THE SUCCESS OF VOICE REWARDS THE COURAGE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF IEG AND ENTIRE GOLD-JEWELLERY SECTOR

With 370 exhibitors satisfied about the business generated, the first hybrid experience for the trade show world has drawn to a close.
The ingredients and novel ideas at Voice strengthen IEG shows even further.
Re-think, innovate and collaborate to overcome uncertainties and look to the future with optimism.

Vicenza (Italy), 14th September 2020 – The ´new normality´ was celebrated in Vicenza from 12th to 14th September through VOICE, the entirely new format that IEG was able to devise, create and propose to the post-lockdown gold-jewellery industry which had not had the possibility to meet, discuss and do business since the last edition of Vicenzaoro January.

370 companies, 100 authoritative speakers, over 600 business matching meetings organized by IEG – a third of which on-line -, a full programme of events including seminars, conferences and talk shows, produced using film-making techniques able to thrill the international public. Highly efficient ´virtual buyers´ rooms´ in which over 200 trade deals were made, and huge dissemination of the hall contents which clocked up over 3 and a half million viewings on the digital channels.

The innovative format, a perfect balance between the physical dimension and Voice´s digital offer, pumped a surge of energy into the sector, highlighting the desire of companies and traders alike to work as a team.

A victory for the responsibility and courage of IEG which, strengthened by its reputation as Europe´s number one trade show organizer in terms of the ability to create its own products, in less than two months, managed to involve 370 companies, all determined to beat the re-start challenge, due also to IEG´s #safebusiness protocol, the extremely strict system adopted to ensure a safe and functional, physical in-show experience.

Voice was therefore the event that gave voice to the sector and allowed the entire community to re-unite. The three days of the show saw interventions from big names in the jewellery world, from Jerome Favier, Vice President and CEO for Gruppo Damiani to Stephen Lussier, CEO for Forevermark at De Beers, from Edward Asscher, President of the World Diamond Council, to Gaetano Cavalieri, President of Cibjo. Many other owners and CEOs from top companies along the Italian supply chain were also in attendance at VOICE: Roberto Coin, Marilisa Cazzola and Diego Nardin (Fope), Paolo Bettinardi (Better Silver), to name but a few. Also present were Maddalena Capra, Head of Sustainability for Pomellato, Eleonora Rizzuto, Director of Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility (CSR) Ethics & Compliance Officer at Bulgari and LVMH Italy, Isabella Traglio, Vice General Manager at Vhernier. Leading players in social communication, such as Laura Inghirami, founder and creative director of Donna Jewel, and Yianni Melas, top expert from the world of gems, known as the modern-day Indiana Jones, were also there.

The elegant and essential show layout, was also highly appreciated for cleverly managing to enhance the presence of all the gold-jewellery supply chain´s quality companies, from: Mattioli to Bronzallure, from Karizia to Unoaerre, from Crivelli to Otto Jewels as well as Vendorafa Lombardi, Leo Pizzo, Davite & Delucchi, Mirco Visconti, Brosway, Alessi Domenico, Legor and Sisma.

All the national category associations were fully represented: CNA Orafi Nazionale, Confartigianato Orafi, Confimi Industria Categoria Orafa ed Argentiera, Confindustria Federorafi, Federpreziosi Confcommercio, Assocoral and AFEMO – Italian Association of Jewellery Machinery Manufacturers and Exporters - and IGI – Italian Gemmological Institute – which, together, outlined and delivered to the Government, all the sector´s needs and expectations, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio, intervening this morning at Voice in a video feed, accepted.

And, on the various stages of Voice, the new generations, represented mainly by women, strongly proclaimed their determination, spotlighting education and training as a guarantee for innovating and keeping the precious know-how of Made in Italy alive in the future.

The now consolidated collaboration with CIBJO promoted sustainability as the flywheel for growth as well as ethical responsibility, especially in this particular historical moment.

But Voice was also a huge showroom in which companies were able to present their product offer and latest collections created during the lockdown months. It also provided tangible business opportunities through the virtual buyers´ rooms that were operative every day of the show thanks to the fundamental support of Agenzia ICE.

At the end of the show, IEG thanked all the companies in attendance by making them part of the event´s own logo: in fact, they built VOICE together and represent the image.

Photographs of VOICE 2020 can be downloaded from the following link:
https://we.tl/t-9nRgIQYpxA

In addition to the photographs, videos of interviews with some exhibitors were also made which include pictures of products, some modelled, and we will be sharing those shortly.



FOCUS ON ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP SPA
Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), listed on the Screen-based Share Market (MTA) organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A., is a leader in Italy in the organisation of trade fairs and one of the main operators in the trade fair and conference sector at European level, with structures in Rimini and Vicenza, as well as further sites in Milan and Arezzo. The IEG Group is notable in the organisation of events in five categories: Food & Beverage; Jewellery & Fashion; Tourism, Hospitality and Lifestyle; Wellness, Sport and Leisure; Green & Technology. In the last few years, IEG started a significant expansion process abroad, also through the conclusion of joint ventures with local operators (for example, in the United States, Arab Emirates and in China). IEG closed the 2019 financial year with consolidated total revenues of € 178.6 million, an EBITDA of € 41.9 million and a consolidated net profit of € 12.6 million. In 2019, IEG totalled 48 organised or hosted fairs and 190 conferences. https://www.iegexpo.it/en/

PRESS CONTACT ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP
Michela Moneta | Press Office Coordinator

VICENZAORO International PR Agency: Barabino & Partners
Laura Bruzzone +49 30 66404060| +49 173 6181650 – l.bruzzone@barabino.de
Lara Hesse +49 30 66404060| +49 177 4146630 – l.hesse@barabino.de

MEDIA AGENCY IEG Vicenza Branch: MYPRLab T. +39 0444.512550
Filippo Nani +39 335.101.93.90 filippo.nani@myprlab.it
Lisa Scudeler +39.338.691.03.47 lisa.scudeler@myprlab.it

This press release contains forecasted elements and estimations that reflect current management opinions (´forward-looking statements´) especially regarding future managerial performances, investments, cash flow trends and financial organization evolution. By nature, forward-looking statements have an element of risk and uncertainty since they depend on future events. The effective results may therefore differ, even significantly, to those announced due to multiple factors including, merely by way of example: the catering market´s foreign trends and tourist flows in Italy, market trends in the gold-jewellery industry and in the green economy; developments in the price of raw materials; general macro-economic conditions; geo-political factors and changes in the legislative framework. Furthermore, the information in this press release does not claim to be complete, nor has it been verified by independent third parties. The forecasts, estimations and objectives presented herein are based on information available to the Company at the press release issue date.


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