Media

AdKaora, the digital agency of the MarTech Hub of the Mondadori Group, a leader in mobile advertising, proximity marketing and full funnel solutions for brands and publishers, is enhancing its team with the aim of further consolidating its position as a reference point in a constantly evolving market.

“The inclusion of new strategic figures is crucial to strengthening our ability to face the challenges of a constantly changing market,” said Davide Tran, MarTech Director Mondadori Media. The creation of an increasingly integrated and cross-functional team will allow us to respond with greater agility and precision to the needs of brands, agencies, and publishers. These roles are essential for consolidating a structure that not only enhances the offering of multichannel solutions but also promotes synergy between the different areas of the company, with the aim of becoming increasingly widespread and responsive in meeting market demands. All choices and new hires made, in addition to being focused on the know-how and experiences gained by professionals over the years, are mainly linked to personal qualities and soft skills, which have always been an expression of the value that differentiates us in the market: Elisa, Sara, Marta, Miruna, Giulia and Alessio are the confirmation of our business strategy,” concluded Tran.

An enhanced Sales Team to enhance the multichannel offering 

The first change relates to Elisa Sergi, who takes on the role of Head of Agencies. Elisa will lead the sales team, optimising commercial strategies for media centres, with the aim of enhancing the multichannel offering of AdKaora and Hej!.

With 10 years of experience and a continuously growing career, Elisa has held key roles such as Sales Account for City News, Senior Sales Manager for Viralize, and Team Lead Sales for ShowHeroes Group. She worked closely with media centres and agencies, developing strong relationships and managing direct relationships with clients. Now, her focus will be to provide increasingly targeted solutions that can respond innovatively to market needs.

In an increasingly competitive sector, our ability to offer multichannel solutions represents a significant advantage. I am excited to put my experience to use in support of the sales team’s activities, optimising strategies for media centres, responding more precisely and in a personalised way to the needs of our clients,” commented Elisa Sergi, Head of Agencies at AdKaora.

In 2024, the sales team was strengthened with the addition of Marta Ammirati, part of the Key Account team, who manages AdKaora’s strategic clients, and Miruna Toader, a new Sales Account, responsible for helping to strengthen partnerships with direct clients, agencies, and media centres.

Focus on the publishing network: new members in the Publishers Team and strengthened leadership

AdKaora also welcomes Sara Saffioti as the new Head of Publishers – Italy. Sara brings with her an innovative vision and solid experience in managing strategic relationships with publishers. Her mission is to lead the development of new business opportunities and solutions for content monetisation, consolidating AdKaora’s role as a reference partner for the Italian market and opening new perspectives on international scenarios.

Throughout her career, Sara has gained significant experience in internationally relevant companies, including Teads, where she managed relationships with premium publishers in Italy, Google, where she consolidated her technological skills, and Evolution Group, where she contributed to the expansion in the Spanish market. Its international approach and ability to build valuable partnerships will be crucial for the expansion of AdKaora’s publishing activities.

I am excited to be part of such a dynamic team. My goal is to build and strengthen strategic partnerships with our publishing partners, providing innovative solutions to tackle a constantly evolving sector,” emphasized Sara Saffioti, Head of Publishers – Italy at AdKaora.

Alongside Sara, the publishing team strengthened in the second half of 2024 with the addition of Giulia Campbell and Alessio Castrichella, both Publisher Managers with key roles, focusing respectively on international development and a solid, targeted national presence.

GialloZafferano, the leading food media brand in Italy, made its debut at the winter edition of Fancy Food Show, one of the most important food industry fairs in the world, held in Las Vegas from 19 to 21 January.

The edition took place under the mark of Italian spirit. In fact, Italy was chosen as Country Partner for the fourth time. This is an absolute record for the trade fair, reflecting the importance of the Italian culinary culture around the world, values that GialloZafferano has always embodied in its DNA, offering new growth opportunities for companies in the sector.

The involvement of GialloZafferano was made possible by a partnership – which will continue throughout 2025 – with Universal Marketing, an agency that supports Italian businesses in organizing their participation in the most important world expos, even preparing the exhibition area. With the success of the edition that just ended in Las Vegas, work has already begun to plan content and activities for the brand’s participation in the Summer Fancy Food Show.

