money

They called it “the partnership that consolidated Lighthouse Group as Malta’s leading marketing company.” A veteran of the local market Lighthouse has stretched its reach to foreign shores and partnered with Ashley Worldgroup. If you were mesmerised by the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics, if you were spellbound by the Greek pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, if you were enticed to holiday in Greece by the multinational campaigns of the last few years, if you were influenced by the Hyundai campaign in the South African World Cup, then you have already met Ashley Worldgroup.

Welcome to Lighthouse and Ashley. Let’s talk.

Lighthouse and Ashley.

14, C. Mallia Street, San Gwann SGN 2202, Malta t: (356) 21 387 900 e: info@lighthouse.com.mt | www.lighthouse.com.mt

Contents 8 Bright eyes These creatives are making a name for themselves away from the rock. How did they discover their talent and why did they leave Malta, asks Veronica Stivala.

15 Funding trust Creativity is nothing without strategy and research, says Roderick Muscat Monsigneur, CEO Lighthouse Group.

18 A cultured man With a passion that is astounding, Adrian Mamo, Chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, explains to Victor Calleja how Malta is enhancing its cultural heritage.

24 Big ideas Three design and branding agencies tell Money how they use creativity in their campaigns.

34 Learning their lesson Paul Caruana Turner meets three MCAST students who hold Malta’s creative future in their hands.

39 Valletta, an unrivalled European City of Culture The revival of Valletta as the European City of Culture in 2018 should be the springboard of a corporate promotional campaign for Malta, says Michael Refalo.

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43 Calling time Money meets Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot.

45 The commerce of creativity In a survival of the fittest battle, the ideas that persevere become a resource that puts a spark in the economy, says Chris Mifsud.

47 The logical song 15 years after Pierre Mizzi set up Logix Communications, creativity and strategy are still the key to effective communication.

51 Speaking stones Kris Micallef discusses creativity in design and architecture with Konrad Buhagiar and Ray DeMicoli.

62 Winter warmers Keep cosy and super-stylish in knits, tweed, and winter woollies.

64 The larder of creativity Mona Farrugia travels to Italy, the Maldives and Marrakech to meet three wise men who have turned cooking into an art form.

66 Building a creative economy The Create scheme brings the arts closer to business, says Chris Galea, Malta Enterprise.

Welcome We might be mere flesh and bones, yet what elevates us to a higher state is creativity; the way we buoy ourselves with our talent and rise above the mundane, the physically impossible, gravity itself.

In this first issue of 2011, we decided to focus on creativity since it is this quality, coupled with our patience and perseverance, that makes us Maltese hard workers, shrewd businesspeople and survivors despite our island’s lack of resources. We don’t have oil, precious minerals or land, yet we have ideas.

In this issue, we interview three Maltese creatives who have made a name for themselves abroad – creative director, photographer and filmmaker Duncan Bone, cartoonist, illustrator, art director and designer Gattaldo, and activist director and producer, portrait photographer and lighting technician Inka Stafrace all left Malta for various reasons, yet they have all made the most of their creativity beyond our shores.

Adrian Mamo, Chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts explains how the Council cultivates and supports Malta’s culture through all forms of creative expression while increasing the accessibility of the public to the arts.

Michael Refalo writes how the revival of Valletta as the European City of Culture in 2018 should be a springboard for Malta.

Yet creativity is not just about art.

Boutique design and marketing agencies tell Money how they use creativity and strategy to produce their campaigns, Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot finds a strong link between creativity and watchmaking, while Mona Farrugia works up an appetite as she interviews three chefs whose creativity has earned them Michelin stars and worldwide accolades.

We also make the most of our creativity in this issue’s sporty fashion shoot and in giving you a business magazine with a stylish difference.

Read on and enjoy.

Editor Anthony P. Bernard Email: anthony@becommunications.com Consulting Editor Stanley Borg Email: stanley@becommunications.com Design Porridge | www.weareporridge.com Printing Progress Press Distribution Mailbox Direct Marketing Group Hand delivered to businesses in Malta and selected Vodafone corporate clients and all their retail outlets. All 5 Star Hotels including their business centres, executive lounges and rooms (where allowed). Maltese Embassies abroad (UK, Rome, Brussels, Moscow and Libya). Some Government institutions and ministries.

For information regarding promotion and advertising contact Jamie Maher Tel: 00 356 2131 4719, 2134 2155 Email: money@becommunications.com

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6 - Money / Issue 05

Money is published by BE Communications Ltd, 37, Amery Street, Sliema SLM 1702 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission. Opinions expressed in Money are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. All reasonable care is taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the editor and publishers cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in articles, advertising, photographs or illustrations. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome but cannot be returned without a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

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Bright eyes These creatives are making a name for themselves away from the rock. How did they discover their talent and why did they leave Malta, asks Veronica Stivala.

W

hat unites Duncan Bone, Gattaldo and Inka Stafrace is their differences. Indeed, as cartoonist, illustrator, art director and designer Gattaldo says, being different is creative people’s idiosyncrasy – they are rebellious and childlike.

Marketa - Photo by Duncan Bone

Photo by Gattaldo

The three also feel their home country did not accept their being different and all sought new pastures.

Both Gattaldo and Inka Starfrace felt bogged down by Malta’s staunch Catholicism while creative director, photographer and filmmaker Duncan Bone felt unappreciated.

The three speak passionately about their drive to represent the world as they see it and also voice their views on creativity.

8 - Money / Issue 05

Palestinian farmer watches his land being ‘acquired’ - Inka Stafrace

Multidisciplinary is the key Duncan Bone

It was the world around him, more specifically everyday objects that steered Duncan Bone towards the world of graphic and industrial design.

Although initially frowned upon when Bone first moved to London 11 years ago, his multi-disciplinary talents have worked to his advantage.

The creative director, photographer and filmmaker always had an interest in the creative process but found it difficult to find his slant.

Before he turned 17, he played guitar in bands, shot photos, bought a VHS wedding style video camera to shoot film, took acting classes and then learnt how to use a Mac and got into graphic design while he was meant to be studying industrial design.

Bone has art directed and animated the graphics for Kylie Minogue’s clip for the campaign with Spanish jewellery company Tous, has photographed Spike Lee, Russell Brand and Lily Cole, was involved in the marketing and created bespoke sets for Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men and won a Silver Pencil at the OneShow awards in New York for his work for Playstation. The list is endless.

The same goes for his sources of inspiration which include music, film, architecture, art, a walk in the city with his headphones on or even a heavy dose of RSS feeds from blogs.

Spike Lee

However, the magic really happens when he’s with a good team of people, one idea leads to another and, hey presto, a new idea is born.

Bone believes creativity is something within all of us on different levels-learning to understand your creativity and figuring out how to make something out of it or even making a living out of it is something else.

Unfortunately, to make a living out of his art, Bone had to leave his home country, which he loves. 11 years ago when he left it was practically impossible to get paid fully or on time for a freelance design job. This was not the case in London which also provided the challenges he was after and led to his becoming creative director at Wieden + Kennedy.

Interesting work in the pipeline includes a new European campaign for Honda making use of never-used-before sound technology as well as a pilot project for Fair Trade in Malawi and a TV and print campaign for Nike Olympics.

Bone believes creativity is something within all of us on different levels.

Money / Issue 05 - 9

The world is my stimulus, starting from the sublime to the mundane.

A different Design

Gattaldo

Gattaldo recalls how round about the age of six he borrowed a box camera that was lying around his parents’ house. He became obsessed with looking at everything through its viewfinder. The world was more beautiful if the clutter around a subject was cropped.

“I relished the control over reality, this new power to choose the essence over what is dispensable.”

The cartoonist, illustrator, art director and designer hasn’t looked back since. His The Brave Cissies appeared on the maltamedia.net portal. He designs interiors and bought and restored a historic 16th-century house in Valletta and is working on the restoration and design for the interior decoration of a 450-year-old house in Vittoriosa. He also recently worked with various illustrators, artists and composer Ruben Zahra on a book of Maltese folktales, published by Merlin Library Ltd. All these creations were inspired by the world, claims Gattaldo.

“The world is my stimulus, starting from the sublime to the mundane.”

He recalls how some time ago, the celebrated Derren Brown demonstrated to two Saatchi & Saatchi ad executives through subliminal messaging, how our experience guides our thinking process.

10 - Money / Issue 05

Gattaldo

“It was humbling and ever so slightly embarrassing but life’s experience is all we have to go on. Some regurgitating is necessary of course and that’s what a creative relies on.”

creative as rebellious, childlike and individualistic than meets the eye,” he notes.

This artist interestingly attributes creativity to being different and says this is something innate.

Perhaps the rebellious nature had something to do with the artist’s leaving Malta to live in the UK. He points out how Malta’s size and oppressive Catholic frame of mind was far from conducive.

“There is more to the stereotype notion of the

“The sea promised new opportunities of personal

growth on the horizon so I fled the moment I could.”

Gattaldo is currently working on a direct mail piece in the form of a hardback book called Stop and Smell the Stilton with Langland advertising agency. It pulls at one’s emotional strings by presenting a series of real life resolutions of people with cancer. There are also future plans for setting up a limited company in the UK.

Israeli military ambush a non violent protest in Palestine

An Israeli soldier proudly showing his only wound

An Israeli peace activist shot by Israeli military

Actively creative

Inka Stafrace

Angered by the unfair way in which television portrayed events and people, Inka Stafrace wanted to make people see what was really going on in the world.

“I really enjoy editing. Editing is where you can be creative.

I feel blessed in that I enjoy it so much because I can get particular about it,” Stafrace points out.

The activist director and producer, portrait photographer and lighting technician recalls being upset about how when University fees were introduced in Australia, there was never any description as to why the students were demonstrating. What was portrayed was a “blankness of information”, she protests.

Stafrace originally left Malta for Australia with her family aged 12 in 1979. Although she did try to live in Malta for the past two years, she felt stifled by “the Maltese hardheadedness”.

Other pet causes include the environment, bullying, human rights, ignorance and identity. All the current wars seem to stem from the division of identity, she says.

Stafrace’s film company Polly Tickle produces short films whose subject matter includes queer theory, sexuality, political protests and relationships.

Stafrace’s introduction to the film world interestingly started when she used to play drums in a band and worked on mixing sound. This led to her studying audiovisual technology which was how she nurtured her love for video and film making.

12 - Money / Issue 05

“It seems Malta is completely divided into one half that is completely unproductive and ignorant, then there’s this bright energy coming from young people,” she laments. She continues, “I think the island is really special but for creative people it’s too small.”

