Client Veneto Exhibitions Srl: the company's capital is held by VeronaFiere (with 70%) and Veneto Sviluppo SpA (a finance company whose associates include the Veneto Region and important national and regional banking groups)
Location Verona
Typology of the project and activity Event format renewal - Progect management - Strategic and artistic consultancy - Coordination and Production - Partnership & Co-marketing - Branding
Objectives
- To maximize the potential of the most advanced international showcase of luxury and to revamp its format
- To create an event that features all categories of commodities, in a mix of image and direct-business
- To make Luxury & Yachts a kaleidoscope of the most significant expressions of modern luxury so as to explore, encompass, and select the most innovative visions in the sector
Strategic guidelines
Veneto Exhibitions Srl signed a partnership with MAC Group to create 'the new vision of luxury', and to evolve its exhibition concept so as to allow luxury to narrate to the eyes of its beholders an extraordinary story suited to our times.
To draw visitors and exhibitors to discover 'The new vision of luxury', MAC Group developed a set of paths dedicated to prestige, innovation, aesthetics, and elegance.
These four paths of style were presented as such: four ways to experience the International Show of Luxury - four interpretive visions, in which each visitor could find their own style, creating a leitmotiv for the show's experience. The four visions luxury was divided into were:
- CLASSIC - refined, artisan, elite, elegant, dignified, comfortable, lasting
- INNOVATIVE - technological, designer, creative, sophisticated, youthful, trend setter
- DISTINGUISHED - aristocratic, stately, emulative, romantic, dreamy, inaccessible
- FLAMBOYANT - ostentatious, artful, fantastical, irreverent, excessive, exhibitionist
Action
In partnership with Veneto Exhibitions Srl, MAC Group contributed to defining the project's guidelines, tackling a variety of components: defining the new exhibition format, deciding communications and marketing, handling business management, and coordinating suppliers. Coordination of the exhibition event's finances, design, and production was also entrusted to MAC Group.
Communications and marketing decisions led to a revolution of the Show's brand, image, and claim: with the assistance of a communications agency, a new coordinated ironic image was selected (featuring a look-alike of one of the most famous crowned heads in the world), as well as a new pay-off 'The luxury of the past is no more', fitted to the unique climate of 2011.
Luxury & Yachts brought together top international brands, creating a programme of events that filled three pavilions in the VeronaFiere exhibition centre from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th November 2011.
The inauguration took place with the participation of important institutional figures: cutting the ribbon were the President of VeronaFiere Ettore Riello, the Mayor of Verona Flavio Tosi, the Regional Councillor of the Veneto Massimo Giorgetti, and the President of the Province of Verona Giovanni Miozzi, along with the consul of Spain in Milan Emilio Fernandez Castaño.
MAC Group decided to involve the SDA Bocconi School of Management, making it the protagonist of a round table organized on the Show's preview day. The subject of the relationship between the luxury industry and family businesses in Italy was extensively discussed within the 'Luxury & Family Business' conference. The choice of the opening's focus was key with respect to the new direction of the Show: no longer is it only an exhibition event, but it is now also an opportunity for in-depth study and discussion between experts addressing the luxury industry in Italy today, 80% of which is represented by companies that embody brands tied to a history of family excellence.
The speaker's table, moderated by Luana Carcano (SDA Bocconi School of Management - Alberto Falck Chair in Strategic Management in Family Business) and Daniela Montemerlo (SDA Bocconi School of Management - University of Insubria), included: Alessandro Favaretto Rubelli (Rubelli Group), Barbara Amerio (Permare Group), Paolo Re (Recarlo Spa), and Paolo di Taranto (Zagato).
Added to the Show this year was a completely new component: a pavilion dedicated to Food & Wine that transformed itself into a lounge where visitors could enjoy an extraordinary experience in the name of quality and the stars of the food and wine universe triumphed. The Exclusive Area was in fact animated by the skills and flavours of four great masters of Italian cuisine: Damiano Donati, Nicola Portinari, Matteo Baronetto (the alter ego chef of Carlo Cracco), and Aurora Mazzucchelli. Twice a day, the elegant lounge hosted their culinary performances, which won over the public with recipes of pure art that skilfully highlighted the multi-territoriality and variety of Italy's distinguished culinary tradition.
Luxury & Yachts was further enriched by a FuoriSalone (i.e. 'Outside the Show') project: in conjunction with the exhibition event, members of the Veronese 'Negozi per il Centro' ('Shops for the Centre') Association brilliantly showed off products representing the highest expression of luxury. Among the prestigious boutiques that participated in the initiative were Montblanc, Cartier, Damiani, Gucci, and Dolce&Gabbana, just to name a few. What's more, the showrooms organized exclusive events within their spaces, offering a 10% discount on any purchases made by visitors arriving from Luxury & Yachts.
An integral part of the 'FuoriSalone' was the collaboration agreement arranged with the Town of Verona for cultural events supported by the government: visitors to the Show were offered reduced rates on admission to a number of exhibits underway in the city.
Within the 'FuoriSalone' events of Luxury & Yachts 2011, MAC Group organized an exclusive dinner in Verona in the spectacular setting of the 16th century Palazzo Giusto under the aegis of uniques special ones®: the engagement offered the perfect opportunity for unveiling the dates and innovations of next year's uniques.
Finally, one last innovation this year was the decision to donate a part of the proceeds to Unicef in support of its charitable initiatives. One euro from each admission ticket was in fact donated to the United Nations Children's Fund, whose mission is to protect and promote the rights of children and adolescents throughout the world, as well as to contribute to improving their living conditions.
The numbers
- 170 exhibitors
- 20,000 m2 of tradeshow area used
- 10,000 visitors
- over 130 accredited journalists
- over 230 press clippings