THE WINTER FANCY FOOD SHOW

After collaborating the 2024 summer edition, GialloZafferano was also the media partner of the Italian Pavilion for this edition. With about 1,000 m² and 101 stands, it is the largest international exhibition area at the fair, showcasing the best of Italian companies in the food industry and the regions of Piedmont, Calabria and Sicily.

Together with Zenzero, the Mondadori Media talent agency dedicated to the world of food, GialloZafferano starred in over 10 live show cooking events, enlivening the First Taste Experience area and Lounge Italia, promoted and organized by ICE (Italian Trade Agency) at the centre of the Italian Pavilion. The team of food creators and chefs was of absolute quality and prestige, with Aurora Cavallo (@CookerGirl), who spoke at the opening press conference, Alessandra Ciuffo (@FlavorsbyAlessandra), Bilena Settepani (Settepani Bakery, New York), Lulù Gargari (Resident Chef Creator, GialloZafferano) and Silvia Barban (Executive Chef and co-owner of LaRina restaurant, Brooklyn), present during the fair in Las Vegas.

During the three days of the exhibition, more than 30 original content items were created and shared through GialloZafferano Loves Italy (@giallolovesitaly), the social media account dedicated to an international audience, which currently has more than 30 million cooking followers in foreign markets.

PROJECTS FOR 2025
Throughout 2025, GialloZafferano will continue use its website and social media channels to recount the ways in which Italian cuisine is increasingly permeating the eating habits of American consumers. A rich schedule of new social media series is already planned to explore traditions and new trends, emphasizing the quality of Italian ingredients. This exciting journey of discovery will carry us up to the most important event of the year: the Summer Fancy Food Show, scheduled from 29 June to 1 July 2025 in New York. At the event, GialloZafferano will present itself as a sounding board for Italian brands looking to enter the American market or further strengthen their position. GialloZafferano, the best loved Italian food media brand and ambassador of Italian cuisine around the world, will continue to listen and recount Italian taste, bringing the unique characteristics of Italian products and cuisine to the sensitivity of the American public. In fact, its participation in other important events on the Italian food industry calendar will soon be announced.

GialloZafferano is the leading food media brand in Italy. Half of Italians cook with GialloZafferano online, which reached over 25 million people in November 2024 (Comscore, Multi-platform digital audience). With a fanbase of 72 million followers, it ranks among the top food media brands in the world on social platforms (source: Shareablee-Comscore and Social Insights). It has feasible content accessible to everyone, serving people at all times of the day and across all channels, from the Internet to social media, from its app to smart devices, from its magazine to books and even local events.

Zenzero is the exclusive talent agency managing the best food creators in the Italian digital landscape. Stemming from a collaboration in late 2022 between GialloZafferano, One Shot Agency and six of the top food creators in the Italian digital landscape, it has reached over 43 million followers and over 50 million video views. Zenzero Talent Agency is a new point of contact between an extraordinary hub of creators and brand partners whose goal is to establish effective communication pathways that respond to the growing need of brands to intercept the passions, values and new language of Generation Z.

AdKaora, an international digital agency with full-funnel advertising solutions in the MarTech hub of the Mondadori Group, has signed an exclusive agreement with Haiku Technologies, the leading IoT advertising platform in Italy for pharmacies, thus entering the pharma retail media sector.

The aim is to plan advertisements on screens situated in premium pharmacies, benefiting from expanded media through integration with other channels involved in retail media campaigns, whose advertising market share has grown in recent years.
Positioning of the ‘pharmacy’ sector has also evolved significantly in recent years, becoming a ‘service pharmacy’ and expanding its operations beyond dispensing medicines.

Through the proprietary Addendo Pharma circuit, the digital network of Haiku Technologies, AdKaora and the MarTech hub of Mondadori Group are adding an important element to proprietary advertising solutions, delivering content to a target that is already present at points of sale and inclined to product conversion.

Furthermore, it draws on systems installed in more than 200 independent and municipal pharmacies and health product shops, for a total of approximately 5.6 million passes and more than 18 million contacts per month. This is an opportunity for brand visibility, taking advantage of the exclusive positions of the screens inside the stores, where significant daily traffic is recorded.

