MILAN — Milan Design Week generated $21.1 million in media value, Insights by Karla Otto said on Monday, in what marks its first look into the digital impact of the annual event that took place here April 15 to 21.
Insights by Karla Otto, which analyzes the performance of firms and cultural events outside the realm of its public relations portfolio, is curated by a team of in-house experts and functions in collaboration with partners like Lefty, a platform that helps brands optimize their influencer marketing programs.
“Our Insights reports look at an entire industry segment, not just our clients. The reports maintain independence from our clients as the data that informs this work is based on activations that move the needle in the industry we’re analyzing. Through our data partner Lefty, we’re able to run analysis for any brand globally, whether they are represented by us or not,” a spokesperson for the firm told WWD.
Topping the charts, the report said, were notable strategies including Molteni&C’s “adept step into celebrity culture,” the Alcova exhibit, which took place in two villas, Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and Villa Borsani, in the town of Varedo, and upscale lighting firm Flos, which it said also leveraged iconic Milanese buildings to attract crowds and foster cross-category collaborations, as also seen with Italian design firms Kartell and Cassina.
“Molteni&C took notes from its fashion counterparts, implementing a water-tight celebrity strategy that drove significant visibility online,” the report said. The brand hosted a 90th anniversary dinner beneath Anselm Kiefer’s towering installation, The Seven Heavenly Palaces, at Hangar Bicocca with a guest list that brought together design heavyweights with talent from across the worlds of art, fashion and design, including Taiwanese actress Janine Chang and Spanish creator Blanca Miro, the study said.
The report also mentions Artemest, a digital platform that promotes and sells Italian arts, crafts and design, which tapped its partners, decorators and artisans to create a dream house in an early 20th-century palazzo called Residenza Vignale near Corso Magenta.
Insights by Karla Otto said its team tracked more than 18,000 social media profiles with more than 10,000 followers attending Milan Design Week, tagging hundreds of participating brands across categories to analyze two key metrics: their earned media value, or spend of the impressions gained, and share of voice, key metrics of the Insights by Karla Otto methodology and how its partner Lefty measures impact.
Versace ranked number one in terms of fashion brands with $1.15 million in EMV, while Australian luxury personal care company Aesop, which partnered with Salone del Mobile.Milano for the first time, generated $190,000 in EMV. Concurrently, Aesop also opened a new Milan store near Piazza Cordusio in Milan.
Paris-based data research and insights company Launchmetrics also told WWD Monday that Bottega Veneta and its collaboration with Cassina and Fondation Le Corbusier generated a total media impact value of $1.9 million. Bottega Veneta and Cassina were also the top performers last year.
Thom Browne’s collaboration with luxury Italian linens firm Frette ranked second, generating a total MIV of $1.7 million, followed by Marimekko and Apartamento Magazine with $417,000 in MIV.
For Design Week, Bottega Veneta parented with Cassina and Fondation Le Corbusier for “On the Rocks,” a large-scale installation staged at Palazzo San Fedele and centered on the bespoke LC14 Tabouret Cabanon stools, which punctuated the venue of the brand’s fall 2024 runway show in February. Originally conceived for Le Corbusier’s cabin in Roquebrune Cap Martin on the French Riviera, the design drew inspiration from a wooden box of whisky the acclaimed architect found on the beach.
Italy’s main fair Salone del Mobile.Milano‘s 62nd edition took place between April 16 to April 21 and welcomed 370,000 visitors and 1,900 exhibitors, with major players in both the furniture and fashion worlds showcasing this year at prime locations, flagships and showrooms around town.
