Bas Korsten (NL)

Bas Korsten leads the creative department at J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam, where he’s Creative Partner and heads up the Global Futures Council, an advisory body that drives innovation throughout the entire JWT network. The Futures Council focuses on how creativity will transform in the years to come – which includes research into topics such as how to use tech to boost creativity, how to use A.I. to free up human creativity, and the exploration into how neuroscience and behaviour science can be best implemented into advertising. Since Bas joined JWT Amsterdam in 2011, his ambition and commitment to creativity has turned a traditional office into one of the most talked about and awarded ad agencies in the world – and made him one of the Netherlands’ most well-known creative leaders. Bas was included in Ad Age’s Creativity 50 (2016), together with Tom Ford, Prince and David Bowie. And was Adweek’s ‘One of 10 Global Creative Leaders who are reinventing the Ad industry.’ (2017). Originally, however Bas didn’t start out in the business of creativity. In fact he originally graduated as an Engineer in Logistic Management in 1992 - but quickly realizing his mistake, he followed his heart and moved into advertising. He started at Result DDB, then founded two agencies and joined J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam where he put innovation at the heart of the agency. His tenure has resulted in an unprecedented run of creativity and innovation at the agency. Recent creative high points include double Cannes Grand Prix winning The Next Rembrandt, a 3D printed painting made solely from data of Rembrandt’s body of work, created using AI, deep learning algorithms and facial recognition techniques. The campaign went around the world and back -blurring the boundaries between art and tech - and has won over 60 creative awards in the process. Another highly visible and awarded campaign is The School for Justice. A law school in India tha takes girls out of prostitution and into prosecution, by educating human trafficking survivors to become public prosecutors. Next to his work, Bas gives talks at schools and universities to share his learnings with the next generation of creative leaders.