Business

Mondadori Media is now an even greater key player of the creator economy and influencer marketing thanks to its acquisition of Power from the Human Vs. Machine group.

Power manages an exclusive roster of young talents of various artistic backgrounds and a very active social media community. This operation allows the Mondadori Group to further affirm itself in an increasingly more strategic and rapidly growing segment, thus strengthening the successful partnership developed over the years with both its media brands and the trendiest creators and influencers of the moment.

Thanks to  Power Talent Agency, Mondadori Media becomes an even more important Italian point of reference of the social media and creator economy through a distinctive offer focused on the new generations, a segment in which the company has become a key player thanks to The Wom, the first fully inclusive social magazine, Zenzero, the talent agency of the best Italian food creators, and Webboh, the first recently acquired Italian GenZ community.

In 2022, the talent agency, which had already been operating for some years, achieved over 200 communication projects with a particular focus on the beauty, fashion and lifestyle segments. Today, Power Talent Agency is on the market with a renewed graphic communication and logo, but will also soon launch an even more complete and distinctive offer of talents and creators.

Power Talent Agency’s team will work with the talents to offer branded content initiatives and effective communication campaigns to its partners companies on all online and offline channels. Projects will henceforth also be able to benefit from the opportunities arising from the integration of the Mondadori Media brands to implement very captivating contents in terms of communication, language and style. The goal is that of creating authentic stories for all target segments, especially for the genZ and young millennialZ public.

POWER TALENT AGENCY’S TEAM

Power Talent Agency is led by an all-female Board of Directors made up of: Alessandra Rigolio, CEO of both the new agency and Zenzero Talent Agency; Daniela Cerrato, Marketing Director of Mondadori Media, as President, and Jessica Piga who, as Head of Talent Manager, will rely on her experience to manage the talents and to implement influencer marketing projects. Luigi D’Alterio is also part of Power Talent Agency’s team as the agency’s Sales Director, a position he will carry out along with the one he holds as Sales Director of Zenzero Talent Agency and Hej!.

“Following Zenzero’s recent launch, we will continue to pursue the strategy undertaken with Power Talent Agency in the creator economy and to further expand among other segments. We plan on developing innovative and unconventional communication initiatives together with the young professionals of our roster by focusing on the strength and uniqueness of each talent. The intention is to create engaging contents in line with the most recent trends and languages to put sponsor brands in touch with the public of reference and to create value,” stated Alessandra Rigolio, CEO of Power Talent Agency.

THE AGENCY’S ROSTER

Power Talent Agency’s leading face is 26-year old Ludovica Bizzaglia: actress, author and talent creator, she became a main figure on the social media for her commitment to women’s empowerment, skin positivity and self-acceptance.

Alongside Ludovica, an ever-growing team made up of professionals capable of putting their talent at the service of initiatives in various segments to reach a total of 5 million followers and 12 million views each month with their projects: from Diletta Begali, a youtuber known for her storytimes in which she talks about travelling and her daily life, to Camilla Mangiapelo, who – following her début on TV – now shares her passion for make-up, skincare and fitness on the social networks, not to mention Giulia Bellu, actress from the age of 5 and current TikTok star, or even Miriam Candurro, a face of the popular TV series “Un posto al Sole” [A spot under the Sun].

The agency’s exclusive roster is further made up of the young mother Nicole Pizzato, the actress Giulia Elettra Gorietti, the photographer Umberto Buglione, the anchorwoman Manola Moslehi and the personal trainers Mattia Valli and Chiara Dainese.

“Being part of Power Talent Agency means sharing values such as transparency, trust, determination and passion. For years now, we’ve been sharing every success and new challenge with our talents, and none of this would have been possible without the increasingly stronger work relationship developed between the artists and talent managers. Our roster is made up of one-of-a-kind professionals and such uniqueness allows us to offer increasingly more original, engaging and tailor-made projects full of values to our clients, thanks to the use of credible, spontaneous, direct and captivating stories,” stated Jessica Piga, Talent Manager Director of Power Talent Agency.

The agency’s team will work in full synergy with Mediamond and its Brand On Solutions structure with the intent of offering influencer marketing projects and branded content initiatives to the market and individual brands.

