactive platform that provides a glimpse of the future based on these predictions, a collection of 360-degree views of cities across the globe showing concepts dreamt up by professional futurologists and designers.

G8 also had an educational part: a two-day conference with 70 speakers, including the Great Eight members. The conference was divided into seven sections: Communications, Event, Design, Media, Bloggers, Digital, Local fashion and took place on 27-28th November. 

In the future G8 is planning to cover not only digital advertising. The festival will gradually connect all areas of creativity: architecture, music, fashion, contemporary art, IT and so on, which is a big opportunity for creative industries in Eastern Europe to grow fast.