Back in March, I was lucky enough to hitch a ride to MIPIM, the international property, investment and economic development expo which takes place in the agreeable surroundings of Cannes.
I went with Team Nottingham, the informal group of surveyors, architects, civil engineers and other property professionals who kept the city's flame burning on the international stage after the city council decided it could no longer justify a yacht in Cannes harbour at a time of cutbacks.
While I can guess at the politics behind this decision, it left Nottingham looking a bit small town compared to the UK's other big cities. Team Nottingham has tried to overcome that for the past couple of years by paying for key officers from the council's development and inward investment teams to come with them.
Their presence added value to discussions about potential deals, and helped put the city in the spotlight when a major inward investment was announced and an award for being a key European business city was handed over.
But how will Nottingham tackle MIPIM next year? Getting your presence right takes months of planning and it has to take some key decisions very soon.
The first is what Team Nottingham is. Should it remain an informal group of property businesses using the city's name and opportunities as a hook to try to develop relationships and opportunities? Or should it go back to being what every other city at MIPIM is - an official delegation led by a figurehead where business and officials unite around a purposeful message?
And can Team Nottingham stay at the compact size it's been for the past couple of years?
The answers aren't straightforward. And it isn't just the existing Team Nottingham that has some thinking to do. The city council has to decide whether it's serious about one of the single biggest inward investment events in the world.
With a £600m tram expansion, a £140m fast road to the motorway, a £60m City Deal, a £60m transport interchange, an Enterprise Zone and a major push for a creative quarter all signed off, a half-hearted presence would be like building a moonshot and leaving it on the launch pad.
In short, it has some serious bragging rights and tangible opportunities rather than me-too CGIs. And worries about council staff being seen near flash yachts can be forgotten. What Mipim is - and isn't - is now well understood where it matters.
It clearly wants to influence the future direction of Nottingham's presence at MIPIM. So what is it bringing to the table in terms of resources and ideas?
As for the current Team Nottingham, it will struggle to maintain its compact size, especially if the city council comes back on board properly. The council can't support a closed club, and the Team sorely needs greater resources if it is going to raise its profile. More team members ought to mean more resources whether that's cash or in kind.
This is a sensitive issue for some Team Nottingham members, who probably feel the work (and money) they put in to keeping the whole show going for the last couple of years entitles them to either sectoral exclusivity or a better deal than latecomers.
The biggest question of all is what kind of profile Nottingham wants at MIPIM. Derby appeared to have a bigger budget and a slicker presence in March. But that presence was very traditional and ended up looking and sounding similar to a number of other English provincial cities, who seem to think samey CGIs and weary 'open for business' slogans are all you need.
Nottingham mustn't fall into that trap. Nor does it need to: it has some genuinely unique opportunities in the shape of tangible, properly financed projects rather than political pipedreams. A shoestring presence and me-too messages will sell those opportunities short.
There has been the odd hint sometimes that the city council doesn't see this kind of event as important, as if it is blinded by the glitz and doesn't appreciate the number of high-level decision-makers who lie behind the show - decision makers whose millions deliver jobs and growth.
Sure, there are aspects of the show which seem overblown and distasteful. But that is only one part of it and isn't where the real business gets done.
The city doesn't need to spend a fortune ( though the price of hotels and apartments means a yacht is actually a cost-effective presence). It can be smart rather than showy. But MIPIM is a stage - and Nottingham has to come out from the wings and step into the spotlight.
Come next March, Nottingham, and it's show time.
Billiant post, and a real insight into the MIPIM world for inward-investment.
ReplyDeleteRichard,
ReplyDeleteYou are right on many counts here. The key one is that Nottingham does need to represented at MIPIM 2013. Not to do so would be a backward step. The private sector group aka Team Nottingham will provide the default position.
There is much misunderstanding about the exclusivity element. Those companies that complained last year offered 'help' in the weeks running up to the event. By then many man-hours had been expended by the core team who had committed months earlier. Financial budgets had ben set - so another sponsor wasn't all that helpful! But let us not forget that when the City Council ran the MIPIM presence there was an exclusivity available then too - in order to attract sponsors.
This is the tough part of a public:private relationship. The private sector do need to get something out of it - we're not running a charity. That may not be what people want to hear, but I'm afraid it's the inconvenient truth.
Team Nottingham meet in a few weeks and I'm hopeful that some of the issues raised can be ironed out - for the benefit of Nottingham as a whole. But before everyone gets stroppy about the position Team Nottingham 'enjoys' people should perhaps appreciate that Team Nottingham have collectively represented the City at the show for two years with no financial help from Nottingham City Council...
What I do know is that the present Team are keen to have a bigger and better event in 2013.
Tim Garratt is quite right to say the Private sector does need to look for a return on time, effort and cash invested - but maybe there lies the problem, Marketing Derby is a hugely successful public/private partnership run on the same type of membership scheme emda used to raise £1mil of private sector funding to pump start the inward investment activity that delivered the likes of Capital One. It Works for Derby but this Private Sector success simply became a political embarrassment to emda due to the natural need to seek a return on capital and kind. (which delivered great returns by the way)
ReplyDeleteIn many ways it may be better for the private sector team to withdraw and let Invest Nottingham and the city Council find their own route to market. I suspect this though will not include MIPIM and indeed they are not even exhibiting (unlike Marketing Derby and Invest Lincolnshire) at the East Midlands Property & Investment Show November 9th on their door step at the East Mids Conference Centre.
Martin, I should have perhaps made it clear that the "Invest in Nottingham Club" did make a financial contribution to last years MIPIM presence. But they have indicated that they do not want to run the MIPKM event in 2013. "Invest in Nottingham" itself is of course the Council's own inward investment arm who give Team Nottingham support, but not financial support; I am not sure I see that changing? Regards Tim
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