Valerio Ginnasi and Giuseppe Facente, respectively Co-Founder and Managing Director of Netmedialick – Haiku Technologies, comment: ‘Through synergy between Haiku and AdKaora, retail media in the pharma sector is evolving, combining IoT technology, intelligent data and multi-channel advertising strategies. Through the Addendo Pharma circuit, brands can communicate in a targeted, contextualized way, further influencing the purchasing process at the most strategic moment. By integrating AdKaora services and technology with our Addendo Pharma platforms, brands can measure the impact of their campaigns, optimizing ROI and offering solid, timely data on sales related to each individual product due to our IoT system “ADBox”. This multichannel approach transforms turns pharmacies into hubs for interaction between brands and consumers, enhancing the customer journey and strengthening the link between the physical and digital worlds.’

Davide Tran, CEO of AdKaora, goes further: ‘Even for the pharmaceutical sector, innovation starts from understanding customer behaviour, personalizing content and relationships, and using data intelligently to improve business strategies. This is why advertising solutions such as retail media can really make a difference in delivering content that is highly relevant to individual pharmacies while gathering timely customer insights. Together with Haiku, we will be active at premium pharmacies nationwide, with the goal of continuously expanding the network of screens, and we will oversee retail media in the pharma channel with a multi-channel approach tied to different campaign objectives. Above all, we will enhance drive to store by influencing product consideration and conversion more directly, fully exploiting the effective micro-moment. Last but not least, we could give all brands a real boost in sales, that is, the real ROI of our activity, an aspect that makes us unique on the market.’

Media planning relates to real-time monitoring of certified passes, reporting on the possibility of integrating sales data at the individual point of sale and post-campaign analyses conducted using Haiku’s proprietary IoT technology ‘AdBox’, which allows the impact of the campaign on sell out to be measured, with a tangible effect of advertising on sales.

This makes it possible to enhance in-store communication, influence purchasing decisions, further personalize promotions, and differentiate communications on a fine scale, down to the individual point of sale.
The mass of data collected on consumers and actual presence in stores thus enriches and fuels AdKaora’s expansion of proximity marketing, with the goal of drawing on the clusters identified to further stimulate drive to store in a multi-channel perspective.

In fact, circular and multi-touchpoint coverage (displays, rich media, push notifications, social networks, Stocard, digital out of home) is offered to create exclusive offline experiences and increasingly innovative digital opportunities.

Francesca Michielin is the star of the third episode of “Il Podcast di Sanremo”, the first event podcast dedicated to the history of the Festival, created by TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, a leader in the entertainment world.

The young singer-songwriter, competing this year, relived the highlights of Italy’s most famous singing competition from 1995, the year of its inception, to 2016 when she competed for the first time. She is joined by the usual presenters Aldo Vitali, director of TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Lodovica Comello, TV host and radio speaker, and actor and content creator Tommaso Cassissa.

Francesca Michielin shared her memories of the Festival both from her childhood, when she never missed a single edition, and from when she personally participated in it.
Her first appearance at the Ariston was in 2012 in the duet with Chiara Civello. Later, in 2016, when she was barely twenty-one, she competed for the first time with the song “Nessun grado di separazione,” accompanied by maestro Beppe Vessicchio. “When I found out I was in the top 3, I fainted,” Francesca shared on the Sorrisi podcast.

A few months later she took part in Eurovision, having finished in second place at the Festival behind Stadio, who decided not to participate. “That year I represented Italy at Eurovision in place of Stadio. The song had the right message, and I’m glad I got it out to a wider audience,” Michielin remarked.

In 2021 Francesca participated for the second time in Italy’s most famous singing competition, this time together with Fedez. A year later, she went on to conduct the orchestra during Emma Marrone’s performance in the 2022 edition of Sanremo. “Two days after the performance, I had to defend my dissertation,” Francesca recalled.

During the Sorrisi podcast episode, Francesca Michielin also made a proposal: “Why not have two different votes? One to win Sanremo and one to go to Eurovision.”

Next Tuesday, the Sorrisi podcast will again accompany listeners through the history of the Italian Song Festival from the 1950s to the present day, analyzing its secrets and revealing exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, along with a special guest who has left an indelible mark on the Italian music scene.
Starting today, you can listen to and watch the new episode of the Sorrisi podcast on YouTube and on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast and Amazon Music).

Coma_Cose were the stars of the second episode of ‘Il Podcast di Sanremo’, the first event podcast dedicated to the history of the Festival, created by TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, a leader in the entertainment world.

The indie pop duo, consisting of California and Fausto, is competing this year, and they relived highlights from the most famous singing competition in Italy from 1981 to 1996 along with presenters Aldo Vitali, director of TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Lodovica Comello, television host and radio speaker, and actor and content creator Tommaso Cassissa.

