Hidden Beauty Italy - the unknown BelPaese

Hi, these short videos (less than 2 minutes each I promise), that I will be posting almost daily in my @paolopugni Twitter account, will be telling you something more about my country:
- the culture
- the business and how to do it
- the unknown wonder of this country
- the hidden spot in the cities
- the family life

So if you are interested to know more about BelPaese, don't mass with Paolo and don't miss my video!

And please: ask questions!

The Vatican and the Expo: learning from the Church

Could the Vatican miss the Expo 2015, which will take place in Milan, Italy and whose subject is food and nutrition? Not at all!

Next step is: how to justify the presence in an event which seems have no link with religion and spirituality?

Here come the lesson that we should learn: feeding ideas through the simple application of the mindmapping methodology.

What con be connected with food and nurturing?

For Catholicism first application is quite simple: feed the soul, “not by bread alone”. And the connection with religion is quite simple. You can feed the soul with art, culture, inspiration: and the Church –and especially in Italy- is really a leader in this area.

But that’s not enough, the idea-chain can go further: feeding could mean a correct alimentation, therefore education and family, or sharing food with those who are starving and homeless, not depleting the plant and take care of the environment in the right way.

And so on.

In the end four are the main themes that the Vatican will use as guidelines during the Expo

A garden to safeguard

A food to share

An educating meal

Bread that makes God present

Thus starting from a theme that could be considered far away from the core business of the Catholic Church, we came to a wide range of proposals that actually cover its main offer.

What can we learn from this?

How can we leverage the Expo event to present our core business in Italy to affirm our presence in the best creative way?

Entering the Italian market through Expo and culture

Culture could be the heart of future Expo. Milan it’s not just the business city in Italy, it’s also the nest of culture and artists.

So schools can be a nice choice for organizing events during Expo 2015 to claim the connection between business world and cultural world.

What I suggest is quite simple

a)    find out a subject that can link your production and your solutions with culture, any kind of: literature, paining, poetry, music, design

b)   find a school that could work on this subject producing an exhibition talking and reinterpreting your offers

c)    organize an event in the school where both your solutions and the elaborates could be shown

d)   let’s the press and the web talk about.

Want to know more?

Combining ideas for multiplying successes: opening the italian market

You are a big foreigner company, may be not too big for already being well established on Italy, but enough to invest in this market, which could be really relevant to your goals. 

Have you considered synergies with artisans, designers, fashion creators, food company to ease your way in the Bel Paese during the Expo time?

Supporting the growth of a new talent, find a common goal with a small food industry  (wine, gourmet food, olive oil…) could be an idea to be easily noticed in the Italian scenario during or before the Expo 2015. 

Acting like Mecenate, sponsoring art and designer could be a straight way to find a breakthrough: Italian people love this and many would come to see how a mechanical company or a IT giants could support and valorize a new luxury bag stylist or a team of designers and craftsmen to present their creations.

It will be easy to realize a video of the evening, to reach the press and populate the web and social media with such an event and your brand will win popularity and attention. 

Want to explore more this idea?

In the pictures fashion bags designer Ida DeRosis and her Ghost in piazza Gae Aulenti Milano 

The happy hour culture: an easy breakthrough to the Italian Market

We claim to have invented it, it could be or it could just be another of the arrogant and pompous pretention of the Milanese. We are talking of the happy hour ceremony, a way of having dinner early with friends. Cheap and fast, dynamic and informal, the happy hour moment it’s now a culture for the Milan area and it represent a very good opportunity to gather people for events.

Positioned just after work time, which for the Milanese people could end around 7 – 7.30 pm or even later, bases its success on the fact that any formality is abolished even in the more fashionable and trendy places, like in the Corso Como area (with the new piazza Gae Aulenti and its pool) or Arco della Pace to name some of the newest gathering places.

What is in for foreigner companies? Well you can have the right people, opinion leader, potential customers, influencers with a very low budget.