One month after its launch, Zenzero, the talent agency of top Italian food creators, has already raised great interest among the influencer marketing segment thanks to a roster of quality talents and to the absolutely important numbers achieved through a one of a kind, dynamic and innovative formula.

Based on the experience of Giallozafferano, the leading Italian food media brand, One Shot Agency and five top food creators of the Italian digital scene – Daniele Rossi, Cooker Girl, Diletta Secco, Rosy Chin and Luisa Orizio – Zenzero now boasts over 25 million total followers, 450 million video views and 25 million interactions each month thanks to its growing hub of creators.

Its winning formula consists in working directly with the best food talents and in relying on their creativity for projects aimed at addressing brands’ increasingly stronger need to intercept the passions, values and new languages of the Z Generation.

A first month full of initiatives
Zenzero is actively working on more than 70 new project opportunities with the brands. Moreover, the agency has been participating in the most important events of the industry, at which Zenzero’s young faces and fresh and original spirit have already raised great interest within the first few weeks.
This from UPA’s Influencer Marketing to the Digital Innovation Days, From Influence Day to the IAB Forum, and all the way up to Largo Consumo’s and WomenX impact’s “2023 Best Insignia” event. The new agency’s talents were the protagonists of these events, at which they revealed their stories, experiences and ingredients used to successfully conquer the young generations.

Next? The important partnership involving the co-founder of the Daniele Rossi Agency and the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Japan. On December 2, the Tuscan chef renowned for his modern and refined way of interpreting traditional culinary specialities will be the Executive Chef at the Gala Dinner planned in Tokyo for the association’s 50th anniversary. This one of a kind setting filled with illustrious guests and prominent personalities will allow the chef to make a unique experience in the area and to learn more about the Japanese culture by experimenting with new flavours, techniques and ingredients. The chef will share these culinary encounters in detail with the community via his social profiles.

Such high-impact initiatives demonstrate the new agency’s strength and how it’s able to enhance both the originality and distinctive positioning of each individual talent and the vastness of the food world through transversal projects – achieved also thanks to its strong partnership with Giallozafferano and to its synergy with Mediamond – which are deemed to make its various facets, popularity and lifestyles stand out.

Last night, Zenzero decided to share such vibrant beginning with “Spice Up Your Night”, an exclusive evening organised in the setting of the new Tripstillery club in the heart of Milan. The event was the first time the new agency was able to gather its numerous talents to celebrate together with brands, agencies and media centres.

Zenzero just keeps on going. Young talents, including international ones, of the food world capable of triggering a passion for cooking, even among the Z Generation – which represents an increasingly growing target of the industry – were recently added to the agency’s roster of new creators.

Among the new faces, there is Evasfoodaddiction’s Eva Andrini, a young economics and management student who conquered thousands of followers with her simplicity and passion in a very short time, and the seventeen-year-old Aisha Ben Thabet, known by all as The Avokiddo. Aisha learned how to cook through a video game, has been making her way around the kitchen since she was 5 and was a participant of Junior Masterchef.
There is also the young talent of Cooking With Bello, who went from being a dancer to a successful food creator. His passion for cooking was transmitted to him by both his mother and grandmother, a passion he combined with his technical skills to turn iconic Italian recipes into fun and ironic videos. Last but not least, there is Ivana Ester Marr, from “Studenti ai fornelli” (Students in the Kitchen), a creative, entrepreneurial talent always in search of the perfect ingredient.

A hint of Zenzero, the talent agency of the top food creators of the Italian digital scene, has landed in the world of communications.

This one of a kind reality came to life thanks to the founding fathers of Giallozafferano’s workforce – a leading Italian media food brand behind this initiative; practically the result of One Shot Agency’s experience in social communications combined with the creativity, talent and success of five of the most renowned Italian food creators.

Giallozafferano – already renowned with 50 million followers in Italy and abroad – was the first editorial brand to actively work with young food creators and talents, well before the new market trends. Such relationship grew over time and is now consolidated thanks to the new top five creators selected to “co-create” the project. Zenzero Talent Agency.

A significant change of approach to the marketing influencer setting, where the creators are for the first time allowed not only to establish a commercial relationship with an agency, but to actively take part in its development as founding fathers.