Stafrace’s biggest project to date is a documentary entitled Hope in a Slinghot which documents the war in Palestine and questions the true meaning of military occupation. In fact, she wants to go back to Palestine where she wants to cover the ‘spiritualness’ of Jerusalem in modern times for she believes the land is sacred land.

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Funding trust

Creativity is nothing without strategy and research, says Roderick Muscat Monsigneur, CEO Lighthouse Group.

F

or Roderick Muscat Monsigneur, the smell of ink triggers a Proustian moment that defines his work, his career, his life.

“I remember when I was a young boy growing up in Sliema, all the other boys used to play football in the streets all day long. I hated the sport and so would spend my free hours at a small printing press in the neighbourhood.

“It all started when I was walking by the printing press and, smelling the ink, got curious and walked in to find what, in my eyes, looked like a cave full of magic. The printer there gave me some lead letters and told me to sort them.

From then on, I continued to visit him. I remember one day he gave me a bunch of papers stapled together – it was such a precious gift to me.

“Then when I was about 14, the father of a friend of mine approached me to design a monthly leaflet for his sports club. By then, I had bought my first computer and used to experiment with Corel Draw and other graphic design software.

“Yet I didn’t pursue design as a career – instead, I started studying civil engineering and working in real estate. Eventually, though, I veered into marketing and when I was 21 years old, started The Bargain Magazine.

The magazine was a new niche market, which I tapped into – I was a pioneer in giving everyone, even stall owners at the open market, the opportunity to promote their products.

“Eventually, I started diversifying – fast forward to today and I am now the proud CEO of a marketing agency, Lighthouse Group, which has just partnered

up with internationallyrenowned media group Ashley Worldgroup.”

For Lighthouse Group, the partnership with Ashley Worldgroup – which is present in 15 countries – can lead to further business expansion in Europe, Africa and other markets.

“Two years ago, Lighthouse joined IN Network,” says Muscat Monsigneur. “IN Network is the largest global conglomerate of independent advertising agencies with a strong presence in every continent. It is thanks to this synergy of ideas between practically every country in the world that has made our partnership with Ashley Worldgroup possible.

“By exploring the potential that Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and beyond hold for us, we are exporting

knowledge abroad. We are doing this in a structured way, by investigating how other agencies abroad function and by gaining cultural understanding, which is necessary to work in the creative industries abroad.

“Of course, exporting our knowledge abroad does not mean that we are breaking our local ties. Rather, we will continue to be very active locally, especially now that Malta is acknowledging that the creative industry is a huge contributor to the local economy. Just consider that, for instance, during a photo shoot, we employ or subcontract designers, photographers, stylists, models, hairdressers, set-builders, technicians, and more. The creative industry contributes not only financially but also in terms of knowledge and culture.

Money / Issue 05 - 15

We are exporting knowledge abroad.

“This is a far cry from the situation we had a few years ago – just consider that it was only in the budget for 2008 that the creative industry was defined. Before that, we were always listed under ‘other services’. Defining our industry is a huge step in the right direction.

“Such recognition is also forthcoming from our clients.

And that is important because we have to work closely with our clients – it is useless to have a good campaign for, say, a shop, when the shop’s sales staff is not trained in customer care. That would reduce a campaign to mere packaging.

“Also, businesses now recognise the important role that marketing and communications play.

16 - Money / Issue 05

Nowadays, a business that doesn’t have an agency on its books is like going to the law courts and opting to defend yourself without a lawyer – it is entirely possible, yet how wise is it?”

In the past years, Lighthouse Group has been responsible for some of the most memorable campaigns, from the Allcare Insurance billboards to their in-house production Brand X. Recently, the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals in Texas has also awarded Lighthouse Group four Platinum Awards for outstanding audiovisual work. The audiovisual works were for Brand X, Quadra Chameleon, Shoemarket and Prego Olive Oil.

Yet these campaigns not only celebrate the creativity of the Group but also the strategy at play.

execution. Such planning is creativity as a science.

“The difference between art and creativity is that the former is subjective and does not necessarily have a strategy, whereas creativity requires a strategy in order to apply to a large sector of society,” says Muscat Monsigneur.

“For a good campaign, you also need to conduct research, which in turn helps you draw up an effective strategy. At Lighthouse, we are building our research capacity. Without research, it’s like you are firing wildly, hoping to hit the target.

But with research and strategy, you are like a sniper.

“To create a good campaign, you have to plan a lot – you need to analyse the product itself, its positioning, audience and medium. We also consider cost – in our industry, you always work within financial restrictions, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot have a good idea. After all, it is not having a good idea that costs money, but rather, its

“Recently, we carried out research which showed how an individual gets hit by around 6,800 brands every day. So to stand out, we need to create our message by bringing into play these three factors – research, strategy and creativity. This, in turn, stirs emotions and creates trust between a customer and a brand.”

A cultured man

Photo by George Scintilla at www.georgescintilla.com.

With a passion that is astounding, Adrian Mamo, Chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, explains to Victor Calleja how Malta is enhancing its arts and culture scene.

I

meet Adrian Mamo at his architect’s office in Balzan. Although easy to talk to, he must give his clients, artists or anyone interested in launching a cultural project quite a tough time trying to cope with his mind, which seems to survey and cover a hundred topics in a few seconds.

Adrian Mamo is Chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, whose mission statement is to, “Cultivate, through investment and support, a creative expression of excellence and to inspire a forwardlooking Maltese cultural identity.” The Council is also responsible for promoting “Malta’s culture through all forms of creative expression, increase the

18 - Money / Issue 05

accessibility of the public to the arts and enhance Malta’s cultural heritage locally and abroad.” The Council also promises to, “Adhere to the values of excellence, integrity, respect, commitment, innovation, inclusion and transparency.”

enthuses. “Malta is full of talented people who need exposure and appreciation.

We, as a Council, need to make the arts as accessible as possible but we are not expected to, and will not, turn the arts or our events into crass entertainment.”

Such a vast mission sounds quite exhaustive, yet Adrian Mamo seems to thrive on it. The passion in his call is unfailing and he gets his adrenalin going just talking about what he and the Council members do, how they do it and how they put their own creative hats on to stretch their funds and take culture to the people.

The Council is expected to foster and launch various art initiatives and get them funded, monitored and reach full fruition. Just over a year ago, the Council launched a revised and enlarged Malta Arts Fund, which supports local artists’ projects and a new Fund for regular funding of arts organisations is about to be launched. The Council is also directly responsible for the Arts Festival, Carnival, G anafest, the Malta Jazz Festival and Notte Bianca. Mamo says

“I believe that Malta deserves and needs an Arts festival that is based on quality and puts us on the international map,” he

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01. Matt Penman & Reuben Rogers of world renowned Joshua Redman’s Double Trio at the 2010 edition of the Malta Jazz Festival (photo by John Ambrogio) 02. Maltese folk musicians team up with musicians from France, Israel and Algeria for the final musical numbers at Ghanafest 2009 at Argotti Gardens (photo Adrian Mamo) 03. Jean Christophe Maillard with a guitar solo during Richard Bona’s performance at the 2010 edition of the Malta Jazz Festival (photo by John Ambrogio) 04. Valletta’s architectural gems become performance venues during Notte Bianca’s night-long extravaganza of art and culture (photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi) 05. Admiring Valletta’s treasures during Notte Bianca (photo by Clive Borg, 2010) 06. Malta’s ‘father of Jazz’ and creator of the Festival, Charles ‘City’ Gatt performs at the 2010 edition of the Malta Jazz Festival (photo by Sergio Muscat) 07. Folk band Ressala from Egypt perform at Ghanafest 2010 at the Argotti Gardens (photo by Stephen Buhagiar) 08. Maltese folk musicians team up with musicians from France, Israel and Algeria for the final musical numbers at Ghanafest 2009 at Argotti Gardens (photo by Adrian Mamo)

that the numbers at some of the events are mind-boggling while at others they are smaller but still noteworthy.

Notte Bianca is one of the main crowd-pullers. And on that night the arts are on full display and in full swing. On the night, Valletta becomes a showcase for culture and the arts and the Council’s remit is vibrantly present – there is dance, music, theatre, literature, tradition, history and heritage all combining with the commercial offerings in Valletta to make it a memorable night for the larger part of our population. And the people can also see and enjoy the beauty of the architecture of Valletta.

“If you gauged the success of Notte Bianca by its sheer numbers,” Mamo adds, “we would be very happy. But what is truly impressive on that night are the long queues of people waiting to tour our architectural gems, like the Auberge de Castille, the Grandmasters’ Palace, museums, and other places of historical value.” Normally inaccessible places are also open to the public, which seems to show a voracious appetite to view Valletta and its treasures.

Mamo is sure a lot of those people who queue up would previously never have dreamt of viewing the buildings or what’s inside.

Notte Bianca, while having a lot of popular appeal, also delivers culture to the people. And Malta’s creative flair is also being expressed in various other

cultural events which have sprouted all over the island. This is outside the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts’ remit, but I feel that the success of Notte Bianca has contributed to encourage other organisations in setting up successful events which combine the commercial aspect of localities with heritage, tradition, history and architecture.

While talking of tradition I feel I have to quiz Adrian about ghana. Shouldn’t it be nurtured and introduced in bars, wine bars and restaurants to help keep it alive and get it known as one of Malta’s treasured and unique traditional aspects. I add that although I love hearing jazz and other music in entertainment spots, it is sad that ghana never makes it to the stage.

Money / Issue 05 - 19

We, as a Council, need to make the arts as accessible as possible but we are not expected to, and will not, turn the arts or our events into crass entertainment.

“If you move ghana and ghannejja into the trendy wine bars and restaurants which do not traditionally form part of the background to ghana, then the true spirit of ghana and its singers dies,” Mamo answers.

I realise how true this is and think of the various Maltese nights held in nightclubs, which might have some semblance of reality but are just a commercial way of attracting tourists without being in any way tied to keeping proper tradition alive. And that would also happen to ghana.

But then there is the G anafest, or the Mediterranean Music Festival, as it is now more appropriately referred to. Adrian explains that this is where the ghannejja get together – here, they do not feel intimidated by the fineries that a restaurant or wine bar would have on offer. The Festival’s artistic director rightly ensures that, whilst hosting foreign music groups from around the Mediterranean, the tradition of ghana is not commercialised or compromised in any way.

“Of course,” Mamo continues, “the numbers at the G anafest are not stratospheric but they are encouraging and growing from year to year, and I feel that we are doing a service to one of our traditions.”

Unlike Notte Bianca, at the G anafest, the Malta Arts Festival and the Jazz

Festival the food at the outlets is properly screened and no fast food is allowed. So the Council is rightly encouraging Maltese produce and culinary traditions during these three events.

