2024

Now in its 22nd edition, the renowned literary prize Il Battello a Vapore invites aspiring female writers to take part in the competition again this year, with publication of the winning novel in the famous series of books for boys and girls.

Sara Bongiovanni, with her book Ellie about a sorceress without magic, entered the prestigious Golden Roll of the prize in 2023, which includes some of the most prominent names in literature for young people.

For the 2024 edition, unpublished manuscripts can be uploaded online from 4 March 2024 to 30 June 2024 on the official website www.battelloavapore.it/premio. In the following months, entries will pass through three selection stages. The first is entrusted to professionals in the field, while the second will be carried out by the Il Battello a Vapore editorial team, which will choose the five best manuscripts. The final selection, which will determine the winner and rank the five finalists, will be entrusted to a special jury, which this year is composed of Alessandro Gelso, the editorial manager of Il Battello a Vapore, Sara Bongiovanni, winner of the 2023 edition of the prize, Alessia Gazzola, a best-selling author, Letizia Mazzanti (@prof.andthecity), a blogger and teacher, and Claudio De Signori, owner of the Libreria Jolly in Verona.

The award ceremony will be held in Verona in November 2024, date to be determined.

More information and complete regulations at www.battelloavapore.it/premio.

A long-standing market leader in paperbacks, Oscar Mondadori – now directed by Luigi Belmonte – has signed an agreement with the independent brand NN Editore – founded and directed by Eugenia Dubini – to publish Kent Haruf’s works in paperback. This forms part of a broader editorial policy aimed at reissuing important titles by independent brands in paperback, as is systematically done, for example, in the French publishing market.

«With admiration, I have followed the wise rediscovery and launch of Kent Haruf’s work carried out by NN Editore, along with the success it has achieved. And I dreamed», says Elisabetta Risari, editor at Oscar, «of one day being able to include his novels, with their profound humanity and sober writing, in the wide, varied panorama of modern and contemporary classics in the Oscar Moderni catalogue. Today we celebrate this achievement together with NN and we hope to replicate the experience again in the future.»

«Kent Haruf marked the birth of the NN publishing house and has been winning the hearts of Italian readers for ten years. As of today», says Eugenia Dubini, «Haruf will have two homes. Our editions will be flanked by the paperbacks published by Oscar, and this collaboration — reinforced by the presence of the NN brand on the cover — makes me happy and proud. First, for the author, who is now considered a full-fledged contemporary classic, and also for the readers of the paperbacks, who will meet Haruf in this excellent series.»

It all starts today, 2 April, with the arrival in bookshops of Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong Trilogy” in the new Oscar editions, the richest catalogue in Europe of 20th-century Italian and international authors. Through an agreement with NN Editore, which will retain the original editions, the three books in this highly successful trilogy — Plainsong, Eventide and Benediction — will be available in the “Oscar Moderni” series, followed on 7 May, in “Oscar Cult”, by the bestseller Our Souls at Night.

Often compared to Faulkner and Hemingway, his constant points of reference, Kent Haruf shares the rejection of any stylistic affectation and extraordinarily clean dialogue with another American literary giant, Raymond Carver.

Released by NN between 2015 and 2016, Plainsong, Eventide and Benediction have garnered a loyal and devoted audience, and more readers will now be able to travel to Holt County, smile at Addie Moore or meet the unforgettable McPheron brothers.

Mondadori Store, the most extensive network of bookstores in Italy, will inaugurate a new bookstore in Marina di Carrara, a Tuscan seaside resort and tourist destination in the province of Massa Carrara, on Friday 29 March, at 5.30pm, thus making a hub dedicated to the world of books, culture and entertainment available to the public.

The new Mondadori Bookstore – led by mother-and-daughter booksellers Elena Torelli and Giorgia Grasso, who also manage the bookstore in Sarzana (SP) – expands the already extensive network of Mondadori Stores in the area, in keeping with the network’s strategy of spreading culture and promoting leisure-time reading, creating an interactive meeting point and a true cultural organisation for locals and tourists.

