The new year starts with much that is new for Casabella,
the architectural magazine of the Mondadori Group. In fact, from this month the magazine, edited by Francesco Dal Co, will appear with a new look and new content, while remaining faithful to the character that has made it successful since 1928, as, for example,  the unusual 28 by 31 centimetre format.

“From 1996 the design of Casabella has been updated on a number of occasions,” the editor Francesco Dal Co explained. “After some twenty years we decided it was time for a more marked update. However, redesigning the magazine without taking a new look at the content wouldn’t have made much sense. Consequently, the changes that we decided to make should be clear from the issue that readers now have in their hands. Only a single section of the magazine has remained essentially the same. These are the pages dedicated to the presentation and discussion of books, until now introduced by a celebrated photograph of and great architect who was also an assiduous reader, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In place of this photograph readers will now find an impassioned plea on behalf of reading written at the beginning of the 16^th century by one of the greatest publishers of all time, Aldo Manuzio, an exhortation that remains surprisingly apt, also today,” the editor concluded.

The changes to the other parts of the magazine can be seen right from the first pages, in which information for professionals about what the industry is making available and what is happening in the profession itself, will be progressively refined in order to provide and effective and critically oriented service.

The inside pages will also be changed to make Casabella a printed magazine (but not only) that pays attention to the design, the writing and particular attention to the way in which architectural works takes form, in other words, to the drawings and design plans. Even more attention will be given to the combinations and quality of images, as well as a tighter critical approach, in order to live up to the expectations of readers.

In addition to news, there will be a new focus also on history, given that “without looking at the past design is an incomplete activity: a weak exercise conducted in a state of illusory lightness, just as it is an illusion to discuss current affairs without reference to the past,”  the editor Dal Co explained.

But Casabella is not just a highly prestigious national and international magazine. It is also a web site casabellaweb.eu, and is also present on a range of social media that integrate the content in an increasingly refined and functional way also for those who interested in talking about production, products and the realisation of designs.  The brand also lives through a space in the heart of Milan, the Casabella Laboratorio, that hosts exhibitions, meetings and events.

And, finally, Casabella, in collaboration with ProViaggiArchitettura, a company that specialises in organising architectural tours and itineraries, has developed the “Casabella Formazione” project. Conferences, tours, visits to construction sites and factories, exhibitions, courses and meetings, are just some of the activities organised by Casabella and ProViaggiArchitettura, and aimed at extending the magazine’s cultural offer and responding to the needs of readers and the obligations of keeping up to speed with professional requirements.

28×31 Casabella 2017 will be available on newsstands from 14 January at a cost of €12.

Icon’s new “Classic Style Issue”, is published on 10 January with a special focus on fashion and tailoring, and coinciding with the 91^st edition of Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence (from 9 to 13 January) and the Milan shows.

A special issue, published for the first time in the month of January to mark the two essential appointments for male fashion which will feature Mondadori Group’s up-scale male title, edited by Michele Lupi, among the protagonists.

This brings to 8 the number of issues of Icon during the year, reinforcing its role in the segment of reference with excellent results in terms of advertising,  up by 8% (print and digital) in 2016 compared with the previous year, confirming the positive trend of the last 3 years.

The new issue includes important fashion features, interviews and services celebrating, as never before, the style of the contemporary man and the whole universe of trends and details surrounding it. “We have chosen an authoritative approach for a fashion that is too often depicted in terms of pure habit, rather than as one of the drivers of our country, from the fashion houses to the catwalks and retail,” declared the editor, Michele Lupi.

THE CONTENT

The content of the new issue incudes a detailed examination of the role of the shop of the future, thanks also to Tommy Hilfiger who opened the doors to their Digital Room: a concrete evolution of the classic boutique formula formula in which there is a dialogue between the real and the virtual in close contact with the needs of the consumer where made-to-measure style becomes available at a click.

