MIPLondon? By The Kitchen

We are all taking a chance. We are gambling on the success of the past , very productive, very populated,  MIPCOM and  MIPTV conclaves, traditionally held in Cannes, France.

We are betting on the inaugural launch of what is now referred to as MIPLondon and look forward to being a part of its birth. We are giving up palm trees, sunset on the beach and the Gucci/Pucci-filled La Croisette, amidst the warmth of the April Mediterranean sun, for Guinness, cold weather and the unknown, new MIP, in London, in what promises to be a very cold February.

I’m quite optimistic however, as many events have been created around MIPLondon that will certainly attract a multitude of industry folk to the City on the Thames.

There will be no sidewalk cafes in London, in February, but there will be fabulous pubs, historic landmarks and for this New York/Miami girl……lots of needed hot chocolate!

London has always been a prime focus for The Kitchen, as we’ve been working closely with many London-based networks, producers and distributors for all of our 24 years, providing international language services for every genre, platform and distribution effort.

London does present itself as a nucleus for our industry and we’re thrilled to once again be privy to all it has to offer.

My first trip to London, as a Communications major, took me to ITV and BBC.  I was overwhelmed then by the sheer size of these mammoth facilities, as I continue to be to this day. MIPLondon will certainly bring the attendees to the very heart of the British production industry and provide opportunities that could never be had, or seen, in a tent overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. I do believe this is a very good thing!

The Kitchen will be represented in London by Julie Beneteau, our Director of International Sales, who is based in London, and myself, from our Miami headquarters, along with Eutdel Garcia, The Kitchen’s VP of Engineering and Facilities, who is also based in our company headquarters, in Miami and Max Wynen, VP of Global Operations, who is based in our European “hub” in Madrid.

Julie, who was named co-chair of the CDSA’s Localization Council, will be moderating an important panel at the CDSA Summit on Thursday of this week as well. We’ll all be attending the important day-long event to cheer our team-mate and catch up with colleagues and friends.

Establishing a sales office in London, just over a year ago, with Julie at the helm, plays a major part of our overall plan for The Kitchen’s future. Our European language “hub”, in Madrid, has presented us with the ability to provide a 24/7 operation to our clients from every time zone.

Several our Board of Global Influencers will be at MIPLondon as well.  As our eyes and ears in parts of the world we may not be physically, our Board consists of influential industry professionals from all areas of the business.  We are excited to be sharing the news that we will be adding to the Board in the next few weeks and look forward to welcoming additional influencers to our productive team.

Our meeting agenda for our week in the UK is similar to what we would normally plan for in Cannes, and we do find that most of our clients will be “taking a chance”, as we are, and adding MIPLondon, in February, to their yearly agenda.