The new bookstore covers 60m2 and offers a selection of around 7,000 titles, from the great classics to best sellers – including fiction, non-fiction and miscellaneous – and that’s not forgetting early readers with the We are Junior format, which includes educational games and illustrated books to stimulate their imagination with the most intriguing stories, and the department dedicated to the manga and comics phenomenon, Just Comic. Areas dedicated to #BookTok, for the new generation of readers, local publishing, as well as stationery, toys, gift cards and gift boxes, also expand the store’s offer. 

The Mondadori Bookstore in Marina di Carrara also serves readers online: customers can be updated on all the activities and events planned through the Facebook and Instagram pages. They will also be able to get in touch with the store through the Mondadoristore.it digital services to check if a book is available, order it and pick it up in the store, choosing from a catalogue of over 1 million titles.

Il Mondadori Bookstore di Marina di Carrara è a servizio dei lettori anche online: i clienti potranno essere aggiornati attraverso le pagine Facebook e Instagram. Inoltre, potranno entrare in contatto con la libreria attraverso i servizi digitali di Mondadoristore.it per verificare la disponibilità di un libro, ordinarlo e ritirarlo in negozio, scegliendo da un catalogo di oltre 1 milione di titoli. 

The Mondadori Group announces that, through Mondadori Libri S.p.A., it has entered a start-up to develop the webnovel market in Europe.

The initiative, which involves an initial investment of € 1.5 million in 2024, and an additional € 1.5 million planned for 2025, stems from an agreement with Bookrepublic, an industrial partner with specific know-how and capable of supporting future operational growth. The company led by Marco Ferrario has been at the forefront of digital publishing in Italy for more than 10 years and has always been attentive to new literary trends.

The deal will come to fruition with the launch by the end of the year of a dedicated proprietary app – to be called Narae. Developed by an in-house team, initially with content in Italian and French, it will gradually expand its reach to encompass other European countries.

Designed to be read on a smartphone screen, webnovels are a form of serialised fiction of a highly innovative nature which, having started with great success in South Korea, has gained growing popularity and a solid fanbase in Japan and China as well. Content takes the form of series – primarily in the romance, fantasy, and crime genres – and is designed to originate and be enjoyed in other formats as well. Webnovels consist of a large number of short episodes, often more than a hundred, and, if successful, they can extend indefinitely.

After a recent launch in the United States and a successful debut in France, webnovels are now ready to conquer Europe, particularly following the global spread of Korean entertainment content in music, film, and comics.

«This investment reaffirms our Group’s willingness to look at what is most innovativein the international publishing environment. As it evolves, the world of webnovels is demonstrating creativity and the ability to feed other media as well, such as cinema, television series, and in many cases even book publishing itself» says Enrico Selva Coddè, CEO of Mondadori Libri.

«Webnovels are a very interesting and avant-garde model of digital publishing: they could be defined as the digital reinterpretation of serialised novels published in newspapers in the 1800s – says Marco Ferrario, CEO of Bookrepublic; and it is not surprising for it now to originate in an Asian country. The content is created specifically to be read on a mobile, borrowing techniques used in the production of video series and providing ways of accessing content that are inspired by gaming. Our challenge will be to find the route into Europe with this model», concludes Ferrario.

Bookrepublic was founded in 2010 by Marco Ferrario together with financial partners Gianluca Andena and Guido Paolo Gamucci (both former Permira partners), Marco Pittini and Guido Carissimo and has always been one of the leading players in the distribution and sale of ebooks and audiobooks in Italy. Over time, Bookrepublic has played a leading role in many digital publishing initiatives, including the organisation of IfBookThen, one of the most successful events in Europe on digital innovation in publishing, and the launch of digital-only brands such as 40K and emma books. In March 2024, the German group Bookwire, European leader in digital distribution, chose Bookrepublic as its Italian partner for its entry into this market.

GialloZafferano, Italy’s leading food media brand, continues its growth path in the United States with the launch of a new roster of Chef Creators, true ambassadors of Italian national culinary excellence, who are conquering New York City with their restaurants and cooking philosophy.

With almost 70 million followers on social media globally, GialloZafferano is now the fourth most important food media brand worldwide and the first player to promote the quality of Italian cuisine and products abroad with its content. The overseas presence represents an opportunity for Italian brands that want to strengthen their positioning in the American cooking market.