The new agency, specialised in the food industry, boasts Daniele Rossi, the Tuscan chef with modern and refined culinary skills linked to local traditions, Cookergirl, the “red apron” girl with a passion for cooking and experimenting, Diletta Secco, the refined, cheerful and spontaneous storyteller always attentive to the environment and healthy eating, Rosy Chin, the chef and entrepreneur who blends traditions with innovations and Luisa Orizio, Giallozafferano’s number one food blogger, among its co-founders.

The Agency’s offer

Zenzero exclusively manages 20 exceptional talents: not only the co-founding creators themselves, but also some of the most renowned and original culinary talents, as well as several emerging figures of growing relevance in the field at different levels of engagement.

The new food agency is the point of contact of an extraordinary hub of creators – relying on a total of 20 million followers, 200 million video views and beyond 10 million interactions a month. The brand has a dual work objective, working on the growth of its talents to enhance their distinctive positioning on one hand and interpreting the needs of businesses to build communication strategies with effective languages bound to also reach the new generations on the other.

Zenzero will become a new point of reference for the food industry, also thanks to its name which is closely linked to GialloZafferano‘s. Zenzero, or ginger, is a fresh and original ingredient that is much appreciated by those who love to experiment in the kitchen or to add a crisp and natural touch to their preparations, just like the Agency’s soul.

Alessandra Rigolio, a young manager with much experience in the media and already Mondadori’s Marketing Director, will lead Zenzero as its CEO, and Gabriele Colasanto, Mondadori Media’s Food Department Manager as its president. The two will be assisted by Luigi D’Alterio, Sales Director of both Zenzero and Hej, and Nicole Cavallo, the Head Talent Manager who will combine marketing and creative management strategies for the customised projects of each talent.

“We are proud to launch a one of a kind and innovative reality such as Zenzero, and to take one more step towards the continuous strategy of evolution that has always distinguished Giallozafferano. In recent years, our brand has always focused on the social media channels and creators, considering them both as essential elements of its success strategy, in particular on Instagram and Tik Tok. With Zenzero, we’ll be able to provide our partners with both a new media solution and creators capable of satisfying their needs with projects bound to generate real value. Our trump card is the relationship we build with our talents: we work with them at every step of the way, invest in their growth and always provide the market with contents that are in line with the new trends and languages,” stated Alessandra Rigoglio, Zenzero’s CEO.

This turnkey offer and one of a kind strategy, consisting of many tricks of the communications world, along with the know-how of a partner such as One Shot Agency, an Italian agency operating in digital management and communications for years, will be supervised by the team’s account manager Daniele Tozzi.

“As far as our group is concerned, Zenzero consolidates our experience in the management of talents and represents a new ambitious and specialised challenge bound to become a point of reference for the marketing influencer strategies of the food sector. The focal point lying in its ability to manage and develop creators of undisputed talent and who have a unique way of influencing the market,” stated Matteo Maffucci, co-founder of One Shot Agency. “Together with Zenzero, we studied a formula intended to transform these projects into a brand experience through a story adapted to the brands and services of the food industry and to their values, talents and social audience.”

Zenzero’s creators

In addition to the five founders, Zenzero already has many creators and talents, among which: Chef Nerone, a young cook from the Campania region who combines his love for his land with spontaneity and improvisations: 2foodfitlovers, a social media couple with a passion for fitness and good food; Foodqood, third cooking tiktoker worldwide; Rossella pane e cioccolato, renowned for her exquisite contents; Valeria Ciccotti, of Vale cucina e fantasia, with her creative and simple recipes; Fernanda Michela Nicotra, of Il caldo sapore del sud, a native of Catania who loves traditional dishes and more; Monica Pannacci, of Ricette del cuore, promoter of simple, instinctive and zero waste type of cooking; Gessica Runcio, of Le ricette di Gessica, who alternates precious traditional family recipes to quick and easy to make dishes for all; Sebastian Fitarau, a refined chef with creative, light and tasty suggestions; Nonna Nella, the most social Italian grandma who conquered TikTok and the heart of food lovers; Cuori Veggie, with a simple and quick veggie-based cuisine; Aurora Cortopassi, Giovanni Castaldi and Manuel Saraceno,Giallozafferano‘s three renowned faces. These talents are capable of igniting a passion for cooking among all Italian generations, by covering all tastes and languages across the platforms.

