IF! Festival of Creativity: the numbers prove the success of #MERAVIGLIOSO, the 2021 edition in streaming and in situ.

IF! Festival of Creativity has reinvented itself yet again. Following last year’s entirely digital edition, IF! this year promoted an event that had the best of both worlds: digital and in situ, at BASE Milano, reclaiming its natural territory and promoting and celebrating people and the value of creativity as the central element for the communication industry.

Organised and promoted by ADCI – Art Directors Club Italiano and UNA – Aziende della Comunicazione Unite, together with main partner Google and golden partner Intesa Sanpaolo, and with the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, the festival, whose theme this year was #MERAVIGLIOSO, reconfirmed its formidable appeal with the public and once again achieved its objectives.

Audience participation was around 10,000, taking into account both in situ attendance and live streaming engagement on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 November: 63 days of online time watch, 6,000 total impressions on the https://italiansfestival.it/live/ platform and a view rate of 95%, all serving to confirm the calibre of the discussion panels during the festival.

See the full story of IF!2021 online in a brief video that condenses into two minutes the emotions and highlights of the event that featured training courses, talks, interviews, round tables, special formats and creative challenges: 16 training courses (digital and free of charge) and over 50 meetings hosted on the two stages of BASE Milano, with approximately 140 Italian and international lecturers and guest speakers (link guest 2021).

As for the partners, this year yet again double digits were achieved: a total of 50, of which 35 were main, content and technical. Major brands, associations, publishers, businesses and communication agencies, which in addition to contributing to the realisation of the event, promoted topics and content during IF!’s programme of workshops and talks over the week.

Google, main partner of the event for the eighth consecutive year, together with YouTube as content partner, was the protagonist from the early stages of the event with its Italian team and with international speakers: from Paola Marazzini, Director of Agency and Strategic Partnerships to Pedro Pina, Vice-President, Head of YouTube EMEA; from Francesca Mortari, Director of YouTube Southern Europe, to Lyor Cohen, Global Head of YouTube Music, and Derek Blasberg, Director of Fashion and Beauty, YouTube. The week also featured Lorenzo Caggioni, Strategic Cloud Engineer Google, Davide Ferraro, Engagement Manager, Google, and Vint Cerf, Vice-President and chief internet evangelist for Google, who rewarded us with creativity, accessibility and inclusion.

At the end of the event, the ADCI Awards ceremony, Italy’s premier recognition for creativity and quality in the country’s advertising communication. The jury, chaired by Giuseppe Mastromatteo, awarded the Grand Prix to the short film “Carebonara“, directed by Alkemy and made for Barilla. The Non-Profit Grand Prix was awarded to agency SMALL for the campaign “The Hiring Chain“, for CoorDown, National Coordination of Associations of People with Down Syndrome.

The full videos of the panels and live content that took place at BASE Milano over the two days of Friday 12 and Saturday 13 November are available on demand for all holders of the  ‘2 Days Digital Pass’ on https://italiansfestival.it/live/.

 (pictured) IF!2021 Organising Commitee: Alessandra Lanza (general manager), Emanuele Nenna, Jack Blanga, Davide Boscacci, Carla Leveratto and Marianna Ghirlanda.