He will join a panel of top South African Cannes Lions Judges along with local creative guru, Andy Rice as facilitator.
Entitled 'Creativity Matters', Thomas will be outlining the importance of creativity, proving its effectiveness and showcasing the biggest trends from the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Commenting on the Cannes Lions Breakfast, Thomas says, "Cannes Lions is the only true annual meeting place for the global creative communications industry, meaning that this is the place where creativity is fuelled, ideas are realised and inspiration is in abundance. To be able to bring a bit of this to South Africa and discuss what we've learnt from Cannes Lions, and why creativity in all businesses and brands is essential, is a fantastic opportunity which I am very much looking forward to."
Thomas, who began his career as a journalist, working on national and international magazines and newspapers as well as editing Empire, the UK's biggest-selling movie magazine, moved into publishing and became the MD of FHM Worldwide. He took the UK edition of the iconic men's magazine to more than 700,000 per month, establishing it as Europe's biggest-selling monthly magazine and launching editions throughout the world.
He was then appointed MD of Emap's Australian and South East Asian division, based in Sydney for three years before returning to the UK. In November 2006, he was appointed CEO of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
The division now runs seven Festivals: Cannes Lions, Lions Health, Eurobest, Dubai Lynx, Spikes Asia, Digital Asia Festival and the AMES. He is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media.
The event will be live at Ster-Kinekor Cedar Square in Johannesburg and streamed to the Cape Town audience at Ster-Kinekor Cavendish. To book, go to www.sterkinekor.com.