Zenzero’s seat will soon be inaugurated in Milan, right next to Giallozafferano’s: a creative hub in the city centre with spaces entirely devoted to the production of food creator projects, recording studios, sets and equipped kitchens, but also a place for organising events.

Zenzero will have a special team to support the talents in the design and implementation of their projects. The go to the market section will be launched thanks to Mediamond’s expertise and to its Brand on Solutions structure, to ensure the implementation of brand initiatives, contents and influencing.

AdKaora, a digital agency specializing in user-centric mobile advertising and proximity marketing, Adgage, a Spanish company specialising in mobile advertising and partially acquired by Mondadori at the end of 2021, and Anzu.io, the world’s most advanced in-game advertising platform, have signed an exclusive partnership in the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese markets to enhance the Mondadori Group’s offering with intrinsic in-game advertising.

AdKaora and Adgage have joined forces with Anzu to help more advertisers seize the unique opportunity to reach a vast target audience of gamers and gaming fans. This gives these companies the edge by anticipating the new communication opportunities that have emerged with the explosion of gaming and metaverse.

Now post-pandemic, the gaming phenomenon has exploded: the global gaming audience has expanded to 3.24 billion people, covering all age groups and nationalities. Accessing such a lean-forward target audience, with very little ‘second-screening’ or distractions from other media is one of the main incentives that increasingly drives brands to allocate more of their budgets into in-game advertising strategies.

Anzu boasts the world’s most advanced in-game advertising solution available across mobile, PC, consoles and Roblox, with IAB-recognized, highly immersive formats, and an expansive gaming inventory, including exclusive AAA titles from the world’s leading game studios like Ubisoft, Razor Edge Games, and Saber Interactive.

The company has also been named Best Ad Tech Platform at the Digiday Media Awards Europe 2022 and Best Tech Partner at 2022’s Drum Awards. Anzu’s patented 3D ad tracking engine and a full suite of integrations with third-party vendors, including Oracle Moat and IAS, provide first-to-market viewability measurement for in-game ads for direct and programmatic campaigns across platforms. Playing a large part in establishing the new Intrinsic In-Game Measurement Guidelines with IAB and MRC, Anzu’s efforts mean that advertisers have never had more confidence to invest in the in-game advertising medium.

Anzu also provides a gateway for many brands to activate advertising campaigns through the metaverse and gaming platform, Roblox. Recognized as one of the world’s best-known metaverses with stringent brand safety measures, particularly towards younger players, this presents brands with a unique opportunity to reach a very young, fast-growing audience aged 17-24 by engaging with them through multiple unique experiences.

Stephanie Lublinski, Head of Partnerships, Emerging Markets at Anzu: “There’s never been a more exciting time for brands to enter gaming as an advertising space. With over 50 million gamers in Italy, Spain, and Portugal collectively, the audience is there and advertisers have the opportunity to reach them right now. We’re delighted to partner with AdKaora and Adgage to broaden the horizons of brands and refresh their campaigns with the possibility of intrinsic, brand-safe, and attention-grabbing in-game ad campaigns.”

AdKaora and Adgage have already been launching in-game ad projects with Anzu that have helped to strengthen brand awareness, visibility, and key KPIs, while running in an environment with high brand safety guarantees. Data from HUMAN recently showed that out of 579M events, Anzu’s IVT averaged out at 0.36% on mobile and 0.11% on PC reaffirming that its in-game ad formats have much lower fraud rates than other forms of digital advertising.

Davide Tran, CEO AdKaora: “Video games today generate twice the revenue, in economic terms, of the film and music industries combined, making it a fast-growing form of entertainment with 15 million players in Italy. Because of this, the demand for communicating within the gaming world is increasingly high. For AdKaora to decisively enter a market is to do so with the best possible proposition, and with Anzu it was “game, set and match” at the first sight. We are happy to work with them, and in parallel with los hermanos of Adgage, to develop multi-country projects given the exclusive Italy, Spain and Portugal and develop innovative projects for brands, creating an ecosystem suitable for this type of advertising. Spoiler alert: the integration of Dakar, one of the most played driving simulation games in the world, with Anzu on consoles as well.”

Mondadori Retail, the company that runs the largest network of bookstores in Italy, continues to develop with an expansion plan for the opening of new Mondadori Stores, an enhanced offer and an increasingly distinctive positioning embracing physical stores, e-commerce and social media.

