Festival Programme

Start your morning with fresh coffee, soft background music, and friendly faces. A relaxed time to connect, get into the day, and enjoy the atmosphere before the sessions begin.

The festival officially kicks off as Orkhan Karim takes the stage for a short opening speech. A brief moment to welcome everyone and open the doors to two days full of inspiration, creativity, and connection.

The session argues that while the world turns more and more toward AI, soft skills like decision-making and taste will become paradoxically more central, bringing the edge that keeps great communication human and impactful.

Questions this session will answer:
• Which human skills will matter most in the AI era?
• Why will taste and judgment become more important?
• What keeps communication human and impactful?

This talk looks at sustainable creativity in a simple, practical way, not as a trend, but as a way of working. Through real agency experiences, it explores how to keep curiosity alive, make bold thinking feel safe, and help teams stay creatively sharp over time, focusing on what lasts, not just what is new.

Questions this session will answer:
• How do you create ideas that last beyond a single campaign?
• How do you build a culture where creativity stays consistent?
• How can teams stay creatively sharp over time?

As technology advances, audiences respond more strongly to authenticity, emotion, and shared human experience. What does it take to create a campaign that becomes the most successful in a country and is talked about worldwide?

Based on a recent campaign built purely on human emotion, this session explores why ideas rooted in empathy travel further than those driven by innovation alone, and how creativity is shifting from capturing attention to creating meaning and building connection.

Questions this session will answer:
• What makes a campaign truly successful today?
• Why do emotion and empathy outperform complex solutions?
• How is creativity shifting from attention to meaning?

This panel explores the balance between personal image and brand identity across creative industries. When does the artist shape the brand, and when does the brand start shaping the artist? A closer look at visibility, control, and long term positioning.

Questions this session will answer:
• Who leads the narrative, the artist or the brand?
• How does visibility impact artistic identity over time?
• When does branding start to limit creative freedom?

This session reflects an honest thought: compared to life-saving or socially critical jobs, marketing can feel pointless. At the same time, this is where the contradiction appears. Marketing is deeply embedded in pop culture, shaping trends, influencing desires, creating symbols, and affecting how people see the world. Even if it's not essential, it's everywhere.

Questions this session will answer:
• Why can marketing feel pointless compared to other professions?
• How does marketing shape culture and influence people?
• Why does marketing remain powerful even if it feels non-essential?

Ana will share how she started her career in stop motion animation in Georgia, how she established her own studio, built her team from zero, and turned her craft into a business while continuing her personal artistic projects. She'll also talk about her experience building relationships with international residencies and studios, and how she manages to do what she loves while making a living.

Questions this session will answer:
• How do you turn a creative craft into a sustainable career?
• What does it take to build a studio and a team from scratch?
• How do you balance artistic work with making a living?

AI is transforming marketing, but on TikTok, creativity remains the engine of performance. Automation helps brands test ideas faster, optimize campaigns, and connect content with the right communities at scale. A shift in the role of marketers, from managing campaigns to designing creative systems that continuously learn and evolve.

Questions this session will answer:
• How is AI changing the role of marketers on platforms like TikTok?
• How can brands scale creativity without losing relevance?
• How does automation improve performance in real time?

The world doesn’t need more data, algorithms, and KPIs; it needs effectiveness built on empathy rather than time and money, or just more brandy. A perspective on how emotion, intuition, and human connection still shape meaningful marketing.

Questions this session will answer:
• What is missing in today’s data-driven marketing approach?
• Why does empathy matter more than efficiency alone?
• How can brands stay human in a digital-first world?

AI is reshaping filmmaking and redefining the role of creators in the process. Where does human creativity stand when tools can generate, edit, and produce? A closer look at authorship, control, and the future of creative work in film.

Questions this session will answer
• How is AI changing the filmmaking process?
• What defines authorship in AI assisted creation?
• Where does human creativity still hold its edge?

A look into how this year’s Young Lions Azerbaijan jury evaluated the work. What stood out, what was missing, and what made certain ideas stronger than others. A practical breakdown of how creative work is judged and what it takes to stand out.

Questions this session will answer:
• What do juries actually look for when evaluating creative work?
• What separated the strongest entries from the rest this year?
• What common mistakes weakened otherwise good ideas?

Join us as we celebrate the brightest young talents of Azerbaijan’s creative industry at the Young Lions Azerbaijan Award Show. Winners in Print, Film, and Design will take the stage and earn the chance to represent Azerbaijan at the Cannes Lions 2026.

