Latin America. Ready to revolutionize the market of corporate, social and "showbiz" events, and contrary to the segment that should shrink in 2020, Apple Produções, with almost four decades of existence, announces the acquisition of Flex - Som, Luz and Imagem. The move is part of a $25 million reais investment recently made in the market to become the largest full-service technical company in South America.
In addition to all the assets and the complete collection of equipment, the negotiation also contemplates the new operations generated by Flex at the beginning of the pandemic with a focus on digitizing the deliveries of the live marketing market to support agencies and the industry so that they can transform with the agility that the crisis demands.
Among them is GoLive Experience, which since March began to meet the need of the events market to continue communicating with its audience in the face of social distancing through infrastructure, technology, direction and content. And AREA451, currently one of the largest study complexes in Latin America created to measure for the realization of events at a distance and that has four professional studios equipped with external "housemix", dressing rooms, feeding areas, large meeting rooms, production, support and parking areas in an area of 4,510 square meters.
This pioneering generated an approximation between the two companies - until then competitors - in a coalition to generate a greater volume of projects within these new structures and the association evolved towards a negotiation to understand that together they would form a much more interesting power in the market.
An example of this is that they have become, through "Apple Produções" and AREA451, a strategic alliance that promises to be the largest online event in the world in 2020: Comic Con Experience (CCXP), produced by Omelet Group. Together they contributed not only with equipment, but with solutions so that the essence of the festival is guaranteed for all the audiences involved are they fans, team, guest artists, speakers and also, advertising brands. For this, a new technology that has kilometers of fiber optics and an infrastructure update are being shipped and there will also be an unprecedented protocol of compatibility between audio consoles.
Business Plan
From now on, a team of six experienced industry executives will lead this giant. They are Gijo Pinheiro, the CEO of the company, André Luis, the vice president, Sérgio "Pepo" Pignatari, Commercial Director, Orlandinho Sgarbi and Rafael Tonarque, business directors and Jeff Scorci, who is responsible for the production direction.
The acquisition of Flex is part of a grand strategy that involves an expansion plan that will attract the attention of the market and show how Apple is ready to serve agencies and clients in a unique and totally innovative way. "The use of state-of-the-art equipment has brought Apple Produções this far and now we are going to start a new era, where the positive customer experience will be our main concern. We want to always be ahead to offer the market what exists of more modern technology, with a provision of high quality service, this will accredit us to work in the international events market in South America, "says Gijo Pinheiro.
Apple Brasil's growth project implies, in addition to incorporating the innovative spirit of the newly acquired company, a regionalization strategy to act nationally with qualified local labor, which allows budgets more compatible with the new reality of cost containment.
This whole movement has only one purpose. "By 2022, we designed a turnover of more than R$100 million," says the CEO.
New branches
In this sense, the first major move of this project was the creation of the Northeast branch (located in Salvador). Led by Cleiton Roberto Badaró, she has already taken on important light, sound and image projects along spaces in the Carnival such as the Salvador box, the Palco Club and the electric trios of Ivete Sangalo, Claudia Leite, Durval Lelis, Anitta among other corporate events. And the regional potential is great: the new Convention Center – the last event hub of the Bahian capital – already had 32 events planned this year and as many scheduled for 2024, as major congresses in the medical area, including world, Latin American, South American and national events.
And in that same model are about to come two other new logistics poles: South (located in Foz do Iguaçu) and Midwest (based in Goiânia). "In total there will be three branches with the strategic role of supplying regions of the country that, until then, had the great events attended by São Paulo companies that moved tons of equipment and technical equipment on the roads on account of the recognition in the optimal provision of service by the large multinationals, which taxed the projects with operating costs such as travel and lodging, " details the executive André Luis. "Now as the new organization we will be able to make viable greater and more complex projects with competitive cost," argues the vice president.
The Goiânia unit has a very strategic mission, because in addition to serving a local market in clear expansion due to the strength of the sertanejo industry, it will serve the entire market of the Central West and North region of the country. For this, the acquisition of LAN Produções, a company of Uerique Costa, an experienced professional with 20 years of market who founded his own company in May 2018; and will also have a commercial office open in Brasilia to also serve the entire Federal District, a promising market where only the Federal Government invested in 2019 almost one billion reais in events.
The Foz De Iguazú branch will be commanded by Marcelo Saraiva, better known in the market as "Marujo". The choice of the place was given for being strategically located in the triple border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Something that allows the company to act forcefully outside the country targeting the Argentine market. And also depending on local investments. "That is the third city that receives the most events in the country, behind only São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Foz is becoming increasingly known for hosting major conferences, fairs, seminars and congresses throughout the year. A whole chain of local hotels invested a lot in improving the infrastructure and one of the measures already adopted was the expansion of air routes to facilitate and cheapen the destination, "argues Gijo.
To meet the needs of the market, Apple Produções now has more than 320 tons of equipment, equivalent to 35 trucks. There are more than 240 thousand meters of cables, enough to make two laps of Planet Earth along the equator. In addition, the company also surrounded the expansion project with massive investments to optimize its internal processes with an ERP system customized by TOTVS and also in the expansion and renewal of its fleet of vehicles, in addition to the training of its cadre of professionals with individual and group programs.
The branches will have special attention, in this first moment, since they will receive new equipment and specialized training of personnel to match the regional ones. "All the best we have in terms of people and teams in São Paulo we will also have in the hubs," says Gijo.
Photo: From left to right Jeff Scorci, Sérgio Pepo, Gijo Pinheiro, Orlandinho Sgarbi, Rafael Tonarque and André Luis.
