MIPIM is pursuing a two-fold response to the pandemic, combining an interim Paris gathering with  a new ‘MIPIM Connect’ digital experience, ahead of its rescheduled event in Cannes next March.

Produced by Reed MIDEM, MIPIM is the world’s leading real estate market event, held each year in Cannes. When it became clear that holding a large MIPIM tradeshow in June 2020 was not feasible, the team quickly started planning a different form of gathering for their clients in the autumn in Paris, alongside a digital experience offering networking, learning and business.  The aim was to help the industry start to recover ahead of the next MIPIM Cannes in March 2021, and MIPIM’s regional events in the USA and Hong Kong.

MIPIM Connect

Launched in April, MIPIM Connect features a range of thought leadership content, networking and business tools, and is available to real estate professionals worldwide on a year-round basis. It includes a section accessible, free of charge, to the entire international property community and another section reserved for customers registered for MIPIM’s 2020 events.

The customer section offers exclusive access to premium MIPIM content, including a weekly schedule of webinars, a networking tool to connect international property professionals registered to MIPIM 2020 and a weekly real estate stories press review. Users receive personalised recommendations based on their matchmaking preferences and can then propose virtual meetings or chat conversations and share presentations with their chosen contacts.

In a ground-breaking move, MIPIM has teamed up with international employment agency Michael Page to share real estate job offers via MIPIM Connect and co-produce webinar sessions covering HR topics within the property sector.

“The agreement with Michael Page is an important step forward as MIPIM continues to be a true partner and service provider, throughout the year, for the global real estate community. It is also a strategic feature to attract people to MIPIM Connect and brings together two very strong brands, MIPIM and Michael Page,” says Reed MIDEM’s Commercial Director, Matthieu Hallaire who initiated the deal.

Since MIPIM Connect went live in April, more than 2,100 people have engaged with the platform, nearly 550 meeting requests have been facilitated in dedicated Virtual Meeting Rooms, and 45% out of the 18,000 recommendations so far delivered have been deemed relevant by customers.

In order to get customer buy-in to using MIPIM Connect, training sessions have been held with Sales Directors from several key clients including Société Générale and BNP Paribas. Executives from both groups received one-to-one presentations from MIPIM team members, then took part in sessions to familiarise themselves with the digital service. In turn, the clients then trained their own teams and Société Générale and BPN Paribas both have more than 50 of their employees using MIPIM Connect and acting as ambassadors for the service.

Paris Real Estate Week – an interim gathering

Alongside MIPIM Connect, the team have also announced an autumn gathering in Paris to serve the MIPIM community in 2020. The programme of conferences, networking opportunities, exhibition space and awards ceremony will take place in September, in conjunction with other events organised by customers and partners.  

Paris Real Estate Week will be the first physical tradeshow and conference in Europe since lockdown measures have been relaxed, enabling real estate leaders to make an initial assessment of the Covid-19 impact on the industry and discuss future prospects. The Week is built around its flagship event, Propel by MIPIM, focusing on technology and innovation, which last year brought together some 2,000 delegates in Paris. Propel will be followed by the ‘MIPIM Urban Forum’, themed around ‘embracing change’. Heading a stellar line-up of speakers is former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The team aims  to attract 4,000-5,000 participants over the week (compared to nearly 27,000 for the last full-scale MIPIM in 2019).

New business model

“It is often said that every challenge presents an opportunity. MIPIM Connect is a case in point,” says MIPIM Director Ronan Vaspart. “Developing digital tools for our MIPIM clients has been part of our mid-term strategy. The new business reality, brought on by Covid-19, meant that we fast-tracked the digital project as it became clear that we could not hold a physical MIPIM in Cannes this year. The team did an incredible job in order to provide a networking tool and exclusive content just one month after we announced the cancellation of MIPIM.”

“We are currently adding new features such as job offers in the real estate industry and a weekly press review of key property subjects. That’s just the beginning. We plan to extend these features. MIPIM Connect will be complimentary to our physical real estate events. In its launch year, MIPIM Connect is open, free, to all delegates who registered for MIPIM 2020. Now we are working on a business model to include sponsorship opportunities and premium access for specific content and tools,” adds Ronan.