Madrid will be the next stop for C2 next year as the successful Montreal-based Commerce and Creativity conference rolls out an ambitious global expansion.
Richard St. Pierre
The plan is to launch a year later in Asia then round out the line-up with annual events in the Middle East and South America.
The expansion is a strategic move to both export a Montreal vision for innovation and build a bridge to broaden the global reach of Quebec-based business. Montreal will remain the hub for the network and act as “the sun in the solar system,” Jean-Francois Bouchard, president of Sid Lee, one of the key C2 partners and curator for the three-day event.
The mindset from the launch of C2MTL three years ago was to take it global, Bouchard told Marketing. The goal is to make it a symbol of Quebec and Montreal creativity at the international level, just like Cirque de Soleil (another partner in managing C2 and a part owner of Sid Lee).
Bouchard said the partners saw an appetite and market for C2’s unique positioning in fostering bold inspiration and experimentation and it made sense to expand the event before someone else moved into the space. In some ways, the TED Talks series mines the same vein of thought leadership and inspiration but its focus is on using the digital experience to spread ideas, he explained. “We are more about being immersive in a physical experience.”
In a release, Richard St-Pierre, president of C2, said the expansion will allow its partners “to reach an immensely prestigious audience of decision makers and some of the most influential figures in the world’s business and financial circles.”
The conference wraps up Thursday with talks from movie director James Cameron and Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud, Fast Company‘s pick for this year’s most creative person in business for her work empowering women at Saudi Arabian luxury retailer Alfa Intl. Tickets for the full event top out at $3,600 and roughly 50% of attendees come from outside Canada.