The Malta Jazz Festival is another subject which gets Adrian’s eyes glimmering. After building a real following in Malta and worldwide, for a few years the event took a rather more commercial direction. Now it’s back to its roots and showcases some of the world’s leading jazz performers. Jazz legends such as Michel Petrucciani, Joe Zawinul, John Scofield, Chick Corea, Diana Krall and Elvin Jones have all graced the Malta Jazz Festival’s stage – a veritable history of jazz in miniscule.

Moreover, the influence of the Malta Jazz Festival has been instrumental in serving as a springboard for various Maltese jazz musicians to establish themselves abroad.

The numbers attending might not be enormous but the reviews of the festival definitely give it the thumbs-up. Even leading jazz publications consider the Malta Jazz Festival to be the highlight of the year’s offerings. In its September issue of this year, the UK’s largest Jazz magazine, Jazzwise dedicated the central spot of its reviews to the Malta Jazz Festival – the reviewer stated how, “It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again, The

Malta Jazz Festival is gifted with one of the most breathtaking festival sites in Europe. And one of the warmest.”

The remit of the Council is to foster excellent and inclusive culture in Malta.

And as time goes on, the Council is doing more and assisting more and more artistes. No culture exists without the artists who keep it alive and vibrant – this means that everything is done to keep them as up to date and in tune with what is happening as possible.

All this and more is part of what Adrian Mamo lives for, thrives on and is passionate about. As he himself says, there are things the Council wishes to do and wishes to foster but funds, time and other human limitations are a constant challenge to him and his team. However, when we consider our miniscule size, nobody can deny that we still manage to do a lot.

For more information about the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and opportunities for artists’ funding visit at www.maltaculture.com.

Read on. Join us Money Magazine

20 - Money / Issue 05

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22 - Money / Issue 05

Vodafone launches customer experience for self-employed

V

odafone Malta has launched a personalised customer experience for professionals, traders and shop owners who run their own business or practice. The service will give clients reliable solutions for their particular business and trade needs.

This experience also offers a oneto-one service which will strengthen Vodafone’s relationship with clients, putting a name to assistance and support through an open and direct channel of communication.

Vodafone’s new approach is intended to take customer service to new heights in quality and excellence. Aware of its customers’ busy schedule, this service will focus on reliability, efficiency, and high-speed data – all factors that will help customers make the most of their time. With the best data network coverage on the island and the highest speeds, Vodafone clients are well empowered to access data and communication channels and enjoy their benefits, whether they are at their office, shop or on-the-move.

Account Managers will place clients on the best plans that suit their particular needs guaranteeing the most relevant tariff depending on their usage patterns. They will also offer them the most practical handsets from the widest portfolio on the island, with an assurance of relevant products at the best value for their money.

Alexandre Froment-Curtil, Head of Marketing at Vodafone Malta said: “At Vodafone Malta all our customers

are valuable and important. We have created a customer-oriented approach whereby each customer is treated on a personal level. We are aware that network reliability is of utmost importance to all our customers and we provide solutions where network coverage is low. We examine customers’ needs and accommodate them accordingly. This will not only help us build a relationship with each customer, but will also ensure that they are cared for in the best possible way.”

Vodafone Malta understands that professionals and traders running their own business rely heavily on internet, e-mail and their mobile phones to stay in touch with clients and colleagues.

They are frequent travellers and spend their working days on the move.

For this reason Vodafone Malta can assure its clients of excellent network coverage, the best roaming rates and the fastest data speeds – the combination of which enables them to manage their businesses in an efficient and productive manner.

Money / Issue 05 - 23

Big ideas Three design and branding agencies tell Money how they use creativity in their campaigns.

A

marketing campaign is not just about pretty and attractive design, nor does it depend solely on strategy. Rather, it is a winning combination of design and strategy that makes for a memorable campaign.

Here, three boutique agencies, Switch Design and Brand Strategy, Mangion & Lightfoot and Porridge Creative, take cue from some of their projects to explain how this winning combination is achieved.

The rebirth of a modern classic

by Switch Design and Brand Strategy The Wembley Store in Republic Street Valletta has been a landmark ever since it was opened by Emanuel Gauci in 1924. During World War II, the Store endured all the hardships that befell the Capital city and persevered through some of the toughest times in recent history.

The Wembley Store to its former glory and start a new chapter for Valletta’s famous landmark. Chris and Noel Gauci, Joseph’s two sons who head the business, collaborated with Switch, their Design and Brand Strategy consultants, to give this project the care and attention it deserves.

In 1946, Emanuel’s son Joseph returned from his apprenticeship at Harrods London and set out to continue his father’s work and vision. The economic situation during the 1980s and 90s turned the shop into more of a convenience store than a local version of Fortnum & Mason. Recent attention to the capital city was embraced by the Gauci family who seized the opportunity to restore

Switch Design and Brand Strategy were chosen as the company that fit all the criteria required by a project of this scope and magnitude.

They provide end-to-end design solutions, from brand identity management to interior and exterior design and including all communication materials and collateral.

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Starting from an exhaustive brand audit, Switch and The Wembley Store management worked towards an initial brief that outlined every aspect of the project. Once this was finalised, work started on the initial phases of the rebranding process itself.

Focus on perfecting brand orientation would ensure that every step of the way would be aligned to the agreed strategy.

This would include everything from identity development to product offering, design language and communication materials. Both Switch and The Wembley Store sought to ensure consistency of application of the agreed brief and this led to the cohesive result that has so far

characterised the first phase of the project.

“This project is an ongoing one, a project that will remain alive as we add essential design elements to the store over the next year or so. We have put most of our creative muscle to work here, from our experts on interiors to graphic design for marketing collateral, as well as copywriting and web interface development. I took on the art direction of the project myself and it was a real pleasure working with everyone on the team as we saw this project come to life in all its various forms,” says Michael Azzopardi, the Creative Director of Switch Design and Brand Strategy.

now twice that available before the project started.

New features include a serving window onto Republic Street for quick, over-the-counter purchases and a cellar that gives fine wines the display and storage area that befits them.

Work on the identity was a challenge that the Switch Creative team loved to work on. The team wanted an iconic identity that created a contemporary take on the existing marque, one that is recognisable by all and steeped in wonderful heritage. The final logo embodies ‘Quality foods at heart’ in a design that is distinctive and timeless.

Turning to the brand itself, Simon Debono, Director of Strategy for Switch, describes the product offering as an integral part of the branding process.

“The Wembley Store needs to carry an unrivalled selection of fine foods to really present a unique brand offering. The company management scouted the international market for fine food and drink that is now exclusively available at The Wembley Store.”

The store interior was designed to provide a welcoming, charming and intriguing space, injected with energy and freshness, with light and occasional theatricality. Michael explains that, “The shopping experience at The Wembley Store will take you back in time, integrating modern design and ingenuity with a style reflecting that of the 1920s. The new design also features new product display and locations as well as intelligent storage solutions that give swift access to products and rapid shelf replenishment.”

This was applied to all three levels of store footprint,

“We have introduced new lighting solutions that highlight the contrast between the old and new features of the store. In addition, all of the old photography that was stacked in the shop’s archives has been restored and is now proudly displayed in-store. I wanted the façade to retain a nostalgic throwback to 1924 while adding a contemporary touch.

Custom-designed timber structures, gold leaf and LED lighting now complement each other in a modern twist on the original signage,” says Michael about the physical re-design of the Store.

Simon refers to the project as one that required the will to go beyond the basics.

“Design of campaigns and advertising for The Wembley Store was merely the tip of the iceberg. We wanted to go beyond the obvious and take the identity all the way through the shopping experience. We produced bespoke wrapping paper, a new web experience, product photographic styles, and a new set of identity guidelines.

PR and experiential marketing helped complete the spectrum of services we offered to The Wembley Store.

“Managing the project offered some interesting challenges, particularly related to the logistics of construction on Republic Street while maintaining the same level of retail service to The Wembley Store clients every day. As daunting as this may sound, we’re pleased that we helped our client keep its promises to its esteemed clientele.”

Facts and figures: Switch Design and Brand Strategy Established seven years ago, Switch brings together decades of collective creative experience in a team of dynamic and energetic individuals.

Led by Michael Azzopardi and Simon Debono, the Switch team is driven by the desire to constantly design solutions that push the boundaries of innovation and remain at the very forefront of aesthetic trends while providing all the functionality and flexibility expected by their clients.

Refusing to be bound by its own description, the team at Switch takes pride in its ability to design anything, from effective communication campaigns to interiors, products and packaging, from web-interfaces to corporate communication documents and from PR strategies to customer experience enhancement.

The team While every team member in the company is a creative at heart, the design studio is made up of a tightly knit team of highly experienced and qualified individuals who boast strengths in various areas of expertise and work very well together. Every design team member is Senior, so every client knows that they have top-notch people working on each of their projects.

All work stems from briefing documents crafted from the agency’s marketing people in close communication with clients, so that a good basis from which to work from is achieved, be it a project that is purely designbased or one which covers the various areas of marketing communications.

Some projects by Switch MTA Brand Malta, Phase 1 re-branding project.

Launch of the Edward De Bono World Centre for New Thinking Foreign-based Airmalta campaigns The Malta Break Escape and Sea You Sun in Malta European Commission campaign for Consumer Rights (joint collaboration in a consortium) Identity and packaging design for Magro Brothers Group brands including Mayor, Three Hills, Savina, Hanini and Farm Fresh Re-branding of B&M Re-branding of Credence Corporate & Advisory Services Re-branding of Seasus Branding of The Duke Shopping Mall, Gozo Design of Victor Azzopardi web interface

Money / Issue 05 - 25

The whole package

by Mangion & Lightfoot Since its inception, M&L has created a number of brands, but one the team is particularly proud of is a project that landed on the world’s most important packaging website, The Dieline, which only features the finest designs – a prestigious accolade that has generated much international interest. Even one of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s posse – having seen the work on Granfarina products for the Middle Eastern market – has enquired about M&L as he plans to launch his own food range.

In this case, the client set an open brief for the branding and packaging of flour. The only restrictions were the standard size and shape of the container. Apart from the name and logo, M&L had to create the ‘skin’ of the packaging, which was created with its trademark fresh, clean, no-clutter and functional feel – consumers actually see what they can bake with the contents and are enticed to buy the product.

“It was a matter of design with a difference,” say Matthew Mangion and Mark Lightfoot, directors of M&L. And it worked.

“The project was one of those that got the thumbs up from everyone. It ticked all the right boxes, or paper bags, in this case.”