GialloZafferano landed in the US over a year ago with a strategy consisting of dedicated social media profiles, original content productions, iconic talent, and million-view results. It’s no coincidence that GialloZafferano Loves Italy, the social media account dedicated to internal audiences, has decided to promote the new wave of Italian cuisine, mixing tradition and modernity, which is a feature that’s necessary today in order to be able to communicate Italian products worldwide, especially to the US market.

This content offering is now joined by important new stars: Silvia Barban, Nicola Fedeli, Alberto Marcolongo and Riccardo Orfino. Together with GialloZafferano, four of the most successful and talented Italian chefs in New York will invent original recipes and content dedicated to the American market. Giallo ‘s communicative power and the chefs’ recipes will create an original mix of format and content capable of combining authority and quality with record-breaking reach.

From today, with GialloZafferano, Italian food brands will have a veritable food content factory of authentic and engaging content designed for an American audience at their disposal to promote their products.

And that’s not all: the project will also count on the involvement and passion for cooking of Cooker Girl, Aurora Cavallo, the food creator with over 2 million followers and the new brand ambassador for GialloZafferano in the United States, who in the coming months will be the star of GialloZafferano Loves Italy, the new English-language miniseries dedicated to the history and quality of Italy’s most iconic products.

THE CHEFS ON THE NEW GIALLOZAFFERANO ROSTER

Silvia Barban is the Executive Chef and co-owner of Larina Pastificio e Vino in Brooklyn (NYC). Her cuisine revisits local tradition with her energy, using seasonal and even unusual products from all over the world, which she combines with fresh handmade pasta. In the past, she has participated in several talent shows and TV programmes in the States.

Nicola Fedeli, with a series of experiences in the Tuscan region behind him, is Executive Chef at the Hotel Fasano in New York, now a standard for those who love classic Italian cuisine with a contemporary touch.

Alberto Marcolongo is the Executive Chef at Alain Ducasse’s Benoit in New York. After working at Davide Oldani’s D’O, and gaining experience in Paris, he landed in the US as sous-chef at Alain’s renowned bistro in Midtown (NYC). Alberto is considered one of the most promising Italian chefs, thanks to his ability to combine the use of excellent raw materials with international cuisine recipes.

Riccardo Orfino is the Executive Chef and partner of Osteria 57 and Alice in New York. After heading the first Bistrot di Aimo e Nadia in Milan – under the guidance of Chefs Fabio Pisani and Alessandro Negrini –, he moved to New York, bringing his experience with a new idea of contemporary, pescetarian and sustainable Italian cuisine.

GialloZafferano‘s new roster of chefs in the United States will be managed by Zenzero, Mondadori Media’s vertical food talent agency.

GialloZafferano is Italy’s leading food media brand on the Internet: every month 1 in 2 Italians cooks with GialloZafferano for a total of 19 million people (Audicom Nov 2023 – Jan 2024). It is the fourth largest food media brand in the world on social media, with a fanbase of 69 million followers (source: Internal Analyses and Shareableand Comscore Data 2024). Thanks to recipes within everyone’s grasp, it is available to people 24/7 on all channels: from the Internet to social media, from apps to smart devices, as well as magazines, books and local area events nationwide.

Zenzero exclusively manages the best food creators on the Italian digital scene. Created at the end of 2022 from the collaboration between GialloZafferano, One Shot Agency and 6 of the top food creators on the Italian digital scene, it has over 38 million followers and over 50 million video views. Zenzero Talent Agency represents a new point of contact between an extraordinary hub of creators and brand partners with the aim of setting up effective communication pathways that respond to the increasingly strong need of brands to tap into the passions, values and new languages of Generation Z as well.

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. would like to inform you that the following documents are available at the company’s registered office, at the 1Info authorised storage mechanism (www.1info.it) and on the www.mondadorigroup.com website (Governance section):

• the lists for appointments to the Board of Directors and the Board of Statutory Auditors filed by the shareholder Fininvest S.p.A., owner of 139,355,950 shares corresponding to 53.299% of the share capital and 69.853% of the voting rights;
• the lists for appointments to the Board of Directors and the Board of Statutory Auditors deposited by a group of shareholders consisting of asset management companies and institutional investors holding a total of 15,660,100 shares equal to 989% of the share capital.

The lists are accompanied by the documentation required by the Consob Issuers’ Regulation no. 11971/1999 and by the Company Bylaws.

