Brandroad

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accident—or at least, that's the usual story. In reality, that serendipity was deliberately sought, by allowing some slides to become freely contaminated and then rigorously analyzing the consequences.Creativity often works this way: it has an element of unpredictability that must be accepted, but it can be governed when it occurs within a process.We discuss this with Erik Kessels, artist, curator, and designer, creative partner at the agency KesselsKramer, who last year entered the Hall of Legends of the Italian Art Directors Club.This episode is produced in partnership with ADCI, the Italian Art Directors Club.Sources:E. Kessels, Failed It! How to turn mistakes into ideas and other advice for successfully screwing up, Phaidon 2016.The story of Alexander Fleming is mainly taken from K. Lalchhandama, Reappraising Fleming’s Snot and Mould, Science Vision, Volume 20, issue 1, pages 29-42, 31 March 2020.Fleming's life in his country home is recounted in Alexander Fleming's Country Home, https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=1043537.Charlan Nemeth's experiments are described in S. Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From. The Natural History of Innovation, Riverhead 2011.Paul Dyson's article on multiplicative factors is Top 10 Drivers of Advertising Profitability, Admap 2014. The most updated data is in The Drivers of Profitability, Thinkbox 2023, https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/thinkbox-research/the-drivers-of-profitability.The analysis of System1 and Effie databases is in A. Tindall, The Creative Dividend. Advertising That Pays Back, 2026. A summary of criticisms of the book's methodological approach is in Daniel Gilbert's article, The "Most Important Advertising Thinking in 10 Years" is actually a Masterclass in How Not to do Marketing Research, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creative-dividend-masterclass-everything-wrong-research-gilbert-bkckc/.The most solid data on this topic are still those from Les Binet and Peter Field, starting with The Long and the Short of It, IPA 2013.

Lavazza is a true Italian cultural icon. It has earned this status primarily thanks to its many product innovations and advertising: from Carosello, through the numerous popular testimonials in Italy, to the recent global campaign «Pleasure Makes Us Human».How do you manage such an iconic brand? Especially during a phase of global expansion, with repositioning toward the premium segment?We discuss this with Carlo Colpo, Chief Marketing Officer of the Lavazza Group.***Sources:- Lavazzagroup.com and fondazionelavazza.com websites- M. Calabresi, S. McCurry, I chicchi che hanno fatto la storia, Fondazione Lavazza 2024- G. Berta, E. Merlo, Lavazza. Una storia industriale dal 1895, Mondadori 2014

Veuve Clicquot Champagne has one of the most fascinating founding stories ever told — truly worthy of a novel — yet the reason it’s most famous is far simpler: its yellow label.Technically, this element is known as a distinctive asset.We discuss this with Jenni Romaniuk, professor and researcher at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, author of numerous studies and books including Building Distinctive Brand Assets, and quite possibly the world’s leading expert in this field.***Sources:- J. Romaniuk, Building Distinctive Brand Assets, Oxford University Press, 2018- J. Romaniuk, Better Brand Health, Oxford University Press, 2023- J. Romaniuk & B. Sharp, How Brands Grow Part 2, Oxford University Press, 2015- Tilar J. Mazzeo, The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, HarperCollins, 2008

Carlo Crocco founded Hublot, and Jean‑Claude Biver turned it into a brand able to stand the test of time. Starting from this story, we explore the role of differentiation in branding together with Mark Ritson – marketing and brand management consultant for some of the world’s biggest brands and founder of the advanced Mini MBA program, as well as one of the most widely read and respected columnists in the marketing world.***More on MiniMBA: minimba.com***Sources:- B. Weinstein, Timing Is Everything, Entrepreneur, 1 luglio 1996- V. Gomelsky, Edgy watchmakers’ material links time and space, New York Times, 11 aprile 2007- T. Hulse, Jean Claude Biver: Sleep is like dying, sleep takes your life away, Wired, 21 maggio 2018- Marketing Deconstructed - Brand Management: Dropping The Stupid Stuff…, Australian Association of National Advertisers, YouTube- J. Trout, S. Rivkin, Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition, Second edition, Wiley 2008- L. Bruni, Il capitale narrativo, Città Nuova 2018