Facts and figures: Mangion & Lightfoot For Mangion & Lightfoot, the boutique agency with the big clients, it’s not just about pretty pictures – it all boils down to strategy.

M&L may be the brainchild of two designers – Matthew Mangion and Mark Lightfoot – but that element, though an integral aspect of their work, is not just the end of the line. It is a whole thought process that leads to effective results.

This is the philosophy that sets M&L apart. The boys behind it are not just there to place your advert in a newspaper or magazine – they first ask why you want it, where the problem lies, if any, and what the ultimate objective is. They study the product to determine who is receiving it and, more importantly, who isn’t. And it is the answers to these questions that give birth to effective brand management and promotion.

Consequently, consultancy is a natural offshoot of M&L’s approach. It is part of the package, with M&L looking deeper into the clients’ needs to really understand the roots of their objectives and possibly totally turn their plans around.

Even one of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s posse has enquired about M&L as he plans to launch his own food range.

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“If a particular product is not moving, our role is to understand why it isn’t. A quick fix advertising campaign may not be the right solution – we have to dig deeper and, through a lot of communication with the client, decide how to achieve the ultimate goal – to sell – using the most efficient channels,” say Matthew and Mark.

M&L was set up 13 years ago by its two directors, who are both London graduates in design and communications. That itself is an added bonus – clients appreciate the director-designer connection and feel secure they are entrusting their project to the guys who are actually going to create it.

“It’s a case of going straight into the job and being able to be creative on the spot,” says Matthew. “It eliminates the possible hurdles of handing over briefs that may get lost in translation and means brainstorming and the bouncing of ideas can start from the first meeting, because the guys behind the desk are the design and marketing gurus too. It means no one makes promises that cannot be achieved.”

M&L refuses to grow and lose that allimportant personalised touch. However, despite being a boutique agency, it still does what the bigger companies do. Remaining compact has not meant targeting only the minor jobs and forfeiting the weightier and worthier ones. On the contrary, it has allowed M&L to continue offering quality, focusing on a handful of major clients and less demanding projects to stop any gaps.

Over the years, M&L has remained an almost family-run business, with a select range of clients, adding three account executives along the way to be able to continue giving due attention to design, while also undertaking the management role of a project to offer a holistic service.

Creativity is M&L’s driving force. However, “You can only be as good as your client – if your client is not open to new marketing ideas, ultimately this limits the potential of making a product memorable and desirable,” say Matthew and Mark.

The idea is to take a project from end to end – from identifying the paper bag to put the product in, to designing websites, creating and launching brands, and organising events.

“We get to know our clients well and they work with us as an extension of their company,” say the two directors.

M&L is heading online these days, acknowledging that it is the way forward. It has tapped into and brought out the far-reaching potential of promotion through the internet, with its focus on web design, social media and online advertising.

One particularly successful project, which incorporates all elements of web-based promotion, is its almost completely digital Win a Wedding campaign for Island Caterers. The brief was, quite simply, to develop

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M&L has secured a wide range of clients that spans the tourism and automotive industry, financial services, catering and retail. Scholl, Island Group, Honda, New Look and Deloitte to name a few have all chosen M&L, allowing the agency to spread its wings and let its imagination – with a purpose – take flight.

Island Caterers’ social media audience. And that’s what M&L did.

marketing intelligence on potential customers, their tastes and needs.

The agency proceeded to identify what area of Island Caterers’ business to go into and opted for weddings, one of their major sectors, to give it a bit of a boost. M&L came up with the idea of a competition that would see the lucky winner end up with a coveted prize of €10,000 to spend on catering, cutting down considerably on the exorbitant costs of weddings by targeting what the biggest chunk of expenses goes towards.

“The project was designed in such a way that we got to know what people want and could move on to develop new and more specific products, based on what we learnt about their needs,” Mark explains.

On a shoestring budget, the bulk of which went to the creation of the feminine, fun and even humorous Win a Wedding website, M&L used Facebook, web banners and e-mails, managing to attract close to 10,500 fans, up from an original target of 4,500.

From the applications submitted, the agency created a database for the company of couples planning a wedding, supplying invaluable

The hype around the initiative was phenomenal, thanks also to the involvement of the public in the voting for the finalists. It culminated in the buzz around the Island Caterers’ stand at the Weddings Fair, where a concluding challenge was set out for the contestants, adding a fun and games aspect to the campaign.

The aim was to generate leads and wedding bookings continued to increase. The campaign was so successful, particularly in view of the limited promotional outlay, that the client even decided to bump up the prizes.

Win a Wedding is further proof that M&L is not just designers and that design is merely the fruit of the thinking behind it. It shows that the team goes beyond the call of duty, building up a campaign from the most basic of briefs.

Its sense of familiarity also means knowing the client well enough to know how to achieve its aims. Moreover, it uses the latest technology to tap into the market.

M&L’s strap line – Strategy, Creativity and Implementation, strictly in that order – is not just an empty slogan.

The Win a Wedding campaign, a small project with big results, sums up M&L’s raison d’être. Again, it ticked all the boxes: innovative, creative, good value for money and fun – all important ingredients for the company, reflected in the attitude of its tight-knit team.

Insuring a web presence

by Porridge Creative

Atlas web presence: To be launched early 2011

Insuring a web presence by Porridge Creative Porridge Creative directors Jon Calleja and Joey Borg discuss how they went about creating a new web presence for Atlas Insurance PPC. “Malta’s foremost general business insurer, Atlas Insurance PPC, approached us at Porridge for a comprehensive refresh of their web presence, to promote and showcase their services.”

The brief was to create a new online experience for the four-year-old website with a

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suitable and up to date look and feel to match the brand’s corporate yet fresh nature.

the services to be highlighted and then came up with various solutions.

“Having experience with their previous website, Atlas Insurance gave us a clear idea of what they wanted to attain technically, but beyond the basic brief, they entrusted us with full control over the creative direction,” says Jon.

“As these ideas took shape,” says Joey, “we started working on the visual elements in tandem with their teams and informed each other throughout the process.”

Working with Atlas Insurance’s inhouse marketing and IT teams, Porridge established what information needed to be communicated,

Having built a healthy business relationship during this process, Porridge were also commissioned to create posters, Christmas e-cards and web banners.

Explaining the visual elements of the Atlas Insurance website, Joey says that they wanted to use crisp and clean typography.

“The typeface strengthens the ideas behind the process of what a company offers.”

“With regards to the colour palette, we used colour coding to distinguish each service.

Buttons in every section were also color coded and we used vibarant colours to give the website a fresh feel.”

“Most clients think of white space as empty space, but we were fortunate enough to get a client that understands its importance. We used this in specific areas to help main sections stand out from other elements within the design.

“We also used a grid based design to organise information into a clear easy to follow layout and keep everything consistent. The use of a grid makes it easier for users to scan content and develop familiarity with it. We also used specifically targeted banners in the landing page to direct users to the most popular services offered.”

Porridge Creative

The directors

Joey Borg

Founded in 2010 by Jon Calleja and Joey Borg, Porridge is a creative agency working across the disciplines of online, print, digital, interactive and viral marketing.

Jon Calleja

Having over nine years experience in web development, Joey has worked with major web application and development companies like Icon, GO (formerly known as Maltanet), and CCBill, a major American credit card billing company stationed in Malta.

Their unique approach has helped various high profile brands such as Lacoste, Gant, La Redoute, Big Exhibits and Nimlok Malta build healthy relationships with their clients.

Over the past 10 years Jon Calleja worked as a freelance designer in London as well as a creative designer and art director with some of Malta’s top agencies.

Alongside all commercial work, Jon Calleja is the owner of streetwear brand Fat Gold.

Joey specialises in building tailor made applications and Content Management Systems, some of which are still used by over 300 clients, both foreign and local.

Read more about Porridge

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32 - Money / Issue 05

Learning their lesson Paul Caruana Turner meets three MCAST students who hold Malta’s creative future in their hands.

I

t’s 1997 and Martha (fake name) has just received her ‘O’ Level results. She wishes to pursue a career as an interior designer and has managed to obtain 10 pass grades. However, other than an ‘A’ level in Art, there aren’t many opportunities for Martha to move in the right career direction, other than going abroad.

Fast-forward to 2010 and things look very different for a young creative spirit like Martha. With the courses offered by the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, anyone in the same situation as Martha would feel like a kid in a candy shop when going through the MCAST prospectus.

Since 2001, MCAST has acted as a primary outlet for those wishing to pursue creativity. No longer will the imagination of budding artists, designers and cinematographers be stifled by run of the mill education syllabi – MCAST has found a way to prepare them for the industry in which they crave to make a name for themselves.

I sit down with three such budding talents to learn about their experiences and to see how they feel MCAST has served them to channel their aptitude and reach their potential.

As I enter the campus situated on a green belt in Mosta, I can already spot a few of the necessary ingredients to allow inspired thoughts to flow, most notably the open expanse of nature which enshrouds the school. Students are peppered around the grounds sketching furiously. Such is their concentration that I pass by completely unnoticed and enter the administration building.

As I wait, I admire the students’ efforts lining the halls of the institute. I notice how various materials were used to create the works. I move on and place my writing pad on a conveniently placed stand, only to realise that it too is a piece of art – makes you wonder how art touches our lives in so many ways.

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Matthew Muscat The first interviewee to present himself is Matthew Muscat Drago, who navigates his towering frame towards me. Matthew, 18, has been reading for a Higher National Diploma in Media (Moving Image) for the past three years. Together with his classmates, he will be the first to graduate from this course.

Matthew says that he has always been interested in film, ever since he got his first DVD. “It was the bonus features that got me interested,” he says. “I really enjoyed learning how the movie was made, almost more than watching the film.”

Matthew started writing, directing and acting in his own web series when he was 16 – these short sketches, which can be viewed on his YouTube channel youtube.com/matthewmd92, were the springboard to what is still a budding career.

Matthew has just completed his largest project to date.

“It’s a short film with a run time of just 13 minutes. It has a cast and crew of some 70 people and I’m very happy with the results. Other projects I’ve worked on are the program I helped launch, as a member of the media cast team, which was aired on both the Education Channel and PBS. This proved to be an invaluable experience since we were working with experts.

An advertisement which I shot for Heritage Malta will also be launched soon.”

Matthew wears his enthusiasm on his sleeve and his genuine love for film is evident as he speaks. It is the acting side of motion media that really captures him, stemming from his experiences and his “Love for musical theatre coupled with the fact that it is music that mostly inspires me.”

Marie Claire Cremona, 21, is studying graphic design at MCAST. Impeccably dressed, she greets me with a confident smile, a firm handshake and a business card which she designed and printed herself.