“The ongoing work to renew and enhance the network and to focus on the book core business has enabled our network to consolidate its leadership still further,” said Mondadori Retail CEO Carmine Perna. “We are moving ahead with the opening of 13 new stores planned by the end of 2022, for an overall total of 25 openings during the whole year. Our bookstores are designed to inspire future readers and as meeting places where local communities can make new discoveries: so we are paying ever greater attention to the new generations, with dedicated formats in the stores and on the social channels, and the organisation of initiatives involving the local area,” Perna added.

FORTHCOMING OPENINGS

On the bookstore front, three new Mondadori Bookstores under direct management will be opened in the second half of the year, in the regions of Lazio, Lombardy and Umbria. They follow the two openings in Genoa and Montenero di Bisaccia (Campobasso) in April and May.

The expansion of the franchising network is also moving ahead, with 10 new bookstores due to open by the end of the year in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Sicily and Marche, after the start-up of 10 affiliated outlets in the first half of 2022. A nationwide presence across Italy, from North to South, with medium-size locations where books are the real protagonists.

The Mondadori Store development plan is also supported by the continuous renewal of directly managed stores: by the end of September, the Mondadori Bookstore in Padua will open in its new location in Piazza Garibaldi, and in Vimercate the outlet in the Torri Bianche shopping mall will undergo a restyling; during the winter, the new Mondadori flagship will open in Milan, on the corner between Piazza Duomo and Via Mazzini.

THE NEW FORMATS

The Mondadori bookstore offer for children and adolescents is enhanced with the new “We are junior” section, an area designed to welcome even the smallest children, with books and educational games to stimulate the imagination for the 0-13 age group. With its yellow and green colour scheme and origami decorations inspired by nature and the world of animals, which have great appeal for children, the section has an immediately recognisable visual identity.

The process of continuous innovation has also led to the development of the “Just Comics” format, for manga, graphic novels, superheroes and the great Italian authors. Planned as a comic store in the bookstore, “Just Comics is a flexible space that adapts easily to the specific dimensions of the individual outlet. The project began in Milan with an entire floor in the Rizzoli bookstore in the Vittorio Emanuele Gallery and the Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo, and has since been extended to all the bookstores under direct management and to a growing number of stores managed on a franchising basis, establishing itself in just under a year as a point of reference for lovers of the genre.

EVENTS

The events calendar has been enhanced with meetings with writers and figures from the world of entertainment and initiatives with schools and libraries. Bookstores play a vital role in promoting reading, thanks in part to the passion of local booksellers, who are able to build productive ties of cooperation with local institutions. Events include the literary festivals “Ad alta voce” in Mestre, “Come un libro all’aperto” in Fano, “Velletri Libris” in Velletri. For information about all the events: https://eventi.mondadoristore.it/it/news/2022/07/19/estate-in-festival-tutti-gli-eventi-letterari-delle-nostre-librerie/115/

DEBUT ON TIKTOK

From the physical to the digital, relations with readers are also consolidated on social media, with initiatives and content to support purchasing on all channels: from today Mondadori Store will also be on TikTok , as well as Instagram and Facebook, to talk about books, local events and meetings.

A journey to explore the Mondadori bookstores in Italy, through the testimonials of people with close connections to bookstores: from booksellers, who organise content on the TikTok profiles of local Mondadori bookstores, attracting numerous followers, to booktokers, young men and women who love reading and have built up huge followings. A communication format that valorises books and bookstores, making them a point of reference for people who want to follow the latest literary trends on social media.

Mondadori Store, Italy’s largest bookstore network, is taking its cultural and entertainment offer to the Latinafiori shopping mall with a new Mondadori Bookstore which will be officially opened on Friday 22 July.

Occupying a surface area of over 260 square metres, the store will be a new point of reference for book-lovers, with more than 12,000 volumes on the shelves including fiction, non-fiction, and the great classics: a selection organised by the Mondadori Store team of booksellers, who will welcome customers in the shopping mall seven days a week with advice and recommendations.

The new Mondadori Bookstore also houses a large comics section, the “Just Comics” department, with  manga, superheroes and graphic novels.

Younger readers are catered for too: in the “We are Junior” area designed for children and adolescents, visitors will find a wide range of educational games and illustrated books to stimulate the imagination of the smallest children. The store also offers the latest music entries and a quality range of stationery, gift boxes and gift cards.

