Firablog

Choosing a car is never easy but choosing the color is even more so. Sometimes it even becomes a topic of debate within the family, with more or less opposing factions. One of the brands exhibiting at Fira’s International Motor Show, a high-end one, has found a solution to this problem:  choose the color that you like best and matches your usual attire.

The idea came when a client showed up at the dealership with a nail that had just broken and gave it to her trusted advisor asking them to arrange her future vehicle with upholstery in the exact color as that of her nail polish. The brand delivered.

The degree of customization this firm is willing to go to is shown in another anecdote starring one of its demanding customers. Wooden dashboards are usually a sign of distinction among premium segments. But in this case the customization was so extreme it consisted in nothing less than using wood from the client’s private garden for the vehicle’s dashboard.

Certainly, examples of how Bentley has given a new meaning to the term ‘tailor-made’.

To put together the Barcelona International Motor Show is a huge logistical challenge. The build-up of the major showcase for the Spanish automobile industry employs more than 900 people from 80 different companies. More than 70 trucks transport all the needed supplies to Fira Barcelona Montjuïc’s venue so that everything is ready for the inauguration.

We speed up and shot the assembly of all the build-up in fast motion to show you in a few seconds how all the pieces that make this unique trade show possible are precisely enclosed.

“I smoke to find adjectives”. Josep Pla answered with this statement to Joaquín Soler Serrano, a journalist from the Spanish National TV (TVE) running a show called ‘A fondo’ back in 1976. A decade earlier Eugeni Forcano (Canet de Mar, 1926) immortalized the well-known writer from Llofriu in one of his most famous images, in which he appears wrapped in his cigarette smoke.

The artist still remembers this moment: “I was summoned by Josep Vergés, editor of Destino magazine, to a shooting session of Mr. Pla, since Vergés wanted a photobook of hime as gift for his 70^th anniversary. After talking for quite a bit -he explains- the writer lit a cigarette and sat in a corner of the room. It was a moment of great stillness and with a perfect light, so I shot. And it worked”. For photography lovers, the snapshot is an example of the ability of Forcano to show people’s personality through a decisive and spontaneous gesture.

“Magnificent, insurmountable. These pictures are so direct, so expressive, so sharp that they definitely don’t need any explanatory footnotes”. With these adjectives, had Mr. Pla described Forcano’s work a few years earlier, in 1960.

Readers of the famous Quadern Gris and photolovers now have the opportunity to see this and other images by the Catalan National Photography Prize 2012 in the exhibition ‘La vida atrapada al vuelo’, presented in Sonimagfoto from April 17th to 20th 2013 at Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona.

Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue received numerous accolades for its design, sustainability and technology use since it was built. Just a few days ago it received yet one more in an indirect way: Toyo Ito -the architect who designed it- won the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel of architecture.

One of the least known features of this venue are the over 12 km of tunnels that run below the different pavilions, more than the Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona. This hidden Gran Via venue allows the events held at Fira de Barcelona to have all the necessary services both for exhibitors and visitors in a ubiquitous manner that doesn’t interfere with the space distribution in each pavilion.

The dimensions of the galleries are more than enough for technicians to access any point of the facilities in a simple and comfortable way including the 74 transformation stations that convert the 66MW of high voltage electricity that reach the venue into the power that feeds each of the 11,500 connection points within Gran Via.

Such details prove that world-class architects imagine, draw and project far beyond the aesthetics of a facade and create innovative solutions often hidden in the very foundations of their works.

It hasn’t always existed. But now it would be almost unthinkable not to have it. It is now a universal product that fills the shelves in supermarkets and pharmacies, an essential staple at home, in the office, in the restaurant… We are talking about tissue paper, also known as hygienic or sanitary paper.

Since it was invented, over a century ago, it has changed in format and texture to become what we know today, an object that goes beyond toilet paper. There are face wipes, more or less absorbent nappies, decorated and undecorated kitchen towels, hankies that are plain or impregnated with a calming balsam…

How many of these products do we end up using throughout the day? The list, in many cases, is very long. Each Spaniard consumes 14 kilos of this type of paper every year, according to the Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Pasta, Papel y Cartón (ASPAPEL). Spain is the third largest producer of tissue paper in Europe, with 734,000 tons manufactured in 2011, and is among the top fifteen in the world.

As a commodity product distinctly lacking in glamour, tissue products are often among the first to suffer when consumer incomes fall. Nonetheless, they are withstanding the crisis in Spain and, surprisingly, premium branded toilet paper is leading, according to an article in Tissue World Magazine.

Last week, the latest in tissue paper was showcased. Where? At Tissue World, the most important global event in its speciality, held for the first time in the Gran Via Exhibition Centre, thanks to the Expansion department that has brought it from Nice.  

It’s no pun, it’s a fact. The Mobile World Congress (MWC13), held some days ago in Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue, has really been a world-wide event, with more than 3.400 journalists registered, and broad social media heatwave.

Bare in mind one figure: online media alone produced 47.000+ impacts on the days prior to the event and those immediately after, according to initial reports.

Social media traffic was equally impressive: during the MWC13 an average of 100.000 tweets related to the Congress were sent daily and from its first hours until 19.00h  on Tuesday 26, Mobile World Congress (together with MWC and MWC13) was a global trending topic.

Conventional media did not fall behind. Only in Spain, the repercussion meant 1.000 appearances in the papers, 270 stories in radio and over 300 in TV. International networks didn’t miss the show and CNN or Bloomberg -with small onsite sets-, together with BBC or CNBC, joined the international pack.

Stories focused mainly on new products launched at MWC13. But also showed the world Fira de Barcelona’s  importance and the capabilities of the Gran Via venue (that premiered as the hosting site on 2013) as well as Barcelona’s weight as Mobile World Capital and one of the global references for the mobile industry.

Four days are not nearly enough to fit in everything the mobile industry has to showcase and discuss.  But year after year four days in February accommodate almost everything the industry needs to herald to the world. As a wrap up, we bring you a making of video of Mobile World Congress 2013, build up and show. Enjoy.

To talk about the Mobile World Congress means talking about technology, business and networking. One of the favorite spots for networking is the Ericsson stand. Journalists and interviewees meet there just as entrepreneurs and investors do, or old friends in the industry. Why do they always meet there? The answer lies partly in the Ericsson cookies, a delicacy created by chef Jordi Narro exclusively for the Swedish company.

Made with different varieties of chocolate, cereals and nuts, the cookies were born in 2010 when Ericsson asked Gastrofira to produce a special all-natural energetic snack that allowed their team to keep up with the demanding agenda during the Congress.

To show the management of Ericsson the virtues and naturalness of the product, Gastrofira tvideotaped chef Narro preparing his cookies and fedexed them to the Swedish headquarters while still hot from the oven. The answer came almost immediately: the cookies would become Ericson gastronomic flagship during the Mobile World Congress.

This year, Gastrofira spent four days preparing more than 10,000 biscuits offered by the Swedish company to the delegates and journalists visiting its booth.

What does it take to prepare a world class event the size of the Mobile World Congress? How many people and trucks are involved? Folc Lecha from Fira de Barcelona’s Press team gives us a sneak peak at what is behind the build-up of a global leader.