A quick perusal through her portfolio, which she has amassed over four years at MCAST, quickly proves her talents – most of her work can be viewed on her website marieclairec.com, which she designed herself.

Marie Claire Cremona

It was Marie Claire’s avid interest in art that inspired her to read for a BTEC Higher National Diploma in Graphic Design at MCAST. She hasn’t looked back since, and says that, “The course really helped me with generating ideas, concepts and all the thinking that needs to go into a design.”

Marie Claire also acknowledges that, “Since starting the course I have had many opportunities to work on various projects and I’ve managed to pick up a lot of new skills. That’s what I like most about the course – the practical work.”

Things could have turned out differently for Marie Claire had there been no educational institution such as MCAST. “At first I wanted to read for a degree in architecture,” Marie Claire says. “However, it wasn’t what I really wanted. If there hadn’t been a course in graphic design, I would have studied something art-related.”

Graphic design helps Marie Claire communicate a complete concept and clear ideas.

“Compared to art, I feel that graphic design goes a step

further. In a painting you are presenting a moment or idea, while with graphic design you are communicating an entire concept.”

Marie Claire draws inspiration from music, blogs and nature. She also values criticism highly – she is not concerned with flattery and prefers it when people are honest.

“I feel criticism is important if I want to continue improving as a graphic designer. Sometimes people try to be polite but that doesn’t help.”

Money / Issue 05 - 35

Desiree Azzopardi

Marbella Design School.

Desiree Azzopardi has been interested in art ever since her days at Sacred Heart School, where she spent many hours sketching while listening to music, which for her is, “A great source of inspiration.”

“I liked it there because studies were focused entirely on interior design,” she says.

Desiree pursued her passion for art by sitting for her ‘A’ Level in Art while studying at De La Salle Sixth Form. The logical next step was enrolling at MCAST, where she is reading for a degree in 3D Design and Interiors. Desiree also spent a year studying abroad at the

The highlight of her studies to date is her three-month Erasmus experience at York St. John University, which was awarded to her on merit.

Desiree has a strong drive which, together with her ambitious streak, seems to be a winning formula.

For Desiree, the best thing about MCAST is, “The workshops, which at Marbella we didn’t get to experience. The diversity of the course also helps because

we focus on psychological aspects of design among other things.”

Her experiences abroad have helped Desiree to see room for improvement in the way MCAST runs this particular course.

“We could definitely use more live briefs and more contacts in the industry. It would also be good to get more insight into the real market.”

Finally, Desiree comments on the space which creativity needs. “At MCAST, the flexibility that we have helps our creative side to flourish.”

Call Libya and Russia for 30c per minute Vodafone Malta is now offering its postpaid customers the opportunity to call non-EU countries such as Libya, Russia, Australia and Canada for only 30c per minute with its international bundle.

The bundle gives customers 50 international minutes in call time to non-EU countries for just €15 and can be used in conjunction with the pay monthly Starter plans, the Unlimited plans, the Smartphone plans and the Business Essentials plans.

“With our new pay monthly plans, customers can call anyone in the EU at the cost of a local call and now they can also call non-EU countries for only 30c per minute,” stated Alexandre Froment-Curtil, Head of Marketing at Vodafone Malta.

Vodafone customers can opt for these bundles by calling 247, or speaking to Vodafone representatives at any Vodafone outlet. For more information visit www.vodafone.com.mt/internationaladdon.

36 - Money / Issue 05

Dr Michael Refalo is a former Minister for Tourism, Justice, Culture and the Arts. He is a Companion of the Order of Merit of Malta, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a former High Commissioner to the Court of St James’s.

Photo by Clive Borg and courtesy of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts

2018

Valletta, an unrivalled European City of Culture

The revival of Valletta as the European City of Culture in 2018 should be the springboard of a corporate promotional campaign for Malta, says Michael Refalo.

F

or the international media Valletta and Malta are synonymous.

Irrespective of its actual location, anything done or taking place in these islands is reported as happening either in Malta or in Valletta. Mentions of Malta and our capital convey an immediately recognisable, positive media-friendly perception.

In 2018 Valletta will be one of Europe’s twin cities of culture. Sadly, it is still a city in decline. The population numbers about a fifth of its pre-World War II highpoint when evacuees fled the city, sought safety in less perilous areas, never to return. Since that time many homes were converted to offices and government departments or lie vacant and derelict. This ongoing haemorrhage has transformed a city alive by day to a silent morgue by nightfall.

When funds were harder to find and priority rightly given to social issues – health, education, housing and employment – culture and environment languished on the sidelines and were only brought to mind in the event of calamity or disaster.

However, as culture and the environment move up the pecking order, a huge sea change complemented by a flourish of restoration projects in Valletta has gradually and very visibly enhanced the city, a World Heritage site in its own right, with a better image.

In Valletta alone, publicly funded restoration projects from 2004 to date include the church of Notre Dame De Liesse, St John’s Co-Cathedral, the Palace of the Grand Master, the Auberge de Castile, the Bibliotheca and its portico, the façades of Palazzo Parisio, the Banca Giuratale, the Monte di Pietà and of the Notarial Archives in Merchants Street, St Augustine, St Catherine and the Jesuit church, not forgetting other smaller and equally significant interventions in the Paladini chapel of the Grand Master’s Palace, Maison Demandols, Palazzo La Salle, Victoria Gate as well as niches, statues and fountains.

Removing untidy, jumbled nests of overhanging electricity cables, telephone wires and neon signs as well as incentives for the restoration of balconies have given our capital a more welcoming visual impact.

The Valletta Council’s street rehabilitation programme complements government investment in paving Republic Street, transforming Merchants Street into a pedestrian area, refurbishing the Upper Barrakka and its monuments, Hastings Gardens and other embellishment projects have added colour and life to Valletta. Apart from being a local talking point, Renzo Piano’s City Gate project will soon be an international attraction.

Excluding families, generally young, who lovingly restored buildings and moved to Valletta, the private sector’s contribution – apart from breathing new life into Pinto Stores, yet another state funded project, and developing the Valletta Waterfront – is next to negligible.

Rows of privately-owned derelict, vacant buildings, shattered window panes, dingy façades, grimy doors and tawdry woodwork, mounds of pigeon droppings on window sills and crevices, all project an air of dilapidation, decay and utter neglect and make Valletta a far cry from what it should be.

Money / Issue 05 - 39

In 2018 when Valletta will hold the sceptre of European City of Culture, Malta should not limit its objectives to improving the city’s appearance and restoring life within it.

Government should promote and incentivise the restoration of façades of privately-owned properties in Valletta by exempting owners from paying VAT on restoration expenses and setting off five per cent of the outlay against income tax due for the next five years. Issuing policy guidelines and instructing MEPA to fast track restoration applications would also be helpful. And why not refund 25 per cent of transfer duty to owners who restore old buildings or their façade?

The result would be a cleaner environment, attractive city streetscapes, increased work opportunities for artisans, restorers, architects and a surge of new residents.

If property owners do not come forward by 2012, restoration of façades should be undertaken by government at the owners’ expense. Similar carrot and stick schemes operate successfully in France, Germany, Holland and the United Kingdom.

Parking in Valletta is at a premium and with three, soon to be four theatres,

I am Fino

plus museums, exhibition halls, retail outlets, offices and a growing number of restaurants clamouring for custom, private enterprise should introduce additional and inexpensive circular transport services from beyond the city limits to patrons’ chosen destination, theatre or restaurant.

In 2018 when Valletta will hold the sceptre of European City of Culture, Malta should not limit its objectives to improving the city’s appearance and restoring life within it. We must grasp the golden opportunity and without further delay project Valletta and Malta to wider audiences in Europe, the Middle East and beyond.

Despite the efforts of Malta’s diplomats and sales teams and spectacular coups achieved in various fields – financial services, tourism and industry – my personal experience in ‘selling’ Malta shows clearly that we are not on the international radar and are missing out on a largely untapped residual source of investment and job creation opportunities.

We must put our money where our mouth is and make the revival of Valletta the springboard of a corporate promotional campaign for Malta.

Malta’s forays in Shanghai and more recently Brussels demonstrate clearly that organisations can work together successfully and more effectively than when ploughing a lone furrow.

As industry, talent, visitors and money seek more stable and secure environments it is foolhardy to miss the chance. We must spread the word and make the revival of Valletta the narrative and centrepiece of an ongoing, captivating, hard-hitting corporate information campaign to promote a favourable, lasting perception that will keep Malta and Gozo firmly in the mind of audiences all over the world.

Opportunity beckons. Future generations will not forgive us if we allow the chance to slip through our fingers.

Fino launched their marketing campaign for 2011, promoted with the slogan ‘I am Fino’, with a sneak preview given to an audience of around 500 people.

The evening’s presentation started with the welcome speech made by the Chairman of C. Fino + Sons Ltd., Mr. Joseph FX Zahra who explained briefly the need for Fino – which has reached its milestone 75th anniversary – to remain steadfast with it marketing strategies and tactics that reach out to the general public.

Prior to the screening of the ‘making of’ film and the TV adverts for 2011, James Davis explained the reasoning behind the campaign. Mr Davis thanked Logix Communications Ltd. as the company’s marketing consultants and design agency responsible for the production of adverts.

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Calling time Money meets Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot.

Money: How did your history with watches, and eventually with Hublot, start?

Jean-Claude Biver: My passion for watches started in 1974 and I entered the watch business in 1975. What fascinated me most in watches was that their movements reminded me of my favourite toy: the steam machine.

You are renowned for disregarding the quartz movement technology and instead supporting traditional, mechanical watches. Is your decision based on technical aspects or on a philosophy?

My decision was based on passion first. Secondly I believe that the quartz is a great innovation, yet it is the innovation of an industrial process. And as with every industrial process, even the greatest ones, it will become obsolete and disappear.

The mechanical watch, on the other hand, is not the innovation of an industrial process, but the consequence of a heritage, a transmission of a culture or patrimony.

Mechanical watches will never become obsolete – a thousand years from now, you will still find a human being capable of repairing and maintaining a mechanical watch.

Hublot watches are made according to a fusion philosophy. How do you manage to marry tradition with modern design and ideas?

In order to fuse tradition with the future, you first need to understand, respect and master tradition.

You then need to understand and master the future.

That’s why so few people are working on this concept or philosophy. I personally find it very exciting and enriching to marry tradition with its future – this enables tradition to stay alive and not to become only a museum piece.

How creative can one be with watches, given that the latter, to put it in literary terms, is very much a closed text?