On the cover is Ewan McGregor, who returns to the big screen in early 2017 in the sequel to the film that made him a star: Trainspotting 2. He talks to Icon about twenty years in cinema and his debut as a director with American Pastoral, based on the novel by Philip Roth. Another leading protagonist of this special issue is the astronaut Maurizio Cheli, the first Italian to have travelled on the Space Shuttle as Mission Specialist, who accompanies us into space on an incredible journey to the limits of known reality with highly emotional anecdotes and stories of his adventures.

In an issue dedicated to style, there had to be a big fashion feature produced by the magazine’s fashion director, David St. John-James, who re-interprets the outdoors among the lunar rocks chameleon colours behind the lens of photographer Daniel Riera. As always, of course, there is the fashion portfolio dedicated to the leading designers who in the January issue offer a preview of the spring fashions in a sophisticated mood that recalls the atmosphere of the cinema of the past.

SPECIAL DISTRIBUTION

The role of the magazine is enhanced by the contribution of events and extra-sector initiatives. During the 91^st edition of Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence, the new issue of Icon will enjoy a special distribution, conducted on 10 January at the Central Station in Milan, on the platform from which the high-speed Frecciarossa leaves for Florence. This is a special initiative that confirms the reinforcement of an increasingly targeted distribution system across the territory.

Special efforts have also been made on the communication front with the use of high-impact visibility formats at the S. Maria Novella station in Florence and the distribution of copies at the city’s 4 and 5 star hotels.

The issue will be presented on 16 January during the Milan Men’s Fashion Week at a lunch in the Armani Hotel. also with the participation of Icon Spain.

CasaFacile is 20 years old, years well spent among creative ideas, before & afters, inspiration, smart solutions and background details that have made the title of Mondadori Group an authentic “magazine-community” that has grown along with its readers, both on and offline.

“It’s already 20 years since CasaFacile made its first appearance on newsstands: an in twenty years we have made some homes!” declared Giusi Silighini, editor of CasaFacile. “Since I became the editor of this monthly I have only had one thought in mind: to show not just dream corners and hyper-functional solutions, but to enable readers to change their homes, take them by the hand and explain the whys and wherefores of choosing furniture and the combinations of materials and colours. In other words, to enable them to reproduce what they see (and appreciate) every month as they flick through CasaFacile. We are, after all, an aspirational, but accessible monthly, with a touch of the unconventional,” concluded the editor.

The whole of 2017 will be a ‘celebr-active year: in which CasaFacile will organise ad hoc courses, new workshops and creative laboratories. There will be many opportunities to meet to share the passions that unite both the magazine’s staff and its readers: those of homes and their stories. Over the years the  CasaFacile team has been enhanced: 24 young creative bloggers, over 100 CF style professionals (including architects and interiors stylists) across Italy who have all passed a casting and become available for those who need personalised advice: all at the service of the readers who every month buy the magazine and the more than 245,000 fans active every day on Facebook and the 75,000 followers on Instagram, a total audience (print and digital) of 1,486,422 monthly contacts (Source: elaboration by MCube based on Audipress 2016/II – Audiweb View October 2016),

The special initiatives start this week with a special collectors’ edition on newsstands: the CasaFacile stylists have designed and created the ideal home, one that responds to today’s dreams and needs, and in which everyone would like to live. Over 70 pages are dedicated to this “home of homes” that will also feature at the Fuorisalone 2017, in an exceptional location in the heart of Milan during this year’s Design Week.

And, of course, there will also be increasingly rich supplements and on and offline advice to find the most practical solutions to create your own style in a useable, smart and amusing way. There will also be new features on the web site casafacile.it, with new video-clips, curated by journalist and TV presenter Giorgio Tartaro, with accounts and explanations, in perfect ‘CF style’ on the icons of design.

The CasaFacile brand also confirms its success also on the advertising front: in fact, 2016 advertising sales were +6% on the previous year, a result achieved also thanks to the special initiatives organised in collaboration with important clients both within and outside the sector. The positive trend of the last two years continues in 2017: this first anniversary issue for celebrating magazine’s first 20 years, as with subsequent issues, will have an even more prestigious look and be fully bound.