Coma_Cose shared personal memories and anecdotes with the public:
Fausto talked about his relationship with Sanremo, which started when he was little. ‘At my house, it was a classic. As with all Italian families, I have many childhood memories tied to the festival,’ including even more bizarre ones like the funny performance by the comedian Francesco Salvi or the unusual performance by the duo I Righeira and their unique looks.

‘In my family, however, we didn’t watch TV. So I decided to go there myself,’ California added with a smile.
The artist then talked about the great emotion he felt at their first Sanremo performance in 2021, followed by the duo’s participation in 2023 and the upcoming competition in the 2025 edition. ‘As I stood in front of the microphone, I tried to breathe and I couldn’t… something that had never happened to me before.’

The episode continued with many other curiosities, discussing the years when the record companies required that singers perform in playback, or when the festival moved from the Ariston Theatre to the Sanremo Flower Market, as well as incredible collaborations like the one between Totò Cutugno and Ray Charles.

On Tuesdays for another two weeks, the Sorrisi podcast will accompany listeners through the history of the Italian Song Festival from the 1950s to the present day, analysing its secrets and revealing exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, along with a special guest who has left an indelible mark on the Italian music scene.

The podcast will include entertaining quizzes and untold behind-the-scenes trivia, guaranteeing fun moments and plenty of memories to arrive well prepared for the new edition of the Italian Song Festival. Starting today, you can listen to and watch the Sorrisi podcast on YouTube and on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast and Amazon Music).

si, da ascoltare a da vedere, è disponibile da oggi su YouTube e su tutte le piattaforme di streaming (Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music).

A few days before the start of the second quarter, Webboh Lab, the first permanent observatory on Gen Z resulting from Webboh’s partnership with the Sylla research institute, has analyzed the responses of more than 38,000 elementary, middle and high school students who were asked to share their opinions, perceptions and expectations about school.

The results, partly collected through the involvement of Studenti.it users, led to the report “La scuola che vorrei”, a detailed look at the school system through the eyes of the younger generation. Their goal is to have a school that is more inclusive and helpful in dealing with the challenges of everyday life.

Vision of the ideal school:

Students were asked to describe how they imagine the perfect school environment:

• inclusive and respectful, where everyone has an equal chance to learn (9/10);
• with beautiful and welcoming spaces, helping those with problems or difficulties (8/10);
• more connected to reality, with useful lessons for daily life (7/10);
• innovation-oriented, with the use of technology to make lessons interactive and engaging (5/10);
• a place where students can voice their opinions, work together in groups, and engage in creative and fun activities (5/10).

Perception of the school

The main problems highlighted by the report concern the perception of a not very innovative school environment that lacks adequate preparation for real life and work, placing great emphasis on mental health. In detail:

• 80% think that school does not teach topics that are useful for life;
• 80% find their backpack too heavy;
• 67% experience anxiety about going to school;
• 67% believe that schools do not care about pupils’ mental health;
• 67% spend entire days studying;
• 68% are fairly or very happy with the level of teaching they receive;
• for 49%, teachers are not sufficiently understanding and do not care enough about whether a subject is understood;
• 49% of children found situations of neglect at school. Indeed, many of them do not trust the solidity of the structures and as many as 50% of the children believe there is a potential risk of the facility collapsing.

It emerged, in general, that students do not feel valued, welcomed and supported at school: “It is a place where I feel valued” received only 4.3 out of 10 and “It is a place where I feel welcomed and supported” 4.5 out of 10. In addition, the concept “Bullying is addressed and effectively managed” received 5.2 out of 10, a result that leads one to think that the educational institution is unable to deal with and manage bullying.

Identified clusters:

The Webboh Lab team identified 5 profiles that identify students based on their responses to the questionnaire:

1. Vision and Motivation (34%): this is the group that identifies students who see school as practical preparation for the future and work, and who prefer a traditional approach.
2. Practicality and Inclusiveness (30%): concerns children focused on professional preparation and collaborative learning in a stimulating environment.
3. Ambition and Pragmatism (14%): they value competition and rewards, with a focus on individual growth.
4. Creativity and Relaxation (13%): this is the cluster where creative freedom and a relaxed environment with less homework and more artistic activities are valued.
5. Tradition and Freedom (8%): where students prefer a classical educational approach, without excessive emphasis on technology or creativity.