Watches are no more of a closed text than music, sculpture or painting. We have no limit in the art of watchmaking. The only limit is when we are talking about the watch industry (and not the watchmaking art). Then of course we have all the limits the industrial constraints are giving us.

Hublot’s Bernie Ecclestone advert has, just weeks after first appearing, already become a cult advert. How important is it to have a sense of humour in business?

It is essential in business to have not only a sense of humour, but also to remain humble, to share and to respect. These ethics are necessary if you want to build on the long term and not on the short term.

In a world which is still reeling from the financial meltdown, is there a niche left for luxury products?

As long as capitalism exists, then wealth will continue increasing, opening niches for luxury products.

In fact, I am very optimistic about the watchmaking industry.

What determines whether a watch is just a purchase or an investment?

Time will tell. Nothing else can tell you if your watch was just a purchase or an investment. Therefore I recommend that you buy with your eyes and your heart first.

Through the endorsements of sports personalities, Hublot gives the idea of a watch that is made for dynamic people who are always on the move. If you had to imagine the ideal Hublotwatch wearer, how would you describe them?

The Hublot wearer is certainly young (young means that they are connected to the future, shape the future, have a strong learning faculty and are full of dreams and emotions), dynamic, has an entrepreneurial spirit, has a lot of self-confidence, is successful, and has a strong personality and leadership.

Watches and clocks are no longer our sole timetelling devices – we are surrounded by public signs and technology which tell us the time. So why have watches retained their importance and status?

For three centuries, we have upheld the watch as a symbol of status, personality, taste, style, character and success. It is very difficult to get rid of 300 years of such beliefs.

What watch are you wearing right now?

The Bigger Bang All Black which I bought in 2006. I usually wear this watch for all my activities: work, evenings, sport, leisure and so on. It is the only chronograph tourbillon that can be worn on all these different occasions. It’s my favourite watch, beside a few museum pieces from my personal collection.

Money / Issue 05 - 43

COM 101110A

Registered Address: MSV Life p.l.c., Middle Sea House, Floriana, FRN 1442, Malta.

Telephone: (+356) 2590 9000 Freephone: 8007 2220 E-Mail: info@msvlife.com Website: www.msvlife.com MSV Life p.l.c. is authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to carry on long term business under the Insurance Business Act 1998.

Mr Mifsud is a director of a marketing communications agency and holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi, Milan.

The commerce of creativity In a survival of the fittest battle, the ideas that persevere become a resource that puts a spark in the economy, says Chris Mifsud.

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here are few better ways of finding and defining yourself than by removing yourself from your known habitat. Having lived abroad, I vividly remember being cornered into providing quick response definitions concerning our nation. “So Malta, that’s like near Spain right?” “Is falcon the national dish?” And many more.

So we go back to me being bowled over by the idiosyncrasies of the country I live in, more so because of our size and our complete lack of natural resources.

Now hang on, isn’t that the oldest excuse since Adam’s dubious ‘She made me do it’? Because really, while the Almighty in His infinite wisdom distributed the natural resources – diamonds to South Africa, oil to the Middle East, coffee to Brazil – a resource is of little value unless we make it work.

So back to the country we call home. We have no noticeable natural resources, and yet employment is at a good level, poverty is on the rise but still at envious levels to most Mediterranean neighbors, and we have free health and (almost) free education. And we have invested all our efforts into a large pot labelled GDP. Malta is a perfect test case to the wonders of turning thoughts into thousands.

A country that moves from manufacturing to services has obviously realised where less

will give more. Welcome to the creative economy.

really are exposed to more than 2,000 stimuli daily, then the need for distinction is a no brainer.

The 20th century was highly regarded as a string of creative revolutions, mass production, and the media. All these movements can be described in one simple sentence – making wealth from ideas.

But the real magic is not just the way the creative sector sparks to the briefs that the conventional economy feeds it, but that it constantly delivers within several stringent parameters like time, cost and clients’ mood swings. There are also external forces at work, including competitive reviews, macroeconomic climates, sustainability and ecological dimensions.

The creative economy might lead one to instantly think of art or the advertising and design industry. That might be the obvious choice.

However, the creative economy is everything, since anything may be traced back to a raw idea. Nowhere is it more evident than in the more obvious scenario – from Madison Avenue to Canary Wharf, strategic creative thinking allows creative teams worldwide to earn their keep by making bread out of briefs.

Let’s break it down a bit.

With creativity in mind we’re looking at the human resource’s ability to develop something original, with purpose, and ultimately profitable. Every day around the world, creative directors and their minions read into new ways to transform their clients’ offering into a successful, marketable prospect by developing creative executions that are capable of transferring a finely tuned message that ultimately leads to a sale and perhaps further strengthening its brand’s equity. Originality and intrigue are a must – if we

Some might say the Sistine Chapel is a far too noble artistic landmark to be comparable to the modern day creative sector.

But keep in mind that Michelangelo completed his part of it begrudgingly, unwilling to contribute to the then Pope’s ego trip.

And yet who can deny that it remains a Renaissance milestone that will carry its fame into the future?

This brings us to my next point – the fine line between art and commerce. Nowhere is this more evident than in the creative sector – ad agencies, production houses, film, fashion houses and the like. Compare commissioning an artist to produce a work that inspires them from their own innate accord with then slapping on a deadline, time and space limitation and top it all with a big fat ‘Buy me now for just €9.99’ label. And yet who can deny that there is creative material out there that tugs at our emotions. The creative economy is a great testimony to humanity’s success in coming out as a winner under duress.

This is also the reason why the creative economy keeps transforming ideas into profits within a string of limitations every single day, as a reflection of mankind’s ability to survive through positive assessment of different scenarios by originating ideas that work. This is seen in every area of the economy that requires innovation and creativity to keep moving forward.

The creative process is in itself an analysis of assets and resources of any organisation or individual with the aim of correctly developing a concept that will harness its own success. Or to put it more succinctly, it requires a thought process that will create a concept that if led strategically will deliver the success that it was designed to deliver. The creative economy mirrors the natural selection process found in nature – millions of thoughts and ideas spark every minute worldwide, most of which will die at birth. The few that survive will grow to reach great heights.

The start of everything we’ve ever known for as long as the human brain is capable of remembering is a single, successful idea, and to have this you need absolutely nothing more than a fully-functioning brain.

Money / Issue 05 - 45

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orking from a purpose-built, state-of-the-art office block in San Gwann, Logix Communications is a full service marketing communications company that, thanks to a full capacity for research, planning, advertising and PR management, handles all types of media.

The logical song 15 years after Pierre Mizzi set up Logix Communications, creativity and strategy are still the key to effective communication.

Yet just 15 years ago, Logix was just Pierre Mizzi armed with a mobile phone, one computer and a scanner.

“Our growth has been significant,” says Mizzi, “especially when you consider how from a one-man show, the company now employs 14 full-time staff.

Yet that is not so impressive when you compare us to, for example, Yahoo, which was also set up in 1995 and nowadays employs 14,000 people. It’s all relative.

“We could have definitely grown bigger sooner,” adds Mizzi. “However, to me the sustainability of the business has always been very important. Considering the nature of what we do and where we are, I am very satisfied with what we have achieved so far. Our most significant achievement was the knack of understanding the power and potential of new media before others. In 1995, I had registered the first .com. mt domain long before any of my counterparts even knew what an internet domain was.

“That pioneering spirit carried on ever since. We were the first to develop cinema slides advertising back in the 1990s and designed one of the very first e-mail and SMS marketing tools, before the word ‘spam’

was coined. We did many firsts, often working with partners who brought in their expertise in a particular field or other resources we didn’t have internally.

“Another achievement that I am very proud of is that we have managed to grow and develop our business at nobody’s expense.

Throughout our history we have always respected our clients, suppliers and staff, and this is reflected in the stability and excellent reputation of the company today.

“Of course, it wasn’t easy and it took a lot of hard work from a lot of people. Hard work, dedication and focus are probably the factors I would pinpoint most of all as being the ‘secret’ of our success.”

In the past 15 years, not only has Logix grown to what it is today, but the local media scenario has also changed dramatically.

“Looking back, I realise that 15 years is a long time,” says Mizzi. “Locally, things have changed, but perhaps not as drastically as they have in the US and Europe.

The biggest difference I see is in the pervasiveness of the internet, social media and new communication devices that are widening the definition of media and changing the way the marketing message is communicated. My first mobile in 1995 was the size of a brick and it only made phone calls. My iPhone today weighs 135g and does everything desktop computers used to do back then and much more. The clout that TV, newspapers and radio had up to the late 1990s is being diluted by

digital media. In the US this has already become a crisis situation for many traditional media outlets.

In Europe and more so in Malta, it is not yet so drastic but even local media surveys are showing this shift and the trend is becoming more evident with every new survey published.”

Technology has also transformed the way advertising and marketing are delivered and consumed.

Yet do traditional media still play an important role?

“Locally, print is still a dominant force,” says Mizzi. “Personally, I would prefer to see less junk mail, which is also a form of print media, and more quality publications. For example it always niggles me that we have little or no quality magazines that are available for sale off the shelf or by subscription.

But that’s the way it is here with so many people being lazy readers and a small market to start off with.

Newspapers are still a very effective medium, reaching thousands of eyeballs every day. Considering the impact that gadgets like the Apple iPad can have on print media, I would be more worried about the future of paper and ink manufacturers than print media outlets. Those who will adapt to the new scenario will thrive and develop.”

New media has also increased the amount of messages with which we, as consumers, are targeted every day. Consequently, this greatly reduces our attention span. As a marketing communications company, how does Logix make its messages heard?

Money / Issue 05 - 47

The synergy between the two directors of Logix – Pierre Mizzi and Keith Pillow – is what gives the agency its cutting edge and sets it apart.

“Delivering our clients’ message to their target audience is what our business is all about – it is vital for us to keep developing our tools and honing our skills to become even more effective as the media landscape we work in changes. We are very fortunate, by intention not coincidence, that we are highly conversant in all forms of media including digital. We have always had this edge and in the past two years we have broken new ground on digital as well as outdoor. People tend to skim over or ignore the messages that don’t grab their attention or are less memorable. Perhaps one thing we do better than anyone else is that we never use any form of templates – there are no rules and we’re prepared to invent new ways of communicating if that’s what it takes.

has been true forever, but with the present market situation it has become much more pronounced. You have to give value in every sense of the word. Media becomes viral because it touches on people’s emotions. It makes them laugh or cry or at least think and it affects them so dramatically that they want to tell everyone about it. Much of our thinking and creative is now focused on adding this value ingredient to campaigns we create.”

Our best asset in terms of company structure is that we have an excellent creative arm working in tandem with a superb strategy team.

