Irina Mushtina, CEO CF.Digital: Ad Black Sea is the place to go. Definitely!

Remember the principle of childhood computer games, like Mario: you start simple—running, jumping—then with each new level the danger increases, stairs get trickier, jumps become longer, and there are wandering fireballs and monsters falling from the sky. Everything gets harder and faster. But the preparation from previous levels brings you to level 10 nimble, focused, with lightning-fast reflexes and intuitively ready for new challenges. And of course, resilient to failures—you’ve already burned through dozens of lives.

With the Ad Black Sea festival, it went the other way for me.
By September 2016, even though I had been working in my beloved digital field for 14 years and had implemented dozens of effective, interesting projects, I had never, so to speak, appeared in public. So when colleagues from the All-Ukrainian Advertising Coalition invited me to give a talk in addition to the work we had submitted to the festival, I naturally agreed right away.

Only later did it hit me what I had gotten myself into.

An international festival in another country, very high level, with guests from Europe and the CIS. An unfamiliar but very interesting circle of top global advertising professionals. One month left until the presentation. A report in English. And not the simplest topic—“Advertising on the Edge of Technological Singularity.”
Although choosing the topic was actually the easiest part, since I had already spent a year and a half intensely exploring future technologies: the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and their application in business and advertising.

A few days before the festival began, I sincerely regretted getting involved. I was terribly nervous. But there was no turning back.

And what can I tell you? It was the best and most correct decision for both my personal growth and my understanding of how to move forward with my business.

In order:

1. Georgia is an amazing country.
   Despite the fact that it rained for all four days of our stay—only briefly giving way to the warm Caucasian sun—I had plenty of time to enjoy Batumi.

The atmosphere helps too. One night, walking back to my apartment in wet Crocs and hiding under an umbrella, I discovered a dozen geese peacefully swimming in a small city pond under the streetlights in central Batumi.

You fall in love with the people: on the very first evening, one of my sandals broke, and the apartment owner immediately offered to help and returned it the next morning glued as good as new. He also brought a whole plate of grapes and sat with me on the balcony, telling stories about how his sister makes wine, how he takes his kids to a waterfall, where to buy gifts, and even about our own Chernovetsky, who apparently lives there and is also involved in politics.

You're enchanted by the sea. Even in bad weather it feels like home—Black, Crimean—and you can sit for hours on the pebbles, sometimes dodging powerful foamy waves, and once you fail to dodge, just keep sitting there in the warm, slightly murky water.

2. The festival is the quintessence of creativity, positive emotions, professional lifehacks, and extraordinary people.
   Fascinating speakers from around the world with different views, unconventional thinking, and sometimes very assertive perspectives.
3. You are greeted by a wonderful, engaged audience, mostly young people from Georgian advertising agencies and relevant educational institutions. I was truly delighted by their interest and involvement in my topic, which was a bit unusual for a festival of this kind. At some point, the talk turned into a discussion. I showed the audience two trailers for the movie Morgan: one created by a traditional human team, and one by artificial intelligence. I asked them to guess which was which. There was lively debate and argument. I’m still in touch with some of them today.
4. The networking.
   I’ll admit, this was the hardest part for me. As comfortable as I am in my native Ukrainian advertising community, the international ad elite seemed unpredictable, with completely different rules, communication styles, and a cautious attitude toward newcomers. Or so I thought. In reality, it turned out quite differently.

Colleagues from Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Estonia, Sweden, and, of course, Ukraine turned out to be open, positive, inspired, and fun. After a couple of days, we were reluctantly parting ways as friends.

By the way, our first entry to the festival didn’t win an award.
But I learned something important: participating in festivals and conferences is an entirely separate area of activity within an agency.

Yes, we create great projects and have extensive experience and case studies, but it’s crucial to package and present them properly to a jury who sees your project for the first time and has only a few minutes to feel and evaluate it. This requires care and can’t be done hastily. That’s why festivals like this are essential, especially if it’s your first time participating at all. And if you don’t score high, go ask the jury and experienced colleagues directly: what didn’t work? Trust me, they’ll tell you.

And thorough, high-quality preparation for your talk—with a well-chosen, relevant, and useful topic for the audience, a creatively designed presentation, and at least a few hours of rehearsal—is a sign of respect.
For the audience, the organizers, and yourself.

So, if anyone is wondering: should I go to Ad Black Sea or not?
Absolutely go!
Listen, watch, meet, swim, wander, get inspired—and come back.
With new experiences, contacts, and ideas.

Iryna Mushtina, CEO CF.Digital
Material published on Sostav.ua