The shareholders belonging to the grouping of asset management companies and institutional investors ha also filed – also pursuant to Consob Communication no. DEM/9017893 of 26 February 2009 – together with the lists, statements certifying the absence of any association and/or significant relations with shareholders who, also jointly, hold a controlling or relative majority investment, as set out in articles 147-ter, paragraph III, 148, paragraph II of the TUF and 144-quinquies of the Issuer Regulation.

Candidates to the Board of Directors

• List submitted by the shareholder Fininvest S.p.A.:

1. Marina Berlusconi
2. Antonio Porro
3. Pier Silvio Berlusconi
4. Alessandro Franzosi
5. Danilo Pellegrino
6. Elena Biffi (*)
7. Francesco Currò
8. Cristina Rossello
9. Paola Elisabetta Galbiati (*)
10. Marina Rubini (*)
11. Riccardo Perotta (*)
12. Lara Livolsi (*)

• List submitted by a grouping of shareholders formed of asset management companies and institutional investors:

1. Pietro Bracco (*)
2. Lucia Giancaspro (*)

(*) Candidates declaring their eligibility as independent director

Candidates to the Board of Statutory Auditors

• List submitted by the shareholder Fininvest S.p.A.:

Standing Auditors

1. Ezio Simonelli
2. Francesca Meneghel
3. Fabrizio Malandra

Substitute Auditors

1. Annalisa Firmani
2. Emilio Gatto
3. Alessia Bastiani

• List submitted by a grouping of shareholders formed of asset management companies and institutional investors:

Standing Auditors

1. Sara Fornasiero

Substitute Auditors

1. Mario Civetta

The Ordinary Shareholders’ Meeting for the appointments to the Board of Directors and to the Board of Statutory Auditors is convened on 24 April 2024 (on 26 April in second call, if necessary). Also available at the registered office, at the 1Info authorised storage mechanism (www.1info.it) and on the www.mondadorigroup.com website (Governance section) are the proposed resolutions presented by the shareholder Fininvest S.p.A., together with the deposited lists, regarding the following items on the agenda of the Shareholders’ Meeting:

9. Appointment of the Board of Directors.
9.1Determination of the number of members.
9.2 Determinazione della durata in carica.
9.3 Determination of the remuneration.
10. Appointment of the Board of Statutory Auditors for the financial years 2024/2025/2026.
10.1 Determination of the remuneration for the members of the Board of Statutory Auditors.

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. announces that the following documents relating to the Shareholders’ Meeting called for 24 April 2024 on first call (26 April 2024 on possible second call) are available to the public at the Company’s registered office, at the authorized storage mechanism 1info (www.1info.it) and on the website www.gruppomondadori.it (Governance section):

• Annual financial report for 2023, including the draft financial statements and the consolidated financial statements at 31 December 2023, the management report (including the consolidated non-financial statement) and the certifications referred to in article 154 bis, paragraph 5 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998;
• Independent Auditors’ Reports and Board of Statutory Auditors’ Report.

Mondadori Media, Italy’s leading social and digital publisher, presented The Beauty Revolution! at the IAB Showcaseevent, the IAB Italia marketplace dedicated to digital content.

During the panel dedicated to the world of beauty, the latest Mondadori Media development was presented: from Mypersonaltrainer, a brand leader in the fitness and wellness sector, comes Mypersonalbeauty, designed for women over 35.

It’s a publishing offer that aims to speak to all generations. Mypersonalbeauty, which is more focused on beauty wellness and involves experts, is aimed at a target group of successful and well-informed women, complementing The Wom Beauty, dedicated to beauty lovers under 35, focusing on beauty and style inspiration and the hottest trends, narrated by creators who are part of the Power Talent agency roster with the recent addition of top beauty TikToker, Arienne Makeup.

Both brands are present on the Internet and on social media, and with The Wom Beauty’s over 1 million followers on Instagram and TikTok, and Mypersonalbeauty’s 1.3 million followers on Instagram, the two are already affirming themselves as brand leaders in the beauty sector.