“We also strive to get to know the business of our clients very well. As an external agency we have the advantage of not being bogged down with any internal politics or issues that are found in any business operation. So we come in with a totally different approach. We identify the strengths and weaknesses and build on that information. The next step is identifying the profile of the person that would buy the product or service we are selling, then from then on it is all about reaching consumers and engaging them directly. The formula, strategy and creative are all crafted specifically every time.”

Viral and location-based marketing seem to allow a greater level of creativity than other forms. What is Logix doing in these areas?

“Tests that we’ve carried out with location-based marketing have shown that it is still years away from being truly effective in Malta. What we’ve realised in recent years is that consumers are flocking towards value more than ever before. Yes, this

Read on. Join us Money Magazine 48 - Money / Issue 05

Despite these changes and challenges, one quality remains key to marketing and communications – creativity. Still, creativity alone cannot function.

“You could be the most creative communicator but without strategy your best efforts would be completely useless,” says Mizzi. “Our best asset in terms of company structure is that we have an excellent creative arm working in tandem with a superb strategy team. It is both sides together that move campaigns forward to achieve the best results. Because the company is structured as a flat organisation, we do not have the strategists leading the studio or the other way around. It is a question of teamwork to have both sides work together effectively.

“Logix is constantly investing in creativity. Having one of the lowest rates of staff turnover in our industry is probably the best testimony that we are doing something right in finding and retaining the excellent talent. We often employ young designers and executives that have not been dulled with years of bad experience elsewhere. These come in with talent and then receive on-the-job training to improve their technique and skills. Paying above average salaries is important but we also invest in our people as they develop. It pays off and the team grows stronger together.”

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Trade Enquiries VJ Salomone (Marketing) tel: 8007 2387

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KB Having been trained as an architect, architectural design and detailing are very important to me.

They are simultaneously a need and a discipline. As a practising architect, they define the structure of one’s life, thinking and doing, like waking and sleeping, requiring both effort and enjoyment. As for style, AP does not really have a specific style, but honesty and vision are always important.

KB I guess I could say my interest in restoration informs the way I look at architecture.

It puts one in contact with the hands and minds of many unnamed people from the past.

It’s like having a conversation from which you can learn and discover great things that have lain hidden and invisible for decades or even centuries.

KM Do you admire any particular architect from the past or present?

KM What projects has AP been involved in?

KB I’ve had some of the best ideas for my projects while running on the treadmill, but it’s not the most comfortable of places.

Speaking stones Kris Micallef discusses creativity in design and architecture with architects Konrad Buhagiar and Ray DeMicoli.

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KONRAD BUHAGIAR Architect, Partner, Architecture Project How would you define architecture?

Architects, philosophers and thinkers have been trying to define it for centuries, but architecture is as ineffable as it gets. You sometimes get a glimpse of its true essence and then it escapes you. Trying to define it is only for those who lack humility.

KM What is most important

to you when it comes to design?

KB That the client, without whose needs and desires the project would not exist, is happy and satisfied with the result and that those working on the project feel a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.

KM How important is architectural design and detailing to you? And how would you define your architectural style?

KB AP was set up 20 years ago and has been involved in a range of projects from single-family houses to large residential complexes, from contemporary design to restoration of historic buildings. Our projects are often a composition of the two. The Malta Stock Exchange, the Valletta Waterfront and Kenuna Tower in Gozo are some examples of this marriage of old and new.

KM Where do you feel most comfortable working on your projects?

KM What is your best moment of the day?

KB Landing in a bright office

after a slow awakening (it takes me long to surface) and meeting my colleagues at the start of a new day.

KM What book do you currently have on your bedside table?

KM What is your main area

KB L’Elégance du Hérisson

of interest in the field of architecture?

(The Elegance of the Hedgehog) by Muriel Barbery.

KB I admire a great many architects or architectural writers who, unknowingly and unwittingly, have inspired me.

John Ruskin and Le Corbusier, to mention only two, have left an indelible mark on the way I look at architecture. My current hero is Leon Battista Alberti. His intellectual work is a source of great inspiration, contributing to a deep understanding of things as diverse as the spirit of Valletta, or the foibles of human nature.

His architectural work, on the other hand is noble and beautiful, as close to petrified harmony as you can get.

KM Have you designed any projects overseas?

KB We’ve just been commissioned our first job in London KM Do you have any projects that remained on paper?

KB We designed a masterplan for Valletta, called Novelletta, which remained on paper. It was the theme of an exhibition

Money / Issue 05 - 51

01. Kenuna Tower - photo by David Pisani, Metropolis / 02. The Malta Stock Exchange - Architetcture Project / 03. Architecture Project studio - photo by Kris Micallef / 04. The Maritime Centre - photo by David Pisani, Metropolis 05. Valletta Waterfront - photo by David Pisani, Metropolis / 06. Architecture Project studio - photo by Kris Micallef / 07. Ray DeMicoli - photo by Kris Micallef 08. Block 31 - DeMicoli and Associates / 09.Joinwell - DeMicoli and Associates.

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RAY DEMICOLI Principal, DeMicoli and Associates How would you define architecture?

we had at the Building Centre in London last June. The plan included the cutting of a great wet moat outside the bastions of Valletta so that the historic city became a splendid mineral island surrounded by sea and digging down to sea level of all the streets to create canals.

Nine towers (hence the name) surround the harbour and look down on this living relic from the past.

KM Anything exciting on

the drawing board at the moment?

KB: Exciting and painful at the same time: the addition of a floor on a one storey, early 20th century house.

This type of exercise is one of the most difficult and yet stimulating projects one can have, demanding sensitivity, understanding and imagination. The complexity of values that comes into play is quite daunting.

KM How involved are you in the Valletta City Gate project?

KB As Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s partners, AP is the local knowledge, providing

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an insight into the history of the site, the construction technology of the country, and the philosophy of life and values of the Maltese.

We have a close collaboration with Renzo Piano’s office in Paris and this has been a very rewarding experience for the office, both in terms of practice and architectural design philosophy.

There is so much one can say about the project. Perhaps the most significant is that ever since the building of Valletta, every century, but one, has built its own gate.

It is quite significant that the 21st century has been so determined to have its gate right away. It must be a sign of a relentless need for renewal.

KM What would you do if you were given an open cheque for a project?

KB No open cheque can

buy the magic that a good building can have.

KM What do you expect from the architects of the future?

KB Great things.

To define architecture I shall compare it to a huge 48 channel sound mixer. Architecture is produced when the building has managed to address many factors and has given them the correct weighting, and has produced something important that contributes to the general enjoyment of the citizens.

KM What is most important to you when it comes to design?

That’s a very broad question – I shall sustain a music analogy.

I see the songs A Whiter Shade of Pale or Bohemian Rhapsody as good design. A number of inspired or inventive elements are harmoniously brought together to create something beautiful.

KM How important is architectural design and detailing to you?

And how would you define your architectural style?

How important is your left eye to your body? After all the dust, concrete, steel, it is the handles and switches that we touch and feel, the light and colour, the textures, the standard of finishing that we finally experience. Therefore it is detail that gives crispness and sound ethos to the building. As for my style, I don’t like rubber-stamping. Every job has an opportunity and uniqueness. It’s up to sensitive minds to bring them to life.

KM What is your main area of interest in the field of architecture?

I love people. And I am in this field because I would like my friends and brothers to enjoy what we were trained to do in service to society. I am skilled in the craft of making buildings as a service to society and in order to create urban environments.

Alternatively, if I were not an architect, I could run a boutique hotel where there is an element of design and hosting clients.

KM Where do you feel most comfortable working on your projects?

Anywhere really. However my third biggest passion is the sea. I am a keen yachtsman and son of the Mediterranean. We are blessed with this resource – I would love to see more buildings that are graced by the sea. Portomaso would not be the same as it is today without the marina. I am very happy working with the sea coming straight into my buildings, creating this sensuous rapport between them. Just look at our heritage, the three cities.

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working on it today – it’s a dream that I have had for 35 years. We are also working on the new Wurth building that will have a huge 10 metre high sundial entrance lobby – a monument to the sun. We are also working on two new spectacular projects in Libya.

KM Which is your personal favourite project and why?

KM What is your best moment of the day?

I love dawn when I go fishing. I love my 10:30am coffee break and working fast before lunch. And there is nothing like a cup of tea while watching the sunset. My moments of great inspiration are at night or Sunday mass, when I wander away with my thoughts and find myself designing.

to design or project, I get very excited and we start collecting information and start researching. Then we meet up in a group and start brainstorming and noting down interesting points.

My shelves are full with books on topics like design, art, travel, history, yachting, culture of food, and various biographies.

KM Do you admire any

KM Do you have any projects

particular architect from the past or present?

that remained on paper?

There are many architects who are doing great work. I think I would put Peter Zumthor and Renzo Piano at the top of my list.

KM What inspires you?

I find people very inspiring. I am very fortunate to have many angels in my life who have said a good word that I heeded.

When we have a new task

54 - Money / Issue 05

KM What would you do

Experience has helped us define where strengths and weaknesses lie in an international competitive scenario. There are not many international architectural practices that work with so much passion and dedication and have so many disciplines embodied in one single firm.

We have nurtured a level of competence in architecture, structural engineering, civil engineering, building

KM Have you designed any projects overseas?

We have designed many projects overseas. We won a competition in Istanbul in 2004 and another in Sicily.

We have designed houses in Germany, Portland Oregon and Sicily. We have designed a housing project in Konopiste in the Czech Republic and a hotel extension in San Martin in the Caribbean, but actually built only one – Palm City in Janzour, Libya.

KM What book do you currently have on your bedside table?

There are many projects that came in at a particularly inspiring time and so have benefitted of added sensitivity.

Sometimes I come back from some amazing trip and channel all that design energy and positivity into a project.

has set up Dfab, a design and fabrication studio that produces various designer products. Chris has developed a sense of marketing that many architectural practices lack.

We only build 30 per cent of all that we design. Most projects stay on paper.

KM Anything exciting on the drawing board at the moment?

We have quite a few interesting jobs that will hopefully take off within the coming year. My biggest love is Fort St Elmo, which I focused on for my thesis project. And here we are

if you were given an open cheque for a project?

I would be lost. I like to work with constraints, as they bring out the designer’s mettle.

KM What are your aspirations for the future?

It is a huge privilege for any parent to work with their children. Our sons Mark, Steve, and Chris have all brought a very diversified skill set which complements the direction of where we want to be heading. Mark has plugged into the firm 10 years of knowledge and experience he received in the US. Steve

services, interior design, value engineering, energy conservation, restoration, and procurement sources. The enthusiasm, commitment, and dedication of the staff are fundamental to our success.

