The first post on this blog was to mark the death of my great friend, Paolo Ettorre, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Italy for 15 years. Today I’d like to tell you about a special event being organized in Paolo’s memory in Rome later this month. A roundtable discussion on Paolo’s passions, social communication and creativity, will be held on 18 September. Fittingly, it will take place in Zaha Hadid’s exciting new building for The Contemporary Art and Architecture Centre for Rome. As a wonderful endorsement of how valued Paolo was, the event is being supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Communication, and the Ministry of Youth and Sport. The roundtable has a creative focus not only because Saatchi & Saatchi’s Worldwide Creative Director Bob Isherwood will participate, but because a fantastic competition will be launched and dedicated to Paolo’s memory. The competition is, of course, in search of the kind of compelling creative ideas Paolo loved. The brief for “Socially Correct” calls for a campaign to help stop the careless development of the Italian countryside. Open to all advertising schools in Italy, the winning creative couple will get a six month paid internship at Saatchi & Saatchi. Even better for the creatively ambitious, their campaign idea will be realized and aired in the Italian media. A Saatchi & Social exhibition will be launched on the same day. Advertising that furthered social causes was Paolo’s passion. I am sure that the love inspired by this great day will drift out of the museum and somehow find him.