A communication campaign to mark the first 20 years of CasaFacile has been organised by the agency Hi! Comunicazione and planned across various media: TV, print, web and social.

CasaFacile will be on newsstands from 10 January at a cost of €1.50.

Follow all of the anniversary events also on social networks: #casafacile20anni

The success of the Digital School, the training school of Donna Moderna, CasaFacile and Sale&Pepe continues, the experience with which the three Mondadori Group brands – reference points for the world of women, interiors and food – make their skills and competence in the digital and social media fields available to others. A formula already rewarded with enrolments that  sold out for the basic course of the second edition, which ended in November.

The lessons of the advanced course in content and social media management will start on Saturday 28 January 2017. The programme, which is aimed at people with previous knowledge of the web but who want to become autonomous in online brand development,  is organised in 5 classroom sessions and a concluding workshop. A total of 21 hours dedicated to content design, data analysis and the business management of the activity, through first-hand testimony by the editors and digital professionals of the three magazines, classroom tutoring and case histories.

Collaboration will also continue with Piano C, the social innovation laboratory that brings together women and work and that hosts the lessons of the course in a space in the centre of Milan where digital and other projects are developed to contrast female unemployment in Italy.

The training offer of the Digital School is also available in e-learning modules, with 14 courses 5 structured programmes designed to meet different needs, such as “Content Strategy”, “Social Media Pro”, “Promoting a business online”.

For information about how to enrol and costs, please go to digitalschool.it or write to  digitalschool.aula@mondadori.it.

What is it that makes so many Italian design objects authentic icons? To explain, INTERNI has produced a special collectors’ issue dedicated to these inimitable objects and their creators. ITALIAN DESIGN ICONS examines the evolution of design and style for living through over 500 iconic italian products produced since 1954. Furniture and accessories very different from each other for their historical, linguistic and cultural characteristics but which have, however, an essential common denominator: they are all still in production and available, both in Italy and abroad..

“ITALIAN DESIGN ICONS is a special issue that continues the overview of Italian design offered by INTERNI in 2014 with the volume produced to celebrate the magazine’s 60^th anniversary.” 60 said the editor Gilda Bojardi. “Following the same timeline, divided by decades, this illustrated story aims to promote Made in Italy around the world with a series of critical reflections on creativity, talent, the capacity to respond to stimuli and ideas from the history of design, new approaches, as well as from the global scenario and transformations in manufacturing and production,” the editor concluded.

The collection of iconic products is enhanced also by the testimony of 24 internationally renowned designers who discuss and explain their most important and representative work through a sort of design self-portrait. The volume ends with some considerations about what some of the icons of tomorrow might be. In other words, products of today that define contemporary trends in living and create the new bases for new expressive languages.

ITALIAN DESIGN ICONS will receive an official preview this week, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2016, on the occasion of the exhibition “1958, The Birth Of Two Legends: Italian Monochrome and Sanlorenzo shipyard”(from 29 November to 1 December), organised on board a ship of more than 30 metres built by Sanlorenzo, the boat-builder, that began operations in 1958 and is now the world’s second producer of yachts of over 24 metres, in collaboration with the historic gallery Tornabuoni Arte.

The volume, which will have an extra print-run of 3,500 copies in English with an Italian translation, will also be distributed at the leading design showrooms in the city.

ITALIAN DESIGN ICONS has been supported by many of the best and most representative brands in the design sector and beyond, contributing to the excellent results of the INTERNI systems that will end 2016 with a 6% increase compared with 2015.

With 188 pages and contributions from well-know critics– Cristina Morozzi, Marco Romanelli and Matteo Vercelloni – ITALIAN DESIGN ICONS will be available from all good newsstands from 6 December as a supplement to the new edition of the magazine at the price of €10 (including the magazine).

