Skydiving, awards and the future of advertising

After three days of high impact conferences, an epic storm and lots of snow, the eighth MENA Cristal Festival came to an end on Thursday. The festival, launched in 2005 by the organizers of the Cristal Festival Europe, recognizes the best advertising creations from different media as selected by juries of international and regional advertising professionals. But it also acts as a forum for advertising executives to share ideas, debate approaches and ponder the future of the industry. Among the biggest attractions was the star guest. Having previously hosted former Soviet Union chief Mikhail Gorbachev and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, the awards have a record of high-profile figures. This year the keynote speaker was Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper who set the world record for skydiving an estimated 39 kilometers and breaking the sound barrier in October last year. What, you might ask, does an athlete –