You can view the full research here.

Webboh is the flagship media for GenZ. Created in April 2019, it has been part of Mondadori Media since February 2023. It currently has a fanbase of 4.5 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp, 70% of which are under 24. The website receives 3 million unique monthly users (source: Audiweb last quarter 2024). It is in the top ten most influential Italian media companies on social media, as well as the first targeting Gen Z for engagement and video views (source: Italian Top Media Rankings for First Communication made by Sensemakers). The topicality, authenticity and interest generated by the content is guaranteed by a bottom-up editorial model: the community is involved in every part of the creative process.

Webboh Lab, a partnership between Webboh and the Sylla research institute, with Scientific Director Professor Furio Camillo, is the first Permanent Observatory on Gen Z. Webboh Lab’s commitment is to gather the voice of the younger generation and investigate and explore issues to convey them to those who make decisions for them, the adults of tomorrow.

TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, the leading brand in the entertainment world, launches “The Sanremo Podcast”, the first event podcast in four episodes dedicated to the history of the Sanremo Festival.
Together with the big names of Italian music, the podcast will relive the highlights of the Festival to better prepare for the new edition of Italy’s most famous singing competition.

Presented by Aldo Vitali, director of TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, together with Lodovica Comello – TV presenter and radio speaker – and actor and content creator Tommaso Cassissa, the first podcast of Sorrisi will accompany listeners for four weeks through the history of the Italian Song Festival from the 1950s to the present day. Together they will discuss the pop moments that marked the event, analyzing its secrets and revealing some exclusive behind-the-scenes stories. Each episode, released on Tuesdays, will feature a special guest who has left an indelible stamp on the Italian music scene and will cover a historical time span of the Festival.

The star of the first episode, dedicated to the period from the inception of the Festival to the 1980s, is Rettore, an iconic artist on the Italian scene. She will share her memories associated with the Festival, recalling how she initially did not want to participate in her very first Sanremo and discussing her bombshell debut that was never broadcast on TV, her relationship, amid love and strife, with Marcella Bella (competing this year), and her affection for TV Sorrisi e Canzoni to which she presented her new album “Antidiva Putiferio” due out on January 10, 2025.

The podcast will include entertaining quizzes and untold behind-the-scenes trivia, guaranteeing fun moments and plenty of memories to arrive well prepared for the new edition of the Italian Song Festival.
Starting today, you can listen to and watch the Sorrisi podcast on YouTube and on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast and Amazon Music).

TV Sorrisi e Canzoni is the leading brand for TV and entertainment fans, reaching a total monthly audience of 2.6 million readers (source: Audipress 2024/I), 3.8 million users (source Audiweb media, August/October 2024) and over 1.1 million fans (source: social insights for IG, FB, TikTok, X, YouTube), thanks to a multi-channel system comprising the magazine, website, social media, and events and side products.

AdKaora and Hej!, the digital companies specialised in mobile advertising and conversational marketing, the core of the Mondadori Media MarTech Hub, continue to develop with the launch of new integrated solutions and enhancement of their teams’ highest professionalism.

AdKaora and Hej! have always based their growth on advanced technologies, data-driven analysis and consultative approach. To better promote the development of further synergy and enhance the different skills, the two entities have now also adopted a new organisational structure.

Davide Tran, Director of Mondadori Media MarTech Hub: ‘AdKaora and Hej! are first and foremost companies made of people. For us, promoting talent with the aim of creating a professional future in which expertise and diversity are increasingly recognised as factors of success is the real push towards innovation. “Never feeling like you’ve arrived” and always being ready to seize market opportunities are the levers leading to the success of the union between the AdKaora and Hej! teams. For us, synergy starts with shared values, such as courage, determination and cooperation, and materialises in overcoming initial difficulties, which are part of all truly innovative projects, due to the continuous study of best practices, sharing of ideas and a desire to go beyond one’s own boundaries. The joint work of all the teams is real added value for the growth of MarTech Hub, which, for the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, is focused on new acquisitions, investments in AI and the entry in new foreign markets in Europe and Latam,’ concluded Tran.

One of the most dynamic and innovation-oriented areas is business intelligence, led by Iolanda Prezio, Head of Digital Media-Ops & BI at AdKaora, which aims to provide targeted insights and data-driven solutions to support informed business decisions. With data analysis and continuous market research, AdKaora works to offer both a clear and detailed overview of business opportunities and increasingly sophisticated tools to improve internal workflows.