Usually happy hours  can cost from 5 to 15 euros for me, you can imagine what you can negotiate if you are paying for a party of 100 selected people… a large margin of discount could be applied.

You just have to select the target of the person you want to address, find the way to convince them to join the party, find an appealing subject for the evening, maybe invite some guest star –milanese web stars- to attract more people and you’re done.

Do you have any doubt? 

We are right here to answer all you questions.

What food means to an Italian

What are you willing to sell to the Italian market? Who are your customers? How could you address them with events siding the Expo 2015?

Well you surely know the main theme of Expo is food: nurturing the plant is the payoff.

So you know how much food means to us, how many meanings it has to us.

It means friendship, welcome, care, passion even sex.  Fun, business,  a way to negotiate or make peace. An opportunity to join old friends, to gather from different stories, to start again a new adventure, maybe together.

Food is everything to an Italian: are you able to find a link with it and what you sell?

Tourism is an easy catch: come and taste different food.

Consultancy even easier: your food for thoughts.

Friendship can be used as a pretext for furniture, sport, travels. Family can be an excuse for vacations, housecleaning, cosmetics, perfumes.

And what about B2B?

Well do you really need a red herring?

In case  try to  make a connection with different kind of food or cuisines.

Presses can thus be linked to smashed foot: potatos and so on as the main theme.  Machine tools to delicatessen (salami and charcuterie) and steel mills to spaghetti and other kind of pasta.

As you can see it’s easy to find a way to be here during Expo with your products and find a straight line to the Expo theme: need some help? Here we are!

Could the Expo“fuorisalone” be the chance you are looking for to penetrate the Italian Market?

Why could Expo Milano 2015 a good way to penetrate the Italian market and make a statement to assess your position in Italy? In the recent post I suggested the reasons why Expo could really be an efficient breakthrough to land profitably into our marketplace.

Today I'd like to discuss of one of the most common and loved habits that could really be easily used to set a presence. 


Expo 2015 will especially means “fuorisalone” for the company willing to value the huge number of people that will visit Milano and the high level of international interest that the Expo will raise.

What “fuorisalone” actually stands for? 

It’s an habit that was introduced by the furniture and design exhibition: the idea was to leverage the presence of a lot of people –buyers, journalists, opinion leaders or just curious- in town to organize event not necessarily directly linked to the fair but able to raise attention and promote a brand.

The idea was successful and right now the “fuorisalone” events are even more relevant and powerful that the exhibition itself.

So Milan is used to happy hours, party, conferences, shows that will gather a lot of people or just the lucky few that have been invited to join the gala and the model has been reused and renewed several time.

The Expo will last six months: it’s unbelievable that a company could hold a boot for that long. Therefore the “fuorisalone” events could be the best chance to catch the people you have aimed to and make the noise you want and need to be remembered.

What to learn more?

Stay tuned!

Leveraging your Expo 2015 experience: Elena Puliti's 7 suggestions

Elena Puliti is an italian journalist and writer with a specific and relevant experience in supporting companies to develop a reputation in the media through the organization of events and spreading of news. I asked her to share with you her knowledge. My focus was on how leveraging Expo 2015 to set a strong presence in Italy.

1.     How the Expo could really represent a good chance?

The Expo 2015 is an international showcase in which each company will be able to deal immediately with all markets. But most of all will be the occasion of economic exchanges between countries with essential conditions of cultural, social, technological and environmental differ.

2.     Which kind of industries are you suggesting will get the most from being here?

The companies that have interest in participating in the Expo are those that may be concerned with Italian cultural and culinary traditions, but who also have an interest in making known their products on the European market

3.     What will “fuorisalone” mean during the Expotime?

T  'Fuorisalone' is a calendar of events that take place during the Expo but are located in different places in Milan. They are events that will be in strategic places and typical of the city and directly involving a chosen audience and selected based on a deep knowledge of the area

4.     What should a foreigner company absolutely know about Italian culture and way of life?

Foreign companies that will overlook this event will know the tradition of Made in Italy, ranging from fashion and luxury to the traditional cuisine that is based on the genuineness of the products.