Brandroad is back.For the first time, with international guests and bilingual episodes — in Italian and English.This third edition is a mini-season that explores the present. What does it mean to do branding today? What are the hottest topics?I’ve chosen four.We start with differentiation — once everything, then suddenly nothing. We’ll discuss it with Mark Ritson, marketing and brand management consultant for some of the world’s biggest brands, founder of the Mini MBA, and one of the most respected columnists in the marketing world.Then we move to distinctiveness, probably the single most crucial factor for brand success today. We’ll talk about it with Jenni Romaniuk, professor and researcher at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, author of Building Distinctive Brand Assets, and arguably the world’s leading expert on this topic.Next comes brand management, to see how these ideas work in practice — how a leader runs an iconic brand today. We’ll discuss it with Carlo Colpo, Chief Marketing Officer of the Lavazza Group.Finally, we close with creativity — now backed by more data than ever proving its essential role in brand growth and success. Our guest is Erik Kessels — artist, curator, and designer, creative partner at KesselsKramer, and a recent inductee into the Italian Art Directors Club Hall of Legends.Welcome — this is the third season of Brandroad. And it starts on Friday.

**Durante la registrazione non c'è stato tempo di chiedere a Sergio Spaccavento una delle domande che avevamo concordato: quali sono i tre spot più divertenti di sempre, secondo te? Trovate la risposta su Brandroad Newsletter:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-3-spot-pi%C3%B9-divertenti-di-sempre-matteo-lusiani-bo1wf/Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/matteolusiani/p/i-3-spot-piu-divertenti-di-sempreFino al 2023 il brand Homes.com era praticamente sconosciuto: meno di 4 consumatori su 100 ricordava il suo nome. Il gruppo che lo aveva appena acquisito, però, aveva un piano ambizioso per farlo crescere: un miliardo di investimenti e un ampio uso dell’umorismo. E ha funzionato. Solo grazie alla campagna per il Super Bowl 2024 con i comici Dan Levy e Heidi Gardner, l’awareness è passata dal 4 al 33% e oggi è il secondo brand per traffico e awareness tra i siti per la ricerca di immobili. In questa puntata di Brandroad Sergio Spaccavento, direttore creativo, autore comico ed esperto di umorismo, approfondisce con Matteo Lusiani il ruolo dell’umorismo nella pubblicità e nella crescita dei brand.Bibliografia:I dati sulla awareness e sui visitatori unici sono presi dalle comunicazioni ufficiali di CoStar Group, in particolare: https://www.costargroup.com/press-room/2025/homescom-super-bowl-lix-ads-confidently-proclaim-companys-belief-homescom-bestAltre informazioni sugli spot sono reperibili sul sito dell'agenzia Rpa: https://www.rpa.com/work/project/homes-com-the-best-place-to-buy-sell-homes e https://www.rpa.com/work/project/homes-dot-com-not-saying-were-the-best-but-super-bowlTrovate l'elenco dei libri di Sergio Spaccavento e maggiori informazioni su di lui sul suo sito web sergiospaccavento.it

Nel 1978, Brian Smith si è appena laureato in ragioneria dopo dieci anni di studi ed è certo di una cosa: non farà mai il ragioniere. Invece si trasferirà dall'Australia agli Stati Uniti e fonderà UGG, vendendo solo 28 paia di scarponcini nel primo anno. Dovrà scoprire l'importanza dell'esperienza di marca per avere successo.Oggi l'esperienza è un elemento chiave delle strategie di branding. Uno dei settori più coinvolti è sicuramente il retail, che riesce a coinvolgere quattro (a volte cinque) sensi. Ad esempio, è stato studiato che trasmettere musica non famigliare al pubblico aumenta il tempo di permanenza nel negozio. Ma dove trovare della musica non famigliare di qualità?Ospiti della puntata:- Karin Zaghi, Associate Professor of Practice di Channel and Retail alla SDA Bocconi School of Management- Marco Rinaldo, president & founder di Rehegoo Music- Luca Rinaldo, CEO di Rehegoo Music ItaliaBibliografia- La storia di Brian Smith è tratta dal suo libro The Birth of a Brand, Beyond Words Publishing, 2014, e dalle sue interviste per Inc Magazine.- Le parole di Brian Smith in cui canticchia Time sono tratte dal podcast The Art of Brand. - Karin Zaghi ha scritto diversi libri, tra cui Visual merchandising. L'esperienza multisensoriale nel punto vendita tra esposizione, comunicazione digitale e sostenibilità e In-store brand equity. Comunicare e valorizzare la marca nella distribuzione moderna, entrambi editi da Franco Angeli.