The approach of the Media Buying Team, led by Francesca Ianniello, Head of Buying at Hej!, aims to bring the best results to clients, managing campaigns as well as possible on all digital channels involved in the strategies (from social media to search engines).

Clients can also rely on the consolidated experience in campaign management and continuous improvement of the AdKaora Key Account Team, led by Sara D’Apote, Head of Key Account & Agency Relationship Manager, and the Hej! Operation Team, led by Giusy Esposito, Head of Operations.
The goal of the first is to develop innovative strategies to enable customers to finalise new business opportunities.
The second successfully coordinates campaign operations, working with different departments to optimise performance and develop strategic partnerships. In Rome, customer management for Central Italy is entrusted to the sales division, which is led by Marianna De Vita, Head of Sales for Rome and external areas. She is responsible for consolidating the business areas and strengthening the network of relationships with advertisers and media centres, contributing to the cross-cutting development of the MarTech Hub.

Growth and evolution also come from shared values and a solid corporate culture. Audacity, understanding, flexibility and strategic vision have guided MarTech Hub towards an increasingly clear, full-stack and global positioning on the market. Its message is amplified by the Communication and Events Team, led by Giusy Zaccone, Head of Communications, who manages the communication strategy, collaborates in defining the product storytelling and organises key events to enhance networking with partners and customers.

There is also news of MarTech Hub in the tech and IT sector, and its stronger team with the arrival of Nicholas Farinato in the role of Chief Technology Officer. His team aims to carry forward a vision for the international growth of Value Network properties and marketing solutions that AdKaora offers on the market.
In Rome, technological development is instead entrusted to Paolo Molinara, Chief Technology Officer of Hej!, whose twofold goal is to orient the business lines towards innovative solutions that effectively meet market needs while using advanced technology to develop solutions that add tangible value for customers. The overall objective is to create a tech area capable of creating increasingly differentiated assets on the market, as well as fully developing the synergies already established with PLAI, the Mondadori Group startup accelerator.

AdKaora and Hej!, the international digital companies of Mondadori Group specialised in mobile advertising and conversational marketing with full-funnel advertising solutions, participated in ‘Intersections 2024’ – an event created through the union of IAB Forum and IF! Italians Festival – with a workshop entitled ‘From online to in-store with mobile coupons: the multichannel retail strategy for L’Oréal Paris’.

How can loyal shoppers be engaged by turning drive-to-store into an in-store strategy for retail? The integrated campaign, created by AdKaora and Hej! for the launch of Serum Le duo by L’Oréal Paris, used different channels to cover all levels of the marketing funnel and reach users near Esselunga stores. The project ranges from brand awareness to purchase, where mobile interaction and digital coupon incentives play a key role in pushing consumers to action.

During the meeting, Paolo Ingrosso, Chief Revenue Officer of MarTech Hub Mondadori Media, and Walter Ferrari, Chief Marketing Officer of MarTech Hub Mondadori Media, explained the strategy together with Agostino Massara, Performance Media Manager – Consumer Products Division of L’Oréal Italia, and Martina Conte, Digital Lead of Wavemaker Italy.

The goal was to increase user awareness of the product, as it involved a new launch, stimulating their consideration and intention to try and purchase it.

The campaign, online from September 24th to October 13th, was created together with Wavemaker Italy. The specially-designed project aimed to build engagement and improve the customer experience up to the last mile, objectives achieved thanks to conversational marketing by Hej!. Meanwhile, custom display formats, the click to web format on the Stocard app and social planning guaranteed visibility and visual impact.

Through the integration of checkout technology by Savi, AdKaora’s partner in mobile couponing strategies, it was possible to intercept consumers in the final steps, transforming interest into purchases through the use of digital coupons.

Through cross-channel planning, further profiling via Stocard – an application that allows users to upload loyalty cards from different industries – and the AdKaora proximity suite, it was possible to stimulate loyal Esselunga customers – women aged 25-54 – to push coupon downloads, taking advantage of the product offer, and activating an effective drive to store for product sales locations.

The technologically advanced solutions by AdKaora and Hej! therefore intercepted target audiences near the points of sale of interest due to precise and accurate profiling, communicated the offer to active users, initiated a collection of qualitative leads starting from different channels and retargeted users based on their behaviour.

