Audiovisual Industry Promotion strategy for Mifed 2004 and future guidelines.

MIFED 2004

The 71st Mifed will take place from October 12th to 16th at Milan Fairgrounds.
The choice of the new dates has been based on the needs expressed by the market majority (attendance to the greatest number of markets) and to favour both financially and logistically sellers and non European buyers already in Europe for the market scheduled just beforehand – MipCom, 4-8 October.

Mifed will be simultaneous to and in cooperation with IBTS Crossmedia marketplace.
IBTS – yearly as of 2004 – is one of the most important international multimedia technology showcase.
Mifed and IBTS will jointly develop an integration of areas and opportunities for those fields naturally in conjunction (film digital technologies, services and training), addressed in particular to producers, directors and technicians.
The first common project, produced with TMD-Toscana Media Development, will be Location & Connection, an exhibiting area allotted to International Film Commissions, related services companies, firms and professionals which will prospect their products and services for the film and audiovisual industry.

Cost reduction plan.
Mifed 2004 will launch a number of business schemes for sellers, to freeze 2003 prices and introduce 15 to 20% discounts for advance bookings. Direct attendance cost reductions will also be guaranteed for 2005/2006.
Agreements with a number of hotels are on their way to limit hospitality costs.

Buyers hosted by Mifed.
To better guarantee select buyer attendance, a list of 100 to 150 buyers to be Mifed guests will be drafted upon explicit seller indication.

Villa Erba Screenings
The weekend before Mifed (9/10 October), selected screenings and a series of meetings on topics of common interest, between Mifed guest buyers and any company which would care to subscribe, will take place in the picturesque scenery of Villa Erba (by lake Como).


Hottest titles: Venice and Toronto
Mifed is devising both seller oriented promotions to secure “hottest titles” as first market screenings, and the possibility of assigning a green card to the most awaited films having screened in the prestigious showcase of Venice and Toronto.

A more and more “cinematographic” team
The setting up of Audiovisual Industry Promotion (joint venture between Milan Fairgrounds and Cinecittà Holding) has notably enriched Mifed staff with experts professionals from the cinema world. The latest entry is Giulia Filippelli who, drawing on extensive experience as Film and Fiction International Sales Executive will hold the position of Internal Advisor for English speaking markets.

Future guidelines
Mifed thus nears its 71st year with a wealth of offers and the assurance of being the only existing market able to widen its range since, besides holding important shareholder resources and being firmly embedded in the film industry, can lay claim to a unique asset: exhibiting space. In such view, new sectors in the audiovisual field are to be developed in future.
It must also be reminded that Mifed, besides again proving to be a reference point for the far eastern market, is also the international market closest to the two areas from which the greatest market boosts are expected: Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries.
In this sense AUDIOVISUAL INDUSTRY PROMOTION has already set off contacts for close collaboration, to be also followed through on location, with events in Russia and Egypt.

FILM INDUSTRY: MARKET INFO

In the face of frictions arising between the various markets, of problems derived from the stretching sales slump, of the development of new technologies which will take a toll on the future, Mifed has decided to carry out an in-depth survey to grasp the actual needs of the film industry.

We feel the gathered data – shown below – are useful to both markets and festivals, and have been fundamental for Audiovisual Industry Promotion to draft up the new Mifed 2004 project and future strategies.

WHAT SELLERS SAID

82% of companies which participate to international markets are small to medium size.
74% of sellers claims the need for more markets during the year, provided costs be more bearable.
75% of small to medium size sellers states that 70% (for some up to 80%)of their revenue originates from market participation (during the market and the ensuing two months). But only 25 to 30 % of big company revenue has the same source.
80% of sellers highlights cost as one of the main difficulties concerning market participation.
72% of sellers indicates “pure markets” as more effective business opportunities than mixed ones (market + festival). The market context makes buyers more receptive. The advantage of markets combined with festivals is merely their greater media coverage, which tends to favour big companies.
75% of interviewed sellers demands of “pure markets” even more time concentration, more efficiency, more technical support and more business opportunities in terms of selected buyer attendance, to be more accurately hand-picked through especially dedicated hospitality services.
68% of sellers asks for new segments (new technologies, production services, financial services etc.) to be included in film markets.

65% of American sellers declares Mifed is of prime importance for its exports (20% has abstained their assessment, while 15% vouches to be against
Mifed).