Confidenze tra amiche blows out 70 candles as it celebrates an important anniversary with a special collectors’ issue, on newsstands from Wednesday 23 November.

The historic Mondadori magazine remains a point of reference for an audience of affectionate readers with which is deals, in a confidential tone and complicit language, issues about current affairs, fashion, beauty, wellbeing, psychology, DIY, cooking and the home.

“It is extraordinary how Confidenze tra amiche has managed to maintain over time its vocation as a mirror for women with a strictly emotional vision of daily reality,”  declared the editor Susanna Barbaglia. “In planning the special issue for the magazine’s 70^th anniversary, we felt strongly the timeliness with which Confidenze has always recorded changes in habits and women’s needs through a narrative driven by writers and real stories,” Barbaglia continued. “After 70 years, the direct testimony of readers, the events and the protagonists of our times, presented in both a journalistic and literary approach and commented on our blog, remain at the very heart of the magazine,” the editor concluded.

The strength of Confidenze tra amiche is the stories, often written by the readers themselves. Stories about how love, careers, friendship and health have changed their lives.

A patrimony of content that for years has ensured the success of the magazine and that is highlighted also in the special collectors’ issue, that features on the cover the current Miss Italy, Rachele Risaliti:  52 pages of stories to read; seven extraordinary accounts of the 1940s, with original drawings and four new love stories written exclusively for the anniversary of the Mondadori magazine.

And to satisfy cooking fans, Confidenze tra amiche on the newsstands, will include with the special issue a special cooking insert  with 12 recipes for an exclusive celebration.

The title has a strong community of readers who are active on Facebook with 40,000 fans and also across the country, thanks to events orgnaised by the magazine’s staff in various cities and towns around Italy.

The campaign in support of the initiative has been conceived and developed by Hi! Communication.-

The growth of AdKaora continues as it confirms its position among the leading players in mobile marketing in Italy following the acquisition of Banzai in 2015, now part of the Mondadori Group.

The agency, which is specialises in the provision of marketing and advertising solutions, ended the first 9 months of the year with an increase in revenues of over 60% compared with the same period of 2015, thanks to  a significant hike in mobile planning, which generated revenues of €2.6 million during the period (consolidated by the Mondadori Group since 1 June 2016).

This particular business line was driven by the development of an internal mobile DSP, hakaMobile, the proprietary DMP enhanced by intragroup data and exclusive publishers, as well as the development of creative and technological solutions, such as the PlaySunrise video format and the drive to store Pass2Ngage, a powerful online/offline bridging tool.

“Innovation and quality are tow very important drivers for us and, by choosing our products, our customers recognise the added value of every collaboration. We are extremely satisfied with the results that we have achieved but, obviously, we won’t stop here. Indeed, we have a number of new projects in the pipeline for the end of the year,” announced Luca Nigro, co-founder and chief innovation officer of AdKaora.

In terms of the company’s organic growth the recent creation should be noted of, on the one hand, a marketing division, with the task of analysing market trends and anticipating the evolution of the market to provide an increasingly articulated and structured offer, while also consolidating the agency’s positioning. Head up by Antonella Caliandro, who, after a number of years at Alkemy, moved to AdKaora where she has taken on increasing responsibility before being appointed Marketing Manager.

On the other hand, AdKaora has strengthened the already close collaboration with agencies and media centres with the appointment of Francesca Degasperis as Agency Relationship Manager. After a number of years of experience in companies such as Dada, Buongiorno and the start up BeeAd, she will have the responsibility of coordinating the sales team and supporting AdKaora’s vast offer with the principal objective of offering its clients the best cross-device solutions in the market.

“AdKaora is in a very important phase of its development. The health of the company is excellent, but as real fighters, we are already looking to 2017 with renewed enthusiasm and a mission and determination to continue to grow in a health and organic manner. This is the basis for the decision to create a marketing unit, led by Antonella Caliandro, who brings her crossover company and agency experience in digital marketing, and to entrust to the extensive experience of Francesca Degasperis in the world of mobile advertising the consolidation and development of the business with agencies and media centres,” said Davide Tran, CEO of AdKaora.