The results are very clear: 1.7 million Esselunga customers reached with advertising. Across creative formats including AdKaora display, Stocard click to web and Hej! social planning, a 2.8% click through rate was recorded, while 7.1% of users redeemed the coupons by using them in stores (a result that reflects market benchmarks).

Agostino Massara, Performance Media Manager and Consumer Products Division of L’Oréal Italy: ‘Thanks to this communication project, we saw that the target audience was not only stimulated in the consideration phase, but especially in the intent to purchase phase, demonstrating that a loyal buyer, such as at Esselunga in this case, will perform multi-channel actions if encouraged by greater product awareness and a current offer. Furthermore, the insights gathered on consumer behaviour through Hej!’s conversational marketing and mobile couponing could be useful for considering how to eventually scale the strategy to other brands in the division and work in an integrated way with the other commercial functions, in synergy with shared business and growth objectives.’

Martina Conte, Digital Lead at Wavemaker: ‘Since this was a product launch for Serum Le Duo, we wanted to work together with AdKaora and Hej! to create a strategy would go well beyond product awareness, encouraging product purchases due to the digital coupon. In fact, all the channels involved in the strategy worked in synergy to intercept consumers in the various phases of the decision-making process and the results confirmed the effectiveness of the project.’

Andrea Zermian, Sales and Marketing Director of Savi, said: ‘We are proud to have supported this campaign with our mobile couponing technology. Covering the “last mile” with integration at checkout has allowed us to convert consideration into purchasing actions smoothly and effectively, intercepting consumers at the decisive moment of their purchasing experience. This project is an example of how an advanced technological approach and well-orchestrated marketing strategy can generate a significant impact, strengthening the bond between brand and customer. Once again, we confirm our commitment to connecting more and more retailers to our platform to simplify the use of digital coupons for customers and offer brands a technologically advanced tool for optimising advertising investments.’

Davide Tran, Director of Mondadori Media MarTech Hub: ‘Intersections fits perfectly with AdKaora and Hej!’s long-lasting approach to proposing increasingly full-funnel and complementary solutions for the market. The campaign designed for L’Oréal Paris also represents an ideal case study in intertwining brand awareness with drive to store, turning proximity marketing into a retail strategy where the last mile of the customer’s journey is stimulated through Savi’s mobile couponing. With precise, data-driven profiling, we were able to target loyal Esselunga buyers and perform multi-channel lead generation activities, collecting qualitative leads interested in using digital coupons to generate conversions.’

Great success for “Focus Live -Traguardi” at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, Italy

At the seventh edition of the “Focus” Festival of Knowledge, all of the more than 100 free events were sold out: meetings, workshops and interactive experiences with the stars of science

Segrate, 11 November 2024 – Focus’s festival of knowledge, Focus Live, once again achieved incredible success, with over 18,000 visitors. This is the seventh consecutive year that Focus has carried out this event in collaboration with the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. The brand demonstrated its digital and social media strength by reaching more than 9.2 million users (a sharp increase from the 2023 edition), with posts, stories and videos shared on the Internet, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tik Tok, all of which will remain available and will be enriched with new content for fans young and old.

Focus Live – Traguardi hosted 120 nationally renowned scientists, popular science figures, and creators, including Vincenzo Schettini, Telmo Pievani, Dario Bressanini, Teresa Fornaro, Adrian Fartade, Barbara Gallavotti, Tommaso Ghidini, and Massimo Temporelli, who involved the attentive and enthusiastic audience.

“The large participation and turnout at our festival testifies to the fact that there is a great thirst for scientific knowledge in our society”, said Gian Mattia Bazzoli, Director of Focus. “These days we’ve witnessed something extraordinary: science has become a common language, capable of uniting different generations. Celebrating the Achievements of Research and Innovation in all fields, we saw young popular science figures in dialogue with established scientists, resulting in an intergenerational exchange that truly bridged the seemingly distant worlds. This shows that when popular science can be both rigorous and exciting, it succeeds in touching the deepest levels of human curiosity”.

The more than 100 events that made up this seventh edition of the Festival special were all sold out: meetings, talks, workshops, and performances that made participants reflect on the fundamental role of science in shaping our future and illustrate in popular language the achievements of human knowledge. This is all thanks to authoritative voices, innovative formats, a mix of genres, fusions between the arts, music and nature, theatre and biology, sports and technology, embracing the nuances and facets of different languages capable of deep connections and interactions.