All Mondadori Bookstore customers will be able to use the store’s digital services including Pick Up Point, where books purchased from the Mondadoristore.it catalogue, which contains more than 1 million titles, can be picked up free of charge; Prenota e ritira, where items can be booked online then purchased in the store; and Invia a casa, for home delivery of articles ordered in the bookstore.

The new opening continues the development plan of the Mondadori Store bookstore network, the largest in Italy with more than 500 stores located in cities and smaller centres. A cultural network active throughout the country, online with the Mondadoristore.it e-commerce site and the bookclub formula, which in addition to books – the core of the offer – provides entertainment, events and multichannel services, to reach more than 20 million customers every year.

MONDADORI BOOKSTORE

Latinafiori shopping mall, V.le Pier Luigi Nervi, 04100 Latina LT

Opening times: Mon-Sat 09-20; Sun 10-20

E-mail: libreria.latinafiori@mondadori.it  – Tel 0773.1727301

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https://www.mondadoristore.it/negozi

The extraordinary shots of Marisa Rastellini, a refined photographer who worked for Grazia and Epoca magazines from the ’sixties until the end of the ’eighties, will be exhibited to the general public for the first time by Mondadori Portfolio, the Mondadori Group’s photo agency.

During MIA Fair – Milan Image Art Fair, Italy’s most important photography show, scheduled for 28 April through 1 May at SUPERSTUDIO MAXI in Milan, Mondadori Portfolio will celebrate its tenth anniversary with the presentation of an exhibition of the Roman photographer’s work entitled “Uno sguardo gentile, fotografie di Marisa Rastellini”: “A gracious eye: the photographs of Marisa Rastellini”.

Following lengthy, meticulous research in the Mondadori archives, the photographer’s works will finally be on public view in an exhibition ideally documenting the spirit of her times, perfectly represented in her portraits of actors and key figures in Italy’s literary and cultural scene, as well as her numerous fashion shoots.

Curated by Maria Vittoria Baravelli in collaboration with Mondadori Portfolio, the exhibition reconstructs the world of Marisa Rastellini, portraying a shy, delicate artist whose lens immortalised great Italian intellectuals such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Elsa Morante, Virna Lisi, and Monica Vitti, as well as Marcello Mastroianni, Federico Fellini, Valentino Garavani.

“In this exhibition and event,” points out Mondadori Portfolio Executive Manager Elisabetta De Simone, “we celebrate our first ten years, an important decade during which, through reclamation of prints, original negatives, colour photos and slides kept in the publisher’s vast historic archives, we have brought back to light such famous names as Mario De Biasi, Giorgio Lotti, Angelo Cozzi, Sergio De Grande and many more photographers who have told the history of Italy in their photographs over the past 60 years”.

“The archives are like maps to sail by, lands to be explored,” comments exhibition curator Maria Vittoria Baravelli. “At a time when the digital is taking over in all kinds of contexts, the archives are still set in solid reality, in the form of envelopes, contact sheets, drawers and negatives. This is why it is so important to rediscover Marisa Rastellini: a photographer in the Rome of the ‘60s that we know very little about. All we know is that she was very discrete and gracious, incredibly shy and yet so profound in recording the faces and lifestyles of late twentieth-century Italy in her work. More than 50 years later, Marisa Rastellini’s photographs come out of their envelopes and into the light again. We look at them, and in return they tell us who we were and who we still are today, with certain differences”.

Established in 2012 to draw on the iconographic heritage of Mondadori magazines, the agency has been expanded over time with the addition of prestigious collections, a team of contemporary photographers, and a range of services appropriate for today’s trendiest forms of communication.

In a tribute to this decade of work, Mondadori Portfolio goes back to its archives, where it all began, for the exhibition “Uno sguardo gentile, fotografie di Marisa Rastellini”, renewing its commitment to rediscovery and promotion of a photographic heritage unknown to the general public.

The exhibition “Uno sguardo gentile, fotografie di Marisa Rastellini” (“A gracious eye: the photographs of Marisa Rastellini”) is produced with the support of Cassina and Flos, representatives of the excellence of Italian design all over the world, who enrich the exhibition with a number of iconic items of design.

