By Terry Sovil from the July 2012 Edition
This month I thought it would be interesting to take a look at “Creative Industries” in Mexico. Mexican creativity is renowned the world over. The Mexican government seeks to capitalize on this and will position Mexico as a leading player in this sector. Their goal is to make Mexico a center piece for the production of audiovisual and interactive content in Latin America.
Creative industries are those that use the cycle of creation, production and distribution of goods and services using intellectual capital as their primary input. Creative industries today are those that use technology intensive and service-oriented sectors. Included is a range of things from folk art, festivals, music, books, paintings, performing arts to film industry, broadcasting, digital animation and video games. This also extends to architectural and advertising services.
Strengths of the Creative Industries in Mexico
Facilities and Logistics
Mexico has some world-class production facilities including the Baja Studios – the world’s largest water set in the world – and the Churubusco Studios which are well known in the film industry.
Talent
Mexico has a pool of talent with experience in international audiovisual projects. According to ANUIES – the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions – close to 111,000 students graduate from humanities, engineering and technology programs every year.
Competitive costs
Development costs in Mexico are very competitive and Mexico offers various funding options. According to KPMG (international finance and audit group) Mexico offers the most competitive advantage for software development, web content and multimedia. Digital Creative Community fosters the development of “clusters” with infrastructure and technology to develop huge creative projects and capacity to house over 10,000 creative professionals.
Media
Mexico’s media industry includes television, cable TV, advertising, film and marketing. Price Waterhouse Coopers states that in 2010 Mexico had sales close to 14 billion dollars. They further estimate that from 2004-2010 the industry grew at compound rate of 7% which is the highest growth rate in North America. The Mexican film market is the largest in Latin America.
Videogames
Price Waterhouse Coopers says this industry had a compound annual growth rate of 18.7% from 2004-2010. In 2010, Mexico’s domestic market reached 757 million dollars, thus putting Mexico among the top 15 video game markets in the world and in the lead in Latin America.
UK Trade and Investment had the following comments to make:
The United Nations states that Mexico holds the 20th position in the world for creativity and Mexico is the only Latin American country to appear in the ranking. The creative sector in 2008 accounted for 6.7% of the gross domestic product and 11% of the jobs generated in Mexico. The fastest growing industries focus mainly on digital technologies (animation, digital radio, software development, online ads, digital publishing, games, TV and music production. Since Mexico is still developing capabilities this is an opportune time to introduce products and services to the market.
UK Trade and Investment hosted a Creative Industries Mission to Mexico City and Guadalajara February 26 to March 2, 2012. They said this about event:
“There has never been a better time to consider Mexico as a place to do business, given the limited growth rates in traditional markets and the Mexican Government and businesses’ desire to reduce dependency on trade with the USA. The past decade has seen sound management of public finances including economic growth and stable inflation.”
“Mexico is a country open for business and regularly ranks in the top three emerging markets in which to do business. With a population of 107 million people, including a large and growing middle class, Mexico is a significant potential consumer market.”
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Terry is a founding partner and scuba instructor for Aquatic Sports and Adventures (Deportes y Aventuras Acuáticas) in Manzanillo. A PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) Master Instructor in his 36th year as a PADI Professional. He also holds 15 Specialty Instructor Course ratings. Terry held a US Coast Guard 50-Ton Masters (Captain’s) License. In his past corporate life, he worked in computers from 1973 to 2005 from a computer operator to a project manager for companies including GE Capital Fleet Services and Target. From 2005 to 2008, he developed and oversaw delivery of training to Target’s Loss Prevention (Asset Protection) employees on the West Coast, USA. He led a network of 80+ instructors, evaluated training, performed needs assessments and gathered feedback on the delivery of training, conducted training in Crisis Leadership and Non-Violent Crisis Intervention to Target executives. Independently, he has taught hundreds of hours of skills-based training in American Red Cross CPR, First Aid, SCUBA and sailing and managed a staff of Project Managers at LogicBay in the production of multi-media training and web sites in a fast-paced environment of artists, instructional designers, writers and developers, creating a variety of interactive training and support products for Fortune 1000 companies.
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