Contributing to the excellent result of Focus Live were major players in science and beyond, including: the “Three Musketeers” Adrian Fartade, Elia Bombardelli and Benedetta Colombo, social media popular science figures beloved by the younger generation; Alberto Grandi, food history lecturer and writer; comedian Federico Basso; Giampaolo Ricci, Italian national basketball team member and Doctor of Mathematics, who shared how he managed to combine study with competition at the highest level; Manuel Bortuzzo, bronze medalist in swimming at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, who spoke about his story; and Gian Francesco Giudice, Director of the Department of Theoretical Physics at CERN in Geneva. There was no shortage of Italian Institute of Technology researchers: Adriana Traviglia and Ferdinando Cannella, who brought Ringhio, the first robot archaeologist; Federica Pirrone, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Milan; Marco Martinelli, popular science figure; and Roberto Valbuzzi, chef and TV host. Ample space was given to health, with Arsela Prelaj, researcher at the National Cancer Institute in Milan, along with Eugenio Santoro, researcher at the Mario Negri Institute and neurosurgeon, Pietro Mortini.

Once again this year, Focus Live gave its many visitors the opportunity to travel into the past or immerse themselves in the future through virtual reality, escape rooms and more, experiencing firsthand how science and technology are shaping the world around us. The experiences at the Experience Area were possible thanks to installations curated by amazing partners like Humanitas University, Scuola Sant’Anna, the Italian Institute of Technology, Airc, Joint Research Centre – European Commission, Politecnico, and the University of Milan.

For children and teens, the Kids area, curated by Focus Junior, offered an even richer program of STEM workshops, with a dedicated stage for talks with writers and scientists. From a magic school to games with graphs; from the use of a digital microscope to travelling around the world with a digital globe; from an escape room to travelling like particles of light to a trip on Santa Claus’s sleigh; from the use of artificial intelligence to write a story to creating a comic, robotics and economics and finance workshops.

Among the new features of this edition were Artificial Intelligence Masterclasses taught by Federico Favot and Jacopo Perfetti of Promptdesign.it, with whom Focus started MYIA, online courses on artificial intelligence. The two lecturers then took the topic to the Main Stage in the talk titled The 7 “Superpowers” You Didn’t Know You Had (Thanks to AI).

Also on display at Focus Live was the suit that will be used by astronauts on the Artemis III mission to return to the Moon, made by Prada and Axiom.

Headlining the Friday and Saturday evenings are two gripping shows: Science Shots, an engaging and interactive conversation between Licia Troisi and Virginia Benzi on the exploration of the unexpected. Then Change the Climate, Change the Music, Change Us Too, a two-voice, three-string, four-composer dialogue on climate change that featured journalist and popular science figure Massimo Polidoro and climatologist Elisa Palazzi on stage along with the Milan Symphony Orchestra ensemble. Closing the festival on Sunday was the lectio magistralis What Makes Us Human by evolutionary philosopher, Telmo Pievani.

Partners and sponsors

Focus Live is a Mondadori Media event, created in collaboration with the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci, and numerous partners:

MAIN PARTNER: Eni, ING
PARTNER: Autostrade per l’italia, Bayer, Humanitas University, Jordan Care, Kia, VTech
CONTENT PARTNER: Airc, Deloitte Foundation, Mondadori Education
OFFICIAL RADIO STATION: R101
AREA KIDS powered by Focus Junior

This edition of Focus Live sees the collaboration and support of various institutions, research centres, and universities: Civic Aquarium of Milan, Ars Dimicandi, Asi, Enea, Esa, Bruno Kessler Foundation, Henesis, IIT, Inaf, Joint Research Centre, Civic Museum of Natural History of Milan, Symphony Orchestra of Milan, Shake srl, Civic Planetarium of Milan, Polytechnic University of Milan, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Smonting, Think about Science, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, University of Milan, University of Milan-Bicocca, University of Ferrara and Way experience.

Advertising for Focus Live is curated by Piemme S.p.A, the Mondadori Scienza S.p.A.

Production and administration by the Left&Right event agency. The advertising campaign and the creativity of the installation were conceived by Zampe Diverse with the help of Artificial Intelligence expert Eddy Anselmi, who produced the visuals generated by generative AI.