Grazia USA, the American edition of Grazia, launched as a result of the licensing agreement entered into by the Mondadori Group with Pantheon Media Group LLC, is in the running to win the title of “Best Website & Mobiles Site” in the Fashion and Beauty category of the 2022 Webby Awards.

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) announced the nomination, the committee promoting the prestigious award, made up of the most pre-eminent experts in the digital and technology industry in the USA. At the 26th edition of the Webby Awards – whose winners, announced on Tuesday, 26 April, will receive the award on Monday, 16 May at the historic Cipriani Wall Street in New York – in addition, Grazia USA can boast a double honourable mention in the Websites & Mobile Sites categories – Best Visual Design – Aesthetic and Social – Fashion and Beauty.

A result that further consolidates the success of the first 100% Italian fashion brand in one of the largest and most important countries in the world for fashion and luxury goods.

“We are thrilled that Grazia USA has received a nomination at the Webby Awards: a prestigious award, which, just over a year after its launch, confirms the strength and vitality of our brand in an important market such as the US, contributing not only to consolidating the positioning of Grazia in the fashion and luxury markets, but also to strengthening the founding values of its DNA”, said Daniela Sola, Managing Director International Business of Mondadori Media.

“We are honoured that the Academy has selected Grazia USA in the very first year of operation, not only as a media brand, but also as a contemporary reality alongside consolidated and well-established brands with great traditions”, underlined Melissa Cronin, President and Chief Operating Officer of Pantheon Media Group.

“This year’s nominees are really engaged in the evolution of digital culture and society in the most diverse categories: Websites & Mobile Sites, Video, Advertising, Media & PR, Apps & Software, Virtual & Remote, Podcasts, Social and Video Games”, says the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. “Ultimately, they represent an incredibly stimulating mix of well-established brands on the web and independent projects, but also celebrities and viral phenomena. Of the more than 14,000 entries received from the 50 American states and more than 70 foreign countries, the best ones selected – totalling 12% – will have the chance to win a Webby Award”.

Voting for the 2022 Webby People’s Voice Awards – a parallel edition which allows the public to express their preferences in the same categories reviewed by the experts – will remain open until 11.59 am on Thursday, 21 April. To support Grazia USA in the Fashion & Beauty category, click here .

 Grazia is the first 100% Italian fashion magazine to have exported its successful formula all over the world, from Italy to the United States. The Mondadori Group brand, which today has 21 editions in a total of 23 countries, reaches a global audience of 15 million readers and 45 million unique users, with over 30 million followers on social media.
Present on the American market with the first global digital platform graziamagazine.com, Grazia USA has already received coveted recognition as “Best New Magazine Launch 2021”, awarded based on the brand’s demonstrated ability to combine quality content and unmistakable and up-scale style, consisting of fashion, art, culture and beauty, but also travel, design and entertainment.

The Observatory on changes taking place in markets and with consumers of AdKaora, the Mondadori Group digital agency specialising in user-centric mobile advertising and proximity marketing, published new research called  “In-gaming advertising: communicating is brand’s play”   that analyses the impact of the evolution of gaming on communication and online advertising.

Already extremely popular before the pandemic, over the past two years, video games have also proven to exert huge appeal to new audiences, including women, families and seniors, as well as the younger generations. A fact that has aroused immense curiosity in marketers regarding the new categories and their usage habits.

From the research conducted by AdKaora it emerges how – in a period of poor human interaction, where relationships have been mostly cultivated through technology – video games, digital activities at zero risk, have proved to be a valuable source for linking people, as well as a tool for escaping from reality and counteracting the boredom of spending entire days at home. A phenomenon which has consolidated into a real trend, and the numbers confirm that it is here to stay.

The objective of the study was to investigate the evolution of gaming and player profiles, to understand how brands can reach and interface with them in a more effective and significant way, not only thanks to market knowledge, but also to consumer habits and behaviour.

By using in-gaming advertising it is, in fact, possible to exploit the extremely high attention of users by inserting native advertisements within the game itself, to influence the graphics and/or audio of the gameplay without interrupting the user experience.

