Last Saturday ended the first edition of MARKETERs Festival in Treviso, where we at Mashable Social Media Day Italy participated as Media Partner. It was a day full of meetings, with an excellent mix of education and professional networking, speeches and workshops on the most current and relevant digital topics for those working in the marketing and business world.
From the opening speech by Anthony Smith, Executive Business Coach for Executives and Managers, with experience as Sales Director Nike Italy and Managing Director Levi Strauss Italy, to the closing speech by Sebastiano Zanolli, Manager and Motivational Writer, passing through two parallel training paths: digital transformation and digital marketing.
In the 4 classrooms made available by the Villa Fiorita convention center, more than 12 speakers took turns from the caliber of Fabrizio Renzi of IBM Italy to Accenture manager Francesco Magagnino, from Monica Gagliardi of OVS - who spoke to us about the importance in creating a connection between brand and community - to Veronica Civiero of L'Oréal Luxe.
Amidst #InboundMktg tweets, #MF16 and tags to no end, our special #SMDAYIT correspondent and co-organizer Isabella Cultrera, also had the honor of interviewing one of the industry's most influential speakers-Simona Portigliotti-former Senior Brand Manager at Nintendo and current Senior Marketing Manager at Gamestop. -
"My passion for retail led me to say goodbye, after more than 12 years, to a big company like Nintendo Italia and move to Gamestop, with which we are already implementing several interesting strategies: the right mix between traditional and digital retail, as well as the marriage between videogames and merchandising, will be our number one challenge for 2017."
But for a great woman like Simona, challenges have always been the order of the day: after all, in a career spanning more than 20 years, she has seen plenty of change in the digital sphere, but the thing that excites her most "is the idea that no one can really know where digital is going to go, and what the future holds. There is a long way to go, and it amuses me that no one knows for sure what will become of it."
His talk at the MARKETERs Festival focused on the digital aspect of brand management, where he talked about the Pokémon case.
During our interview he confesses that: "the success of PokémonGo was totally unexpected, and not studied by design as many people think; we then leveraged the digital strategy to bring other results: to increase sales of traditional games."
To the audience he explains, "How to fish out lapsed gamers? All it takes is simple retargeting, to re-affix old consumers."
The slogan of this first edition of the festival signed Marketer's Academy was Never Stop Learning, and when asked "What is the most beautiful aspect of your work, and the one you like the least?"
Simona replied, laughing, "I copy the slogan of the event. 'You never stop learning'. The fact that you never stop learning is definitely something I love. The downside? You never stop."
Here is the full interview with Simona Portigliotti:
1. Simona, what exactly do you deal with within Nintendo Italy?
I would say to put the question in the past tense, since I officially joined Gamestop exactly on November 2. So within Nintendo Italy I was Senior Brand Manager and I was in charge of all the marketing aspect of handheld consoles, from licesing to partnerships, for Italy. It was 12 years and 3 months full of satisfaction, where my team and I always tried to turn a "foreign" product into an "Italian" one. The development of the product takes place in Japan so the finished product comes to us, and the challenge of the marketing department is to be able to transform the product from international to domestic, also activating partnerships locally and organizing local events.
2. What motivated you to pursue this career?
I admit that I am not a gamer, and I certainly was not in my early days. I can say that everything started from a "gut" passion. Mine has been a spontaneous path, in which every step and every choice has led me to where I am today, sometimes even randomly. Even joining Gamestop was accidental: Gamestop is Nintendo's #1 customer and together we started to think about different strategies, as it is evolving a lot towards digital, and from there I decided to start this new adventure with a "US" company, saying goodbye to "Japan."
3. What evolutions, thanks to digital, have you seen develop in your daily work?
Certainly there used to be a greater focus on film and radio (marketing-wise) as well, while over the years there has been more emphasis on TV and digital. In addition, digital has also influenced the speed with which retail has changed, and I am curious that no one knows what the future holds in this area. Times change, but that doesn't have to be seen as a threat; it is the new experiences that make us grow, and move forward.
4. Are there aspects of your work that you love most or least? What are the negative and positive aspects that you would like to tell us about?
Using the slogan of the Festival, I can tell you "Never Stop Learning." Because it's really true -- you never stop learning! One must always be curious, that is my philosophy of life. A negative aspect, on the other hand, is the fact that you never stop, "you never stop." Everything is always very hectic.
5. To companies entering digital today, what advice would you like to give? What would you say to those people who to this day do not believe in the power of digital?
Not believing in digital is definitely a mistake. It doesn't have to replace traditional sales channels, each company has to make its own choices based on its product and what characterizes it, so I'm certainly not saying you have to rely on digital 100 percent, quite the contrary. It's not necessarily the right solution-or the only one. I certainly feel like saying that digital can help with promotion and visibility, so being totally against it is not ideal. I am in favor of all marketing activities: online and offline, as long as they are undertaken according to a concrete and focused strategy.
6. Why did you decide to participate as a speaker at the MARKETERs Festival, and why did you choose the topic of brand management related to the digital sphere, bringing "Pokémon" as a case study?
I really enjoy attending events like this, networking, and meeting new recruits in digital and marketing. Talking about PokémonGo, honestly, was explicitly requested of me. I would have gladly talked about something else ... however, I understand the curiosity and desire to know the background of this phenomenon, which - I admit - has been an unexpected success. Some people think it has been studied at the table...maybe! What I will talk about, however, is how we were able to leverage the digital strategy to bring other results: to increase sales of traditional games.
7. As of November 2, you joined the GameStop team in the role of Senior Marketing Manager. What do you expect from this new adventure?
I've always loved retail, so it's kind of like going back to the past. It's a way to get directly to the consumer, to the end user, through the store...something I really like. To date in my opinion there is little verve in retail, and we at Gamestop want to launch a new challenge: in Rome and Udine we have already opened two stores, Zing, in which we only sell merchandising, no videogames, and I will have to take care of the whole marketing aspect, bringing my digital experience and adapting it to the traditional. A challenge? Definitely.