5.     How can a professional like you support these companies? Which will be their advantages?

My task will be to show the reality of the Italian territory. Also I can take care of creating a showcase for the company within the Fuorisalone. The advantages are low cost to be present within the Fuorisalone EXPO, a program that events which take part in cultural exchanges and trade, and the possibility of having a stay organized in every detail

6.     Which guidelines would you suggest to follow?

The company that chooses to participate in the Expo must be present in the area with events involving the local population and have an experienced public relations linked to the city.

7.     Which the mistakes to definitely avoid? 

The most common mistake is to rely to a large agency that considers the foreign company just a number. What I strongly recommend is rather have a person of trust that is present in all respects

Want to make business in Italy? Leverage the Expo experience!

Want to sell to Italy? You know, after more than five years of crisis it seems Italy is finally getting out of the tunnel (no, not the famous Reggio Calabria-Messina one, just a figurative one, the tunnel of GDP contraction) and it’s willing to bloom again.

Are you interested in being part of this?

A very good chance could be to leverage the next year Expo that will take place in Milan. You could check in these months if really it’s the market you want to invest in and plan a sharp strategy to aggress the market and sell more.

So the Expo experience could be a appropriate opportunity to be here, during the numerous gorgeous “fuorisalone” events and meet new clients, state your claims, present you solutions and so on.

Let me suggest you some post that could help you understand which could be the opportunities to consider:

1) what the "fuorisalone" is and how it works to make a statement;
2) 7 suggestions offered by journalist and event expert Elena Puliti to leverage your Expo experience;
3) what food means to Italians and you could benefit to present any kind of product/service you want;
4) the happyhour culture and hw to use it for building leads;
5) how you can combine ideas to make the difference and be noticed during Expo 2015.

This is not enough? You want to know more and understand more about the Italian market, culture, habits, business approach, way to make business contacts, events?

Stay tuned, for new post and  write me paolopugni@gmail.com for any questions, suggestions, hints or collaboration.

See you soon!

The weird way to visit Italy: would you like these different trip to the BelPaese?

Everyone wants to come and visit Italy.

Unfortunately not the way it’s proposed right now.

I mean: you will be delighted by Venice, will love Florence, will be conquered by Rome and will fall in love with Sorrento and Capri. And probably will never forget Sicily.

But.

That’s the usual tour. Would you like to look the backstage too? Take a rest in the backyard and be invited to join the family for a Sunday party with home-made food and nice talks?

Here is the proposal.

The trip with the difference: see me, drink me, eat me, cook me

Would you like to be taken to visit:

-       the wine ways from the Palladio’s villas to the Ville Medicee through vineyards where you ca taste from the barrel the best Italian wines?

-       The monuments and the original food: combine a trip to the best street food in Italy, close to the best places in the BelPaese. Mozzarella di bufala and the Vesuvio, bucatini all’amatriciana and the Colosseo, i fritti in Palermo, the panzerotti in front of the Duomo in Milan.

-       Learn to cook as an Italian housewife: discover the secrete of preparing the main courses of the Italian popular cuisine while visiting the vineyards and the oil farm and the best borgos in Italy.

-       The luxury road: the silk and gold districts close to the lakes in the North.

Would you consider a different way of travelling Italian?

Would you be so kind to rate these ideas and add your dreams?

Help us to plan the best trip to Italy, the one you dream of since ever.

Notice

Due to work overload we have to take a break in posting new articles for a fortnight.

Next new post will be ready for march 13th. To offer you a service that we hope could be appreciated, we have listed down here and will often update some links to previous articles, listed by subject, that you could enjoy reading and that could be helpful.

In the meantime we will welcome suggestions, hints, cue of other posts, news, articles, links that you would like to be discussed on this blog.

Thank you for your patience, please stay tuned and do not forget us!