As mentioned above, Mypersonalbeauty can count on a team of professionals, including doctors, cosmetologists, researchers, wellness coaches and beauticians, who will address topics such as anti-ageing, skincare, hair and nail care, and body and facial treatments through a variety of formats. There will also be weekly columns, videos, articles, test&tell initiatives, analysed and customised content, as well as the new themed hubs to keep up to date with the latest trends.

Through its publishing brands, The Wom Beauty and Mypersonalbeauty, and with the participation of Power Talent Agency talents, Mondadori Media highlighted the new trends in the beauty world during the IAB Showcase 2024, with a particular focus on target diversification and the values that have always made the three brands stand out: authenticity, authoritativeness, wellness inspiration, harmony, balance and freedom of expression, vision and talent.

Introduced by Daniela Cerrato – Digital Marketing Director of Mondadori Media -, Emanuela Frascà, Marketing Manager of The Wom, and Paola Pravadelli, Marketing Manager of Mypersonaltrainer/Mypersonalbeauty, took turns talking about the two publishing brands on the The Beauty Revolution! stage, and were joined by Arienne Make Up and Camilla Mangiapelo, Power Talent Agency talent, fitness and beauty coach, Federica Constantini, and Mypersonalbeauty beauty trainer, Angelica Amodei, who was enthusiastic in talking about the new beauty trends, the ability to involve communities on social networks, the opportunities to win over all generations, new formats and the possibilities for brands that want to talk to beauty lovers.

Lastly, Mondadori Media offered participants in the IAB Showcase a spectacular cooking show powered by GialloZafferano and Zenzero Talent Agency, with food creators Dany Resconi and Azzuchef (Azzurra Gasperini): special dishes designed to bring the world of beauty-wellness into the world of food.

Mondadori Media’s innovative MarTech Centre – created around the digital company AdKaora following the acquisition of Hej! in 2021 and then the Spanish media agency Adgage, completed a few months ago – aims to offer the market a wide range of next-generation marketing and advertising services.
The offering ranges from proximity marketing solutions to data-driven performance conversational marketing solutions, from mobile first video advertising solutions to a creative studio able to offer customers high-impact and highly effective advertising formats.

The synergies between AdKaora, Hej! and Adgage – which today make up Mondadori Media’s MarTech Centre – began at the end of 2022 with the aim of guaranteeing, from a technological standpoint, better development of new integrated solutions, to enhance the different professional skills available and to maximise commercial effectiveness and go-to-market.
It was a successful undertaking, cemented by the results achieved in 2023, which showed total revenues of more than 32 million euros, up by almost 30% compared to the previous year, alongside the team continuing to grow stronger, and which now numbers 80 professionals across Milan, Rome and Madrid.

GROWTH DRIVERS

International development is one of the strategy’s most important drivers. The acquisition of the Spanish company Adgage opened up important new international opportunities in 2023, starting in Spain itself and, in recent months, Latin America.
This allowed AdKaora and Hej! to expand into foreign markets and to extend the AdKaora Value Network, thanks to the entry of important new publishing groups worldwide, with entry into other European markets and beyond also planned for 2024.

The second development lever for the coming years is the search for companies that can be integrated in order to offer innovative and complementary solutions to the range of services already offered. A number of interesting special operations are already under consideration in this area.

The third area of development focuses on the strong ability of the in-house marketing, tech and innovation teams to continue developing new products by understanding the opportunities that technological developments provide ahead of time. Along these lines, AdKaora has recently launched new advertising solutions on the market, like Impact Video, a high-impact, full-screen mobile format that is part of an advanced total video strategy covering different channels and focusing on the most interesting current KPI: Attention. The effectiveness of AdKaora’s video formats has been proven by the excellent results in ‘The Attention Game’ research conducted by GroupM and by KPIs provided by third-party certifiers such as Lumen and DoubleVerify.

Proximity marketing has also taken a further leap towards even more effective coverage of the entire consumer funnel thanks to the partnership with Savi – a marketing technology company specialising in coupon-based shopper activation services – where the aim is to strengthen product consideration and purchase incentives through mobile couponing.

Consideration becomes a crucial stage to oversee in order to achieve more concrete results: 2024 will therefore see the consolidation of AdKaora and Hej’s! full funnel proposal, which combines the quality of products with branding focus of the former with the performance strength of the latter.
The strength of Hej! Lies in harnessing Artificial Intelligence at different product and analysis levels. Using its proprietary platform, which is increasingly advanced in terms of analysis automation, Hej! can offer its customers in-depth qualitative analyses aimed at optimising the results of the entire supply chain. With data collected in real time, it is possible to achieve optimal performance and act on the subsequent marketing steps, like processing a qualitative lead.