Here are the key findings that emerge from the study – here the full version is available for consultation:

•  Gamer. Who are you calling that?
  What happened to the player with glasses, Super Mario t-shirt and trainers on his feet? He no longer exists, or rather, the “archetypal” gamer profile no longer exists. Asking why people play and not what they are playing, is, therefore, the key to gaining a better understanding of this target and intercepting their needs, for developing direct and effective communication. Moreover, also in Italy, the gap between men and women has been progressively closed, as well as the difference between the age groups involved.
• Gaming is mostly mobile
  In addition to browsing, chatting and enjoying content, consumers are increasingly accustomed to playing on the go. Many games for mobile devices have low access levels: i.e., they are based on “familiar” genres such as puzzles, card games or betting, which can be played anywhere. According to a study conducted by IIDEA – Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association -, in Italy, gamers devote 8 hours a week to the game, 5 of which using a smartphone at various times of the day. A figure for which it is reasonable to predict that the number of players playing on mobile devices may increase even more during 2022.
• How to reach the gamers target?
  In-gaming advertising has – probably more than any other industry – a variety of emerging advertising formats that behave very differently from media in other channels. Thanks to immersive creativity inserted within the game dynamics in a native and realistic way, it is possible to create a positive association with the brand without interrupting the user experience, increasing awareness and enhancing brand recall.
• Communication opportunities
  A successful in-gaming advertising campaign enables a high brand recall rate: there are high chances for a gamer – mentally very receptive during the gaming experience – to recall the advertising messages that have been incorporated or, at least, the product in question. For brands, therefore, extremely interesting communication opportunities will open up, enabling them to take advantage of very precise profiling and thus build significant content experiences both inside and outside the game in a safe environment, considered by the user as R & R time during the day.

AdKaora, the Mondadori Group’s digital agency specialising in user-centric mobile advertising and proximity marketing, and Next 14, a leader in marketing technologies, are strengthening their partnership to offer customers a new cookieless solution tracking users’ purchasing decisions through identification of their touchpoints.

The new user identification method AdKaora is working on with Next 14 is based on matches between cookies and ID devices which, in full compliance with privacy legislation, enrich drive-to-store strategies with even more granular cross-device data to permit optimal planning of new high engagement formats for circular, multi-channel brand communications.

Next 14 recently launched its proprietary Rosetta algorithm: an innovative technology designed to help customers create their own private identity graph based on first-party data – that is, data derived from their own tools, such as CRM, web sites and analysis tools – with the goal of connecting different devices in a multi-channel form to improve campaign reach.

Brands and platforms will thus be able to obtain an all-round vision of their audience as they will know all the devices associated with a single person. This solution is made possible by assigning behavioural data linked with various touchpoints to a single profile, relying on first-party data, destined to become increasingly indispensable as third-party cookies are phased out.

Marco Brandstetter, Next Media – Data & Solutions CEO: “What every advertiser wants is to have an all-round vision of the audience. We work every day on innovative technologies for maximising the efficacy of engagement activities and simplifying the work of the professionals who rely on our tools. AdKaora is once again the partner that can make our tools perform better than anyone else, drawing on their experience and great connection with customers.”

The exclusive partnership between AdKaora and Next 14 has been consolidated by a historic synergy involving constant development of key tools for proximity marketing strategies, from the media involved to analysis of results: Next 14’s push notifications permit interception of consumers at important micro-instants, customising the brand’s message and sending users directly to AdKaora’s Find&Go Now!, an intuitive interactive map that guides customers to the nearest point of sale where they can purchase the desired item. Both tools make it possible not only to engage the user at the points of interest involved in the campaign, but to collect important insights for brands as a result of advanced footfall analysis.

With target definition based on the match between cookies and device ID, the two companies want to further perfect post-campaign insights to be provided to brands for fine-tuning future marketing projects.

According to AdKaora CEO Davide Tran: “We have been successfully working with Next 14 for several years to offer exclusive solutions that bring value to our customers with total respect for users’ privacy and UX. With this further project together, we and our partner have set ourselves the goal of identifying users, who are increasingly multi-device (desktop, smartphone, iPad) and multi-environment (online, offline and metaverse, web and apps), and identifying them as unique users in order to direct targeted, high-performing communications toward them via the most appropriate channel. But this is not all we want to do: through target segmentation based on identity graphs, we also want to supply and guarantee precise post-campaign analysis of consumers, offering brands precious qualitative information on users by following all the touchpoints they use in their customer journey.”