'District' is born, the colossus of 'made in Italy' events by the Casta Diva Group, with Matteo Valcelli and Ernesto De Pellegrini. An ambitious project that triples the turnover of the AIM listed company in its events division, a sign of an investment that revolves around ideas of emotion and customer experience. "District - say Andrea De Micheli and Luca Oddo, respectively Chairman and CEO of Casta Diva Group - has taken shape after a long-term dialogue and has the characteristics of a perfect acquisition. It is an activity worth 18 million euros in turnover and takes us to the top ten of Italian events agencies." What are the characteristics of "perfect acquisition"? District arises from a long-term reflection with Matteo Valcelli, founder of G.2 Eventi and with his partner Ernesto De Pellegrini, CEO of MeTe Travel and Events. For some time we had been wondering what the dialogue between our companies would be like, hence the idea of a project that brings together three companies: Casta Diva Eventi, G2 and MeTe in a new activity, District. It would be 51% controlled by Casta Diva and 49% from Matteo and Ernesto. The three companies are born out of similar business paths but rely on completely different types of clientele. Among their large customer bases are companies such as Gruppo Allianz, AllianzBank, Ferrovie dello Stato, Gruppo Mediaset, Gruppo Marazzi, Banco BPM, Gruppo CREVAL, Gruppo AON, Mazda Group. We can complete their offer of services with those of the many companies in our own group, in the field of creativity and video production and musical content; they complement us with the activities carried out by their tour operator and with the training of their own staff. Now it is about integrating our staff and our functions well, but in this regard, we like to be reminded that we are 'serial acquirers'. Our growth process has been following this model since 2005, from birth, with an initial operation chosing a company in Prague as a protagonist. Acquisitions have often involved foreign companies. When is this market valuable for Casta Diva? 43% of the value of the group's production in the first half of 2018 is relative to the foreign market. Before the summer, in Milan, we held our annual convention, an important moment that allowed comparisons between the many companies that are part of the group. We took stock of ongoing projects, on growth strategies. For example, the Prague company had signed a partnership agreement with a Portuguese company, in this way we have expanded the possibility of traveling abroad even in a country where we are not currently present directly. Our network consistently grows and expands. In the second half of the year, and then in the course of 2019, the Chinese joint venture with Shanghai Red Horse Advertising Media will be fully operational. And still, in Dubai we are preparing for the Expo 2020. Casta Diva is growing in new markets and is expanding its product range. A development that follows a grid model? Yes, both geographically and commercially. Today we can count on a network of branches all over the world and we offer a complete range of products and services for business communication. Looking at B2C, we debuted in the field with Blue Note and then with DIVA!, the documentary that was a great success in Venice and the Silver Ribbons, and that is out on DVD. The importance of the direct relationship between the company and the user is growing, a paradigm that social networks have accentuated. Events are changing, even corporate ones. What is more and more valuable is the ability to excite and engage, is the investment in customer experience. Events must see the participants as protagonists. What are the next steps for the growth of Casta Diva? In order not to contradict our acquisitive nature, we are looking around, both abroad and in Italy. Video productions and tools to tell stories and produce content are the activities that interest us the most. They are fundamental because today sales are no longer mere economic transactions, they are emotions, stories.