Among the multiple literary events taking place during the four-day festival BookCity Milan 2016, Interni brings the writings, by three major Italian designers, to the audience. The initiative, named Architects read architects, aims at describing the everlasting relationship between writing and designing. The texts will be gone through and commented by an architect.

All three expositions, free of any charge, will be held at 5pm in Sala Bertarelli at Sforza Castle, in three different days. On November 18^th, Patrizia Ranzo will talk about the writings by Ettore Sottsass, well-known designer who’s able to communicate concepts in such a straightforward and intelligent way that the reader cannot but be grasped by the author.

The following day, November 19^th, Amate l’architettura by Gio Ponti will be presented by Stefano Boeri, stressing the need of architects to also write books, essays and reflections in addition to designing.

The last meeting, on Sunday 20^th, will be centred on Scritti di Domenica by Alessandro Mendini, who will lead a discussion with the art historian Loredana Parmesani.

To sum up:

Interni at BookCity 2016 – Architects read architects
Sforza Castle – Sala Bertarelli

Friday 18 November – 5pm
Texts by Ettore Sottsass read by Patrizia Ranzo

Saturday 19 November – 5pm
“Amate l’architettura.” Stefano Boeri reads Gio Ponti

Sunday 20 November – 5pm
“Scritti di domenica.” Conversation between Alessandro Mendini and Loredana Parmesani

Donna Moderna launches DM LAB (#dmlab), a new initiative dedicated to women and the whole family with more than 50 free meetings, workshops, laboratories and talks that will take place on Friday 11, Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 November, at the Spazio Open in Milan (Viale Montenero 6).

“DM Lab is a dream come true: bringing the content and values ​​of Donna Moderna to a physical space and making them accessible to readers,” said Annalisa Monfreda, the magazine’s editor. “This initiative offers us a three-day opportunity to come into direct contact with our community, in the sense of a real community of people gathered in one place thanks to the strength of our brand,” Monfreda concluded.

DM Lab is a new way of exploiting the experience and content also of some of the Group’s other brands who are working with Donna Moderna on the initiative, from Starbene to CasaFacile and Sale&Pepe, as well as Focus Junior, Focus Pico and ‪Nostrofiglio.it. A system that in print already embraces an overall audience of 11 million net contacts (Source: Audipress February 2016 and Audiweb July 2016) and that is able to expand and develop further thanks to this type of event around the country.

DM LAB will kick off in the morning with the editor of Donna Moderna, Annalisa Monfreda who, over coffee, will talk with special guests about a range of topical issues and closing in the evening with talks by five major personalities who will go up on stage to launch, in ten minutes, ideas and provocations around the great themes affect the world of women.

On Friday at 7 pm a generational clash on the theme: Who is the youngest between you and me? in which three couples will face each other in a debate moderated by psychologist Beatrice Toro on love, work and family relationships. On the stage, the many guests include: the writers Enrica Tesio and Manuela Stefani, journalist Roberto Parodi, Alessandro Rosina, who teaches demographics at the Catholic University in Milan and the YouTubers Jaser and Daniele Brogna.

The talk on Saturday at 7 pm will catalyse the attention of participants where the subject will be women’s bodies and beauty, that of normal women who always seem to feel they are not quite attractive enough. Here the guests include fashion photographer Settimio Benedusi, Cristina Fogazzi,  the well-known online beauty consultant Anna Turcato, image consultant.

With workshops on fitness, home decor, beauty and money, participants will also find a corner with expert nutritionists from Starbene, a desk for advice from the best architects of CasaFacile, and meetings with chefs promoted by Sale&Pepe.