Notwithstanding the depreciation in real estate values all over the western world, we have worked harder on marketing our services, with reasonable success. It is the firm’s ambition to become an exporter of design skills and values that enhance the urban experience. And we are very glad to be based in a country where the architectural heritage is a source of inspiration.

Photography: Kris Micallef, www.krismicallef.com / Creative Director: Luke Engerer / Hair: Michelle Galea, Roots Hair Salon. Model: Gino / Shot at Marsa Sports Grounds.

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Money / Issue 05 - 63

ANGELO SABATELLI Ristorante Masseria Spina, Monopoli, Italy After living and working in Asia for many years, Angelo Sabatelli returned home to the city of Monopoli, in the heart of the ancient Terra di Bari.

Having won a Michelin star at the Il Convivio Restaurant in Rome and worked at the Hyatt Aryaduta in Jakarta, the Ristorante Grissini at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong, Palladio at the Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai and the One & Only Le Touessrok Mauritius, Chef Sabatelli felt the pull of his homeland’s culinary treasures.

The larder of creativity Mona Farrugia travels to Italy, Marrakech and the Maldives to meet three wise men who have turned cooking into an art form.

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eing a chef means having a peripatetic job. For those who truly are in love with their calling, leaving their country to experience new ideas and ingredients is essential. If they are lucky, they eventually return with a wealth that goes beyond anything financial.

Every chef in the world is in love with the experience travel brings with it. Every trip out of their safe shell is an opportunity to sample new ingredients, come up with different taste and texture combinations, and put their own personal spin on culinary traditions.

These days, being a chef out of your own country is a prerequisite experience on any serious chef’s CV. Top hotels all over Asia, China, India and the Middle East are manned (it is still, sadly, very much a man’s world) by Europeans who run hundred-strong brigades and fuse very different cultures together. Doing what are called stages in international settings, many a time for free – working at El Bulli, for example, is a highlight of a career, rather than a moneymaking enterprise – sets up a good chef for the rest of their life.

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“Returning to Italy was borne of the desire to do well here at home,” he tells me as we sit outside the Masseria Spina Piccola and Spina Grande, which house Sabatelli’s restaurant and date back to the 16th and 17th centuries.

Built on three floors, the restaurant’s ground floor was once used as stables, while the first floor housed the tenant farmer. The uppermost floor was the master’s residence. The beautiful double staircase and loggia were built in the 18th century. Beyond that, the building opens up to a sheep pen, stables, a chapel with late baroque motifs and an olive mill.

“In Asia I had the opportunity to work with many new ingredients and learn new techniques, which I am now using in my new menu. I learnt to use spices in a gentle way, to enhance dishes not cover flavours.

My latest inspiration is the reproduction of the famous Xo sauce, made with dried scallops. Here I make it with dried cod fish – to me this is a personal tribute to Asia.”

Resembling precious works of art, Chef Sabatelli’s dishes are painted on a canvas of fine white china. The menu is almost entirely sourced from local produce such as Santo Spirito’s red prawn, broccolini cime di rapa, lampascioni (local bitter onions), dried broad beans, and caciocavallo Podolico cheese.

“Having creative freedom is a joy. It allows me to work with great produce, to experience and experiment at different stages. I left a country with strong traditions and memories and returned to it to recreate Asian memories.

Visually and taste-wise, the dishes stir the same emotions while being very different.

My ultimate aim is to rewrite the cuisine of my region in a new way.”

Chef Sabatelli’s menus are a foodie’s dream – slow-cooked rack of suckling pig with a fig must, orange and star anise sauce, lamb loin with Polignano potato cream, and gratinated turbot served on a clam sauce are all inspired dishes.

For desserts, the bocconotto with Ferrovia cherry sauce and lemon cream filled cartellata (pastry spiral) include ingredients which are sourced from the orangery behind the restaurant. For those who cannot decide – and I am always one – and admit to a general craving for everything, the degustation costs a ridiculous €35, making Sabatelli’s food not just amazing and artistic but also affordable.

Fabrice Lanson La Mamounia Hotel, Marrakech When Fabrice Lanson shows me around his kitchen at the basement of the La Mamounia, one of the most beautiful hotels in the world and a Marrakech landmark, I am desperately jealous on behalf of all the chefs around the world. Chef Lanson was intimately involved in its design and you can see that not a cent was spared in its creation. Every single section – cold, hot, butcher, fish, pastry, and everything else – is separate and beautifully laid-out.

Kitchen design, though, is not Lanson’s main skill. He is also deeply in love with nature and cannot wait to show me his organic garden, which is right past the famous Orangerie at La Mamounia. wowing diners. At the time, Alex, who will be 34 in July, already had two Michelin stars.

Then in January of 2009, after a particularly gruelling few months, Alex realised that he had not seen his daughter, who was six months old, for, well, six months. He and his wife packed up and moved to this heavenly part of the world.

Soneva Fushi Resort, Maldives

When I meet him under the awning of one of the garden restaurants, he is bristling with enthusiasm for what he will do with Maldivian food, fish and anything local.

In 2007, Àlex Garés flew to the stunning Soneva Fushi resort in the Maldives, not for a holiday but to give two dinners.

When asked to stay, he did not react as most of us would have, by throwing himself on the powder-white sand and thanking them profusely. In fact he refused, returning to his native Spain to continue

“We have an organic garden here but I still have to import many products, although I believe we can develop the local cuisine without compromising it. So many countries in the world are exporting their chefs.

However, I am curious about one thing – where are the Chinese chefs?”

Àlex Garés

“Every morning, my chefs and I walk around the garden and let it inspire our cooking.

This is how we come up with dishes such as scallops with white carrots and green peas from our potager and with emulsion of freshly picked herbs. We start from the raw ingredient and work our way with it, rather than in spite of the ingredients.”

Wise words, and more difficult to utter when you are operating out of Morocco where the availability of some ingredients which we take for granted is sometimes a rarity.

La Mamounia operates three formal restaurants, all called according to whichever country they represent – Le Francais, Le Marocain and L’Italien. This shows Lanson’s passion for Morocco and for travel.

“First and foremost, we believe in the people and in the culture of this country.

Of course, by this he means the real chefs, rather than operatives frying factoryproduced stuff.

“Indians have a spectacular tradition, Asians too,” adds Chef Garés. “Here, we have the best of both worlds because everything is fresh – there is no industrial setup.”

True to form, a day after we chat Alex travels to Hong Kong to cook at the Spanish embassy.

Talking to Alex is like electrocuting yourself, but for fun – his passion is mindbogglingly addictive.

“Working parents will slowly but surely kill tradition,” he continues.

“Children are growing up not knowing what their culinary culture is like. Why do places like Laos conserve their tradition? Well it helps that you need to kill and cook in order to eat.”

The light, the colours of Morocco – they help us to create very particular dishes, like the lamb rack with green tea and mint yoghurt.”

My mouth waters and I can imagine Lanson coming up with delicious combinations even on a desert island with just a coconut tree for company.

“The Moroccan cuisine at La Mamounia is traditional, yet we also get to experiment.

Travelling has given me an open mind so I combine European techniques with the Moroccan slow-cooking method and lend both a modern touch. We do import some produce but that only represents some five to 10 per cent of our purchasing.

The local seasonal produce is so fantastic that most of the time we use that and in so doing, present our customer with our philosophy, which is that we prefer the little market here in Marrakech over anything else.”

Chef Garés speaks of fat as the basis of taste. He talks non-stop. “Please stop me – unless you do I never will,” he tells me. Yet his knowledge is extensive and I am loathe to.

He has even managed to include a jamón ibérico menu in one of the Six Senses outlets, just before he did what I thought he would – leave.

When we first met, Chef Garés enthused fondly about the pressure, the madness, the drive required by the entire kitchen brigade to ‘get that star’ and then ‘to get the next’.

A few months later, when I call him to follow up, Chef Garés had abandoned the idyllic paradise of Soneva Fushi and returned to Spain and the rest of the world. He may have started out with Ferran Adria but the next time we hear of him, his name will be the one etched with even more stars.

Mona Farrugia edits and writes for food, travel and review website www.planetmona.com.

Money / Issue 05 - 65

Building a creative economy

Regeneration of urban areas breathes a new lease of life in the hearts of cities and towns, even more so if sectors which attract footfall are nurtured through such regeneration.

The Create scheme brings the arts closer to business, says Chris Galea, Malta Enterprise.

V

isual arts, crafts, film and video, music, performing arts, literary works, design, digital media and gaming – these are all part of the creative industry which will now be eligible for assistance under a new scheme launched and administered by Malta Enterprise, Create.

While bringing the arts closer to business in such a manner that creativity infiltrates economic development, the Create scheme promotes creativity and innovation, which are becoming the fulcrum of enterprises’ success.

The Create scheme seeks to foster a creative environment where talent is nurtured, thereby assisting enterprises that will be able to lead and innovate through their diversity and uniqueness in their growth and development process.

Furthermore, the scheme is also intended to spur the creation of a number of creative zones. This regeneration of urban areas breathes a new lease of life in the hearts of cities and towns, even more so if sectors which attract footfall are nurtured through such regeneration.

Under the scheme, certain areas have been identified for the creation of creative zones, namely Strait Street, the Biċċerija area and Is-Suq area in Valletta, the Collacchio area in Vittoriosa, and Savina Square, Arch. Saver Cassar Street and Saint Mary Street in Victoria, Gozo.

Costs incurred for the development, furbishing and refurbishing of property within these zones will be eligible for assistance if they are then used for the production of creative work in fields such as visual arts, crafts, film and video, music, performing arts, literary works, design, as well as digital media and digital gaming.

The aid, which shall take the form of a tax credit covering 60 per cent of the eligible costs, is capped at €25,000.

The Create scheme also covers costs for the rental of premises, facilities and equipment used in the production of creative work, as well as the premises and facilities used to house events such as intercultural exchanges, workshops, public performances and exhibitions held in the creative zones.

Furthermore, the scheme also assists enterprises established in other areas of the islands to cover the costs incurred in the production and development of their creative work, in recognition of the importance of nurturing talent and using it for economic benefit.

The Create scheme is open to creative enterprises irrespective of their size, including self-employed persons and start-ups, and covers costs incurred between January 1, 2010 and March 31, 2013.

Further information about the scheme as well as the eligibility criteria may be obtained from www.maltaenterprise.com or by contacting Malta Enterprise on Tel: 2542 2020 or E-mail: customer.relations@maltaenterprise.com.

66 - Money / Issue 05

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