And it is specifically Generative Artificial Intelligence that the Mondadori Group intends to invest in significantly in the coming years, not least to support the growth of the MarTech Centre. In this respect, a major Open Innovation project will soon be launched, which will also see Mondadori Media at the centre of the AI-related revolution in publishing and marketing.

A NEW STRUCTURE FOR THE MARTECH HUB

In order to achieve its ambitious goals, the MarTech Centre has established a new organisational structure.
Reporting directly to Andrea Santagata, Managing Director of Mondadori Media, Davide Tran, formerly Director of AdKaora, was appointed as Director of the MarTech Centre, with the aim of implementing the new development strategy and maximising synergies.
Reporting directly to Davide Tran, Stefano Argiolas was confirmed as Managing Director of Hej! and appointed the Head of Artificial Intelligence for the Mondadori Group; Paolo De Santis, Co-Managing Director of Hej!, was appointed the Head of Development of New Acquisitions for the MarTech Centre.
To strengthen international development, Luca Nigro, former Managing Director of Adgage, was appointed the Director of Development for the MarTech Centre in LATAM countries; Francesco Binetti, Head of Operations at AdKaora, was appointed the Director of International Development for the MarTech Centre’s Publisher Solutions.
The central sales department is entrusted to Paolo Ingrosso, appointed as Sales Manager for the MarTech Centre, and Luigi D’Alterio, Sales Manager of Hej! and MarTech Centre’s direct customers, while Walter Ferrari assumes the role of Marketing Manager.

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. announces that the following documents relating to the Shareholders’ Meeting called for 24 April 2024 on first call (26 April 2024 on possible second call) are available to the public at the Company’s registered office, at the authorized storage mechanism 1info (www.1info.it) and on the website www.gruppomondadori.it (Governance section):

• Directors’ explanatory reports, pursuant to article 125-ter of Legislative Decree 24 February 1998 n. 58, on the following items on the agenda:

Ordinary session

1. 1. Separate financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 December 2023, Directors’ Report on Operations and Reports of the Board of Statutory Auditors and the Independent Auditing Firm of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A.
      Resolutions on the approval of the separate financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 December 2023.
   2. Resolutions on the appropriation of the profit for the 2023 financial year.
   3. Resolutions concerning the proposed dividend distribution.
   4. Approval of the first section of the Report on Remuneration Policy and Fees paid pursuant to art. 123-ter, paragraphs 3-bis and 3-ter of Lgs.Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998.
   5. Resolutions on the second section of the Report on Remuneration Policy and Fees Paid pursuant to art. 123-ter, paragraph 6, of Lgs.Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998.
   6. Authorisation to buy back and dispose of treasury shares pursuant to the combined provisions of arts. 2357 and 2357-ter of the Italian Civil Code.
   7. Resolutions, pursuant to art. 114-bis of Lgs.Decree 58/1998, on the adoption of a Performance Share Plan for the three-year period 2024-2026.
   8. Resolutions, pursuant to art. 114-bis of Lgs.Decree 58/1998, on the adoption of a Short-Term Incentive Plan (MBO) 2024.

Extraordinary session

1. 11. Proposal to grant powers to the Board of Directors, in accordance with articles 2443 and 2420-ter of the Italian Civil Code.

• Information documenti, pursuant to art. 114-bis of Legislative Decree 58/1998 and art. 84 bis of the Consob Issuers Regulation 11971/1999, relating to the Performance Share Plan for the three-year period 2024-2026.
• Information document, pursuant to art. 114-bis of Legislative Decree 58/1998 and art. 84 bis of the Consob Issuers Regulation 11971/1999, relating to the 2024 Short-Term Incentive Plan (MBO).
• “Report on the Remuneration Policy and compensation paid” pursuant to art. 123-ter of Legislative Decree 58/1998.
• “Report on Corporate Governance and ownership structures”, pursuant to art. 123-bis of Legislative Decree 58/1998, referring to the 2023 financial year.