SapientNitro, part of Sapient (NASDAQ: SAPE), announced today that Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Jonze will join its keynote seminar ‘Meet The Disruptors’ at Cannes Lions 2014.

The acclaimed writer-director, who won this year’s Oscar for ‘best original screenplay’ with Her, will take to the Cannes main stage with SapientNitro’s Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Gaston Legorburu, to discuss the future of stories and experiences in an always-on, increasingly connected world driven by constantly evolving technologies.

‘Meet The Disruptors’ (15.00 CEST, Monday 16 June 2014 – Grand Auditorium Theatre, Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France) will examine how companies can harness changing human behavior to create interactive, immersive experiences that excite, captivate and inspire, thereby creating a deeper connection between brand and consumer.

The seminar will present a vision for the next generation of successful brands – brands that will transform from telling stories with words and images to creating worlds in which consumers can immerse themselves.

Jonze comes to Cannes Lions on the back of a recent body of work that explores an emerging symbiosis between humanity and technology, told through stories about human emotions, relationships and behaviours in a world where technology is essential and ubiquitous to the point of invisibility. Jonze’s 2010 short film, I’m Here, tells the story of two robots living in Los Angeles where humans and robots co-exist. His 2013 feature film, Her, charts the experience of Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) as he purchases and then falls in love with the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system OS1, voiced by ‘Samantha’ (Scarlett Johansson).

Jonze’s creative reputation traverses feature films (Being John Malkovich, Jackass, Where The Wild Things Are), music videos (Beastie Boys Sabotage, Fatboy Slim Praise You) and commercials (IKEA Lamp, Gap Dust, Adidas Hello Tomorrow). His ad Lamp for IKEA won the film Grand Prix at Cannes in 2003, beating favourite Honda’s Cog to the prize.

Legorburu returns to the Cannes Lions main stage following last year’s hugely successful 2013 ‘Meet The Disruptors’ session with fashion icon Dame Vivienne Westwood. He has since co-authored New York Times bestseller Storyscaping; Stop Creating Ads, Start Creating Worlds – which provides marketers with the tools to move from “stories told” to “stories lived.” At Cannes Lions 2014, Legorburu will engage Jonze on the opportunities for business and marketing leaders to transform their brand stories into worlds of experience and consumer participation.

Legorburu, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at SapientNitro, said: “Meet The Disruptors is all about engaging with visionary individuals whose work exists at the intersection of technology and story. Spike Jonze’s unique take on omnipresent technology and the human condition provides a perfect platform from which to explore opportunities for brands to build not just compelling story lines, but technology-enabled, always-on intelligent story systems.”

About Gaston Legorburu

Gaston Legorburu is Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of SapientNitro, a new breed of agency that is redefining storytelling for an always-on world. Recognized by Adweek 50 as a game-changer who is modeling the agency of the future, Gaston sets much of the strategic and creative vision for the agency and provides clients forward-thinking insights on their most critical marketing challenges. This has earned him the honor of many recognitions in marketing and advertising and a seat on the juries of such prestigious advertising award shows as D&AD, Cannes Festival of Creativity, ADC, the One Show and the Webbys. Legorburu will be a member of the Cannes Titanium and Integrated Lions Jury for 2014.

About SapientNitro

SapientNitro^SM, part of Sapient® (NASDAQ: SAPE), is a new breed of agency redefining storytelling for an always-on world. We’re changing the way our clients engage today’s connected consumers by uniquely creating integrated, immersive stories across brand communications, digital engagement and omni-channel commerce. We call it Storyscaping, where art and imagination meet the power and scale of systems thinking. SapientNitro’s unique combination of creative, brand and technology expertise results in one global team collaborating across disciplines, perspectives and continents to create game-changing success for our Global 1000 clients, such as Chrysler, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Lufthansa, Target and Vodafone, in 31 cities across The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. For more information, visit www.sapientnitro.com.

Sapient is a registered service mark of Sapient Corporation.