Conversations Around The World

Today, The Internationalist talks with Tijmen Bos, Commercial Director of Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix in Amsterdam. Interestingly, auto racing’s highest class of single-seater competition was scheduled to take place at Circuit Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands earlier this month.  The event, of course, was officially postponed; however, 2020 and subsequent years represent the return to Formula 1 for the Heineken Dutch Grand Prix after the Netherlands hosted the races from 1948 to 1985.  According to Tijmen Bos, bringing back Formula 1 after 35 years was big news to Dutch fans—especially to Heineken as lead sponsor.  Yet, despite the postponement, all 400 supporting companies—of all sizes— have continued to back the race.

Today, The Internationalist talks with Stéphane Coruble, Managing Director of RTL/AdConnect, the advertiser connection into RTL Group, the Luxembourg-based digital media group. RTL’s origins began in 1924 as a single radio station, which grew to become Radio Television Luxembourg. Now RTL Group is a leader across broadcast, content and digital, with interests in 60 television channels, eight streaming platforms and 30 radio stations. Stéphane Coruble has been part of the company for 20 years with multiple roles in Belgium and now in Luxembourg with global responsibilities.

Today, The Internationalist talks with Morten Pedersen, Founder of Glue2020, an international media advisory firm. Originally from Denmark, Morten Pedersen lives between London and Paris, and is currently confined to the Paris suburbs with his family. For the past 25 years, he has been working as a consultant to some of the world’s largest corporations by helping to prepare and execute communications strategies and build good practices within marketers’ organizations and with their agency partners.

Today, The Internationalist talks with Erin Bruehl, Director of Communications at Current, a leading U.S. challenger bank that provides premium banking for everyone, as she shelters in place in New York City. She and her team are working around-the-clock to provide much-needed information and services to Current’s customers-- especially updates on financial resources available to them during the crisis.

Today, The Internationalist talks with Stephan Loerke, CEO of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) who has been living in lockdown in Brussels since March 18th when Belgium closed schools, restaurants, cafes and gyms, and told its citizens to stay home. The country’s National Security Council has decided to extend coronavirus containment measures until April 19th; however, if there is no decrease in the number of hospital admissions by then, the lockdown will extend to May 3rd.

Today, The Internationalist talks with Mike Cooper, Group CEO, APAC and EMEA of Omnicom Media Group, who has moved out of London for the time being as millions across the UK have been urged to work from home and avoid unnecessary travel or “non-essential contact.” Tens of thousands of people across Britain have been tested for coronavirus, and although London has the most cases, all areas of the country have been affected. Currently, there are over 8,000 known cases and have been over 400 deaths. The government has put a strict lockdown in place which closes pubs, restaurants and shops, while people have been told not to gather in groups of more than two.

By Deborah Malone, Founder of The Internationalist
 
Today, The Internationalist talks with Enrico Quaroni who is living in lockdown in Milan.  Italy has been particularly hard hit by the Coronavirus, with roughly 3,500 deaths thus far.  The country also has the world’s second-oldest population--23% of Italians are over the age of 65. (This compares with 16% in the US.)  University of Oxford researchers recently concluded that Italy is suffering so severely from COVID19 because the elderly are so prevalent in society and the young spend lots of time with them, particularly their cherished grandparents.