BUYER DATA

72% of interviewed buyers equates more markets with more business opportunities, both for producers and for distributors.
83% of buyers affirms the importance of attending various markets, since each tends to offer different products or conditions.
71% of buyers expects markets to select sellers better, for the guarantee of finer product supply ( more first market screenings).
76% of buyers states that Mifed’s added value resides in the optimisation of business activities


FILM INDUSTRY AND INTERNATIONAL MARKETS: DATA ANALYSIS

The analysis carried out by Mifed shows how it is necessary for the film industry to hold more markets during the year.

Another important fact is that 82% of companies which participate to international markets are small to medium size. Their product needs more commercial windows than big companies’. Their attendance does not always coincide with sales but more with the “setting off of a negotiation”, therefore they regard participation to many markets as the ideal business route.

It is mainly big companies who wish for less markets (and it is these that are the opinion leaders), probably because more direct sales opportunities are available to them, as are tools and resources more appropriate to manage their exports outside markets.

It is clear from the examined data that the only setback common to all is the cost burden of attendance. The requirement to find a balance point between all markets is now therefore evident; this to allow companies to attend as many as possible and not, on the contrary, to deprive them of valuable business opportunities.

We must furthermore widen the service range, creating a richer supply, for the market to be an instrument of growth and “gearing up for the future”, besides a mere place of business.


















LOCATION & CONNECTION

On occasion of the 71st MIFED, which will take place from the 12th to the 16th of October 2004 at Milan Fairgrounds, MIFED-AIP (Audiovisual Industry Promotion) and TMD-Toscana Media Development will join forces to develop LOCATION & CONNECTION, a new opportunity for making business contacts for anyone who works in the audiovisual and related fields.
Audiovisual production gathers a wide range of companies including those in the production phase (casting companies, producers, advertising agencies, television networks), the pre and post production sector (Film Commissions and Film Offices, photo labs, digital technologies, recording studios etc.), the tourism and service industry (hotelry institutes, tourism agencies, car rentals, interior decorators, arts and crafts, etc.), the territorial marketing and education and training institutes (local boards, marketing agencies, universities, research centres and high technology networks): the networking of these different industrial and professional situations is the background for suggestive yet technically efficient and economically competitive movie, television and advertising locations.
Companies and public administrations are becoming increasingly persuaded that audiovisual production is nowadays a decisive element in economical growth and industrial and tourism promotion, and of course of cultural strengthening.
Mifed maintains the “excellence” path and the quality boost launched in 2003, by promoting a stimulating initiative, aimed at a further enrichment of its product range.
Among the pavilions of the prestigious Italian market, LOCATION & CONNECTION, a specialized exhibiting area will be set up, celebrating the meeting of cinema and audiovisivual with beauty, taste and the search of ambiences in Italy and all over the world: a journey through suggestive images, cutting edge technologies, financial and organizational solutions addressed to various needs.

Who are Location & Connection exhibitors?
Italian and international Film Commissions, related services companies, companies and professionals hailing from different fields, who will be invited to present their own products and services through photographic presentations, video and multimedia products and reconstructions of historical or virtual sets. Qualified institutional presence is also expected.

Who are Location & Connection visitors?
Producers, directors, cinema operators.


VILLA ERBA: A SPECIAL SETTING FOR SCREENINGS


The villa’s remarkable conference center was constructed in the 90s to an architectural plan by Mario Bellini, which was inspired by the greenhouses typical of the aristocratic villas around Lake Como. It is the ideal venue for top class events of all kinds, and its huge transparent pavilion dome has witnessed many exhibitions, conferences and business conventions. The dome can take up to 1,300 people, and it is linked to three other wings called Cernobbio, Regina and Lario, which were carefully laid out to respect the historic trees in the park. The center’s actual exhibition area amounts to 6,500 square meters, divided into 280 stand areas spread around a total covered area of 11,000 square meters.

The villa is laid out on two floors joined by a central staircase, and has a turret which offers spectacular views. The tastefully frescoed rooms offer the perfect environment for receptions and exhibitions. In the summer months the broad terraced staircases leading down to the lake can offer an exclusive outdoor alternative.
The villa was built by the Erba family at the end of the nineteenth century using Mannerist-inspired architecture, in order to be able to receive the illustrious cultural,

Political and industrial figures of the turn of the century in style. In the 1920s the property came into the possession of Carla Erba who married Duke Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone: the famous director Luchino Visconti was their son, and lived in the villa.