And on Saturday afternoon the Spazio will be the theatre – at 5 pm – for a meeting with Davide Oldani who will talk about a taste for lightness: less fat, more flavour and aromas.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the chef Roberto Rinaldini, will explain how to turn every dessert into a tailor-made masterpiece based always on the pursuit of quality. And, from 7 to 8 pm, on stage, five well-known writers – Alessandra Appiano, Roberto Moliterni, Michela Murgia, Aldo Nove and Pulsatilla – will be the protagonists of “5 scrittori per 5 storie di donne moderne” (5 writers for 5 stories about modern women).

There will also be workshops for children, in collaboration with Junior Focus, Focus Pico and Nostrofiglio.it, to learn while having fun while mothers can follow the debates about the family, safety and education with psychologists, educators and experts.

Donna Moderna has thought of everyone with DM LAB and at Spazio Open there will alos be yoga and fitness classes in collaboration with Starbene. But the pursuit of health does not end there: a nutrition area, open on Friday from 4 to 6 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 pm, expert nutritionists from the European Institute of Oncology and dietician Carla Lertola will be available for advice for personalised diets, supplements and natural remedies.

The DM LAB format has been developed by  the advertising sales company Mediamond that has received very positive feedback from the market. Thanks to the popularity and audience of the Mondadori Group brands involved, along with the strength of the Mediamond network, this type of initiative is able to reach a very broad audience that interacts with the events and generates spontaneous buzz; a result that is due to the  active participation of the brands involved in the construction of the project and its implementation, and providing an opportunity to get in touch with their audience to present the products and the corporate values ​​that the brands represent.

The following partner companies contributed to the creation of DM LAB:

L’Oreal Paris, L’Oreal Professionel, Compagnia della Bellezza, MetLife, BioNike, 10 Buoni Propositi, Ferrarelle, Vitasnella, Rescue®- Fiori di Bach Originali, Caffè Vergnano, Pruneaux D’Agen.

A complete programme is available at: www.donnamoderna.com/labweekend

Studenti, the web site by Banzai Media (Mondadori Group) market leader in the student segment 4.7 million unique users per month (Audiweb, May 2016), is now online in an innovative version completely dedicated to study support: with improved functionality and a new look, the new Studenti is characterised by  mobile first usability.

The new release was conceived to make it easier to use and easier to find the most useful and relevant content for study topics: the offer has been divided by areas of interest and, in turn, rigorously split into subjects and topics, with special attention to the most frequently searched items.

“The mission of Studenti has always been to help students with their school work and to pass their exams, as well as orient themselves in their post-diploma choices. Thanks to this new release, Studenti strengthens its value proposition, becoming even more useful and focusing on innovative content and services,” declared Andrea Santagata, the Mondadori Group’s deputy general manager of Magazines Italy.

“The world of young people and millennials is a premium target for our advertisers and in the publishing context Studenti is a natural choice for them. With this new release we will also increase users’ participation and involvement; in fact native formats and engagement are among the property’s driving elements in its aim to be mobile first in terms of day to day use,” underlined Davide Mondo, chief executive of Mediamond.

An update and re-invigorated editorial offer

Within each subject, students can identify the most relevant didactic issues. The new organisation of the content also makes it possible to  look at the subjects in different levels of detail: advanced filters and related allow users to highlight a range of important conceptual connections.

In addition to the didactic content of Studenti, traditionally made up of notes, thousands of previously prepared mini-dissertations, a rich selection of video-lessons and a series of interactive modules specifically for the teaching of mathematics for high school students, is a range of new quality content. In fact the editorial content of Studenti has been enhanced with contributions from graduate students and university professors with the aim of providing students with exhaustive and accurate materials: background notes by teachers have been gathered together in structured and indexed files including summaries, glossaries and margin notes, in order to give an even better study experience.

The offer is completed with study guides and a range of interactive tests: those for orientation and matriculation, as well as simulations of multiple choice tests and exams in various subjects.

Thanks to responsive graphics, the new Studenti is easy to use on both a PC or a mobile device, effectively supporting students in a range of different situations.

Studenti.it is online at:

Link : www.studenti.it
Facebook: facebook.com/Studenti.it