Italy


Interviews

Meeting

Export

The German shopping

Next post Thursday Feb 23rd

The area around Varese, in the norther part of Lombardy, the region whose capital is Milan, is a sort of foreigner colony.

Many of the companies present there are no more owned by Italian entrepreneurs or shareholders.

Recently Cobra was bought by Blu, a German hedge fund.  And this is just the last one of a long list including BTicino, in the switch industry, Ignis who is now known as Whripool, CB Ferrari and much more.

Why this?

Because this small and medium enterprises can be considered like gold nugget in the present business world. Cobra, to name the last one, is listed at the Italian Stock Exchange market, employs about 450 people and is a market leader in the car antitheft systems.

Germany is a sort of new landlord in this part of Italy, being shareholder of 43 companies, on the podium you can find US (silver medal) with 33 participations and Swiss with 24.

Isn’t this a signal of the quality of Italian companies?

Let's thank Hotel Ungheria, an excellent place to stay while in Varese, for the pictures published in this post

Through foreigner eyes: hetty de Vogel (II)

Next post Monday Feb 20th

Let's go on with the second part of the interview with Hetty de Vogel

Hetty loves Italy, and she talks about our country in her blog, that you can find in her website fully dedicated to the pleasure of Italian gourmandizes, like olive oil, wine and so on.

You’ll fine a short bio, better say her story at the end of this intriguing interview that is aimed to share what Italy appears to be when seen through “foreigners eyes”.

We would like to thank Hetty for her courtesy and warmly recommend you to visit her website!

Which are the main strengths of our people/country?

The strength of Italy and Italians are a lot. They are extremely creative in every front.   If you have a problem, they will find the solution. If your company needs a special product or something not being part of the normal production, they will find a way of how to answer to your demand. They are very flexible and maybe because of their organization of which I spoke before, they have the capability to adapt to every type of situation. Something more difficult to find in Northern Europe. 

And of course, I don't have to forget to mention....the Italian history, the Italian food and culture, the Italian design, its art, music and films. There are really so many things that it's hard not to forget anything.

And which the main weaknesses? 

What sometimes  maybe a strength in other situations becomes a weakness. The flexibility and organization give Italy and Italian companies still an image of "hard and difficult to work with".  

Italian companies should make an effort to break this image;  to show foreign companies that,  with a good mutual collaboration and communication, the business opportunities can be great and very interesting !

Tell us more about your blog: which is its goal? what you want to share with your readers?

My blog and website/shop all started with my great passion for Italy. With my blog I want to share this passion with those already loving Italy, with those longing to learn more about this beautiful country and for those people who are just curious. I mostly blog about Puglia/Salento because this is one of those parts of Italy I discovered some years ago and a region I really love a lot. So much that I decided to make it my work. A part of Italy where traditions and culture are still everywhere.  And then of course its nature..the olive trees, the 2 beautiful seas, its delicious food…In my blog I want to share my passion for all this. I write about thinks I like and notice, curiosities, tradition, places to go and recipes..traditional and modern. I believe that when you blog about something you really love, then this passion can be transmitted to the reader even through such an impersonal thing as internet. My goal is to reach as much people as possible telling them about this part of Italy not very much known yet. On my website, besides the blog there is a part with some information about my suppliers, their products and of course the shop.

You are selling Italian products: how it is to deal with Italian producers as supplier?

Yes, I buy specialties from Salento and Puglia and I sell them through my webstore. Dealing with my suppliers is absolutely great; I have the chance to work with people which are not only my suppliers but they became friends as well. The producers of the products I buy, like Olive Oil, Tapenades and wine are passionate about what they do, and like me, they adore sharing this passion. It are all family companies, like most of the Italian companies. Our collaboration is based on friendship and the will to create a real collaboration and transmission of ideas in order to promote these wonderful products outside Italy.