Orkhan Zeynalli delivers a special performance for Baku Flames 2026, bringing together music, energy, and atmosphere to carry the night forward.

The night continues with music, energy, and an open dance floor as Vugarixx takes over with a set built to move the crowd. People connect, dance, and keep the night going together.

Start your morning with fresh coffee, soft background music, and friendly faces. A relaxed time to connect, get into the day, and enjoy the atmosphere before the sessions begin.

Good advertising craft once required campaigns to be integrated, but today the reverse is true and campaigns need to be disintegrated. This shift is made possible and necessary by the nature and capabilities of AI powered media that offer intimacy and immediacy. This speech focuses on ways to make campaigns diverse, but never “all over the place”.

Questions this session will answer:
• How should campaigns be designed for paid social today?
• How do you make the most of attention that comes in short bursts?
• How can you experiment while staying relevant in the age of AI?

Why most advertising is skipped and what actually cuts through. What if the problem isn’t that people aren’t paying attention, but that most brands don’t deserve it?

This talk explores the shift from attention grabbing to attention worthy, showing how the most effective ideas attract rather than interrupt, and how to create work people choose to watch, share, and remember.

Questions this session will answer:
• Why is most advertising ignored today?
• What makes ideas truly attention worthy?
• How can brands create work people choose to engage with?

Today, fans expect more than a logo on a shirt or a message on a screen. They want to feel part of something bigger.

This panel explores how brands, clubs, media and culture makers can turn passion into lasting communities. Through football, music, storytelling and shared experiences, the conversation looks at how modern brand partnerships can move beyond sponsorship and create real emotional connection.

Questions this session will answer:
•⁠ ⁠How do brands turn fans into communities?
•⁠ ⁠What makes a brand experience feel real?
•⁠ ⁠How can culture create stronger emotional connection?

Creativity is no longer a human monopoly. Synthetic creators are emerging as autonomous, evolving systems that originate ideas, not just assist in making them. A closer look at how these systems are reshaping the role of creativity and authorship.

Questions this session will answer:
• What are synthetic creators and how do they work?
• How does AI move from assisting to originating ideas?
• What happens to authorship when creativity is no longer human only?

For years, brands have led with purpose, sustainability, and big promises, yet trust is down and impact feels questionable. Drawing on two decades of experience, this keynote explores why purpose led marketing reached its breaking point and why brands became the hero while people were left out.

A new approach to creativity that shifts focus from what brands want to say to what people actually need.

Questions this session will answer:
• Why did purpose led marketing lose its impact?
• What went wrong in how brands position themselves?
• How should creativity shift to create real change?

Gen AI is changing the rules of the content creation game, and this talk looks at how brands can leverage these innovations to boost both the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, including work produced by his team. It also highlights how these shifts are shaping new expectations for speed, output, and creative performance.

Questions this session will answer:
• How is Gen AI changing the rules of content creation?
• How can brands use Gen AI to improve marketing performance?
• How can efficiency and effectiveness be improved at the same time?

In an era of growing digital noise, this session looks at the power of authenticity, how to build real connections with audiences, and where new media is heading. A conversation around cutting through the noise, creating meaningful engagement, and understanding how AI is shaping content and communication today.

Questions this session will answer:
• How can brands stand out in an increasingly noisy digital space?
• What builds real connection with audiences today?
• How is AI influencing the future of new media?

A discussion on how technology, media consumption, and AI are reshaping how people think, learn, and process information. Are we becoming less capable, or just different? A closer look at attention, critical thinking, and the real impact of digital environments on the next generation.

Questions this session will answer:
• Is technology reducing or reshaping intelligence?
• How do media habits affect attention and thinking skills?
• What role does AI play in how the next generation learns and creates?

A look into how this year’s Baku Flames jury evaluated the work across different tracks. What stood out, what made certain ideas stronger, and what separated winners from the rest. A practical breakdown of how top level creative work is judged.

Questions this session will answer:
• What do jury presidents look for across different categories?
• What made the winning work stand out this year?
• What common patterns appear in the strongest entries?

The best work from across the region and beyond comes together on one stage. The evening begins with the Azerbaijan awards, followed by the global awards, recognizing agencies, brands, and creative talent for the ideas that stood out this year. A moment to see what worked, what moved people, and what set the bar higher.

Chingiz Mustafayev takes the stage with a special live performance, bringing his blend of pop and ethnic sounds to Baku Flames. A high energy moment before the final party that carries the festival into its closing night.

The final night belongs to the dance floor. Sheereen brings a set that keeps the energy going, with everyone on the dance floor, closing the festival together through music and shared moments.