Hetty de Vogel: I was born in Holland where I accomplished my university studies in Management in 1988.  In the same year I left for Italy, where I have been working as an Exportmanager for 12 years. I've got 2 children and moved to Paris in the meantime. I decided to raise my children while they were still young. Since  3 years I've decided to pick up working again by fulfilling my dream of starting a company of my own; an e-commerce for the sales of Italian products and specialties. 

The first 2 years I've been studying an preparing everything; I found my suppliers, worked out my ideas and since one year I'm online with my website. In my work I combine my passion for Italy with my knowledge and experience....an I put in place everything I have learned and I'm still learning about internet marketing, a really fascinating aspect of my work.

Through foreigners eyes: Hetty de Vogel (I)

Next post Friday Feb 17th

Hetty loves Italy, and she talks about our country in her blog, that you can find in her website fully dedicated to the pleasure of Italian gourmandizes, like olive oil, wine and so on.

You’ll fine a short bio, better say her story at the end of this intriguing interview that is aimed to share what Italy appears to be when seen through “foreigners eyes”.

Since the interview is very detailed and therefore quite long, we will publish it in two separate post.

We would like to thank Hetty for her courtesy and warmly recommend you to visit her website!

How came you were based in Italy?

Actually, I'm not based in Italy, not anymore. I've been living in Italy for about 12 years and now I'm living in Paris. I'm Dutch, I accomplished my studies in the Netherlands and after my graduation I left  for Italy.

Why Italy? Because I've always loved Italy.  Since my childhood, when I went every summer holiday with my parents to Italy.

What do you honestly think of Italy?

It is difficult to answer this question in one sentence. As I said before you can imagine that I'm not very objective. I adore Italy, the Italian people, the culture, its history, the nature, the way of living and of course its food. I can really say that I feel at home in Italy. Anyway, being Dutch with a Dutch education and having lived and worked in Italy and having travelled a lot, I don't close my eyes and I can see some more negative sides of this country.

For example the malfunctioning of the public services, the low salaries in comparison to the Northern European ones, the difficulties for young people to start an independent life without support from their parents

How do you see the future of this country?

In the current unstable economical situation the whole world is in nowadays, it is very hard to tell how the future of Italy will be. I'm not an expert, so it's difficult to make any predictions.

I sincerely believe that Italy and Italian companies have a very great potential and they have such a lot of sources, of culture, creativity and ideas that they can really exploit all.  I'm not only talking about the small and average companies,/industries, but also about individual young people having good ideas and being creative. I think that for one reason or another they don't take advantage enough of everything they have and of all the possibilities there are to create jobs and business. For example internet, internet marketing for the promotion of Italian companies, small and bigger ones, still isn't very much used. 

Which are your hints and suggestions for foreigners willing to make business with Italy and Italian people? and specifically

            a) what to avoid?

            b) what to consider?

Having worked in Italy as an export manager and import manager and now trading with Italy, I can suggest to foreigners who want to start a collaboration with an Italian company to slow down and take their time. I will try to explain my opinion: If foreigners want to work with Italian companies and people, but not only Italy, I believe more generally, when you want to work with a foreign country, you have to know and learn about there habits and most of all adapt yourself to it and respect them.

This means in Italy you have to take your time. Things don't go as fast and quick as they may go in Northern Europe. Business discussions and deals often take place during long "relaxed" lunches rather then from an office. Often stories about their city and region (Italians are proud about there roots), about their family, their holidays abroad, are discussed before getting into the real business.

Italian companies may seem less organized or maybe are organized "the Italian way", but is is just a way of decipher there way of dealing. For example "delivery next week" means maybe next week, but it might be the week after. "There is no way of an early delivery"; just ask again and then they will pick up the phone and do there upmost to speed up things. 

Even if things are changing a bit, Italians don't speak very well foreign languages. The communication might be a bit difficult in the beginning. But with their creativity they find their way of expressing themselves. 

If you realize this and if you take this into account, working with Italy and Italians becomes really pleasant, stimulating and interesting.