Emotional marketing: enterprise, art and culture

Perini Journal

The 10th edition of the Master's Degree in "Economics and Management of Communication and Media" organized by the University of Rome, Tor Vergata, was enriched by the addition of the "The Living Seminar", conducted by Maurizio Vanni, expanding the concept of the entire didactic offer, conferring it an even more engrossing and emotional aspect.

The Seminar, open also to those not following the Master's Degree course in Economics and Management of Communication and Media (directed by Prof. Sergio Cherubini and coordinated by Prof. Simonetta Pattuglia), took place in May and met with great success. The focal point of these non-conventional lessons was the concept of "Art & Enterprise: from the partnership to emotional marketing" and Maurizio Vanni, creator and "trainer" of this unusual didactic initiative, turns into a fervent and slightly transgressive professor who, with pathos and empathy, tells his audience what are the choices to be made, the best ideas to follow and the mirages in which to believe in order to make sure that a project - even a very ambitious one - becomes a successful reality.

Topics of the Seminar were innovative companies, modern enterprises that invest in and use culture as a media; targets and objectives, consumers, or - in these specific cases - who is the particular "customer" of the "cultural project" and the best approach to have towards him in order to arouse his interest, his curiosity, and to completely conquering him. Culture can be turned into media, investment, into a marketing instrument. Maurizio Vanni explains to the audience what we mean today by the very widely used - let's say even hackneyed - term "marketing" in the world of business. An almost exact science that applied to culture and to the arts, invites all students to think up and invent something that might one day become reality. We are hence speaking about emotions, about the heart, about secrets revealed, about giving oxygen and a new soul to the enterprise which, through culture, can be reborn into a new dimension and even be cured of certain ailments. The theoretical part involves the analysis and diagnosis of the present context, of today's private enterprises; short-, medium- and long-term objectives are established, current reference segments are identified as well as those to be acquired and, of course, the numbers, the money and the budget available are discussed. Sure, because even Art must consider a world apparently located on its opposite pole: the universe of numbers typical of Economics and core business of every self-respecting activity.

In a consumption model that is increasingly more uncertain and diversified, where traditional reference models are no longer valid, the enterprise must still face increasing competition, and the knowledge of alternative disciplines to mere economics - such as communication, creativity, culture, art - allow not only to have another point of view but also yield different possible actions and results.

So, culture seen as an alternative to cost-cutting: a veritable investment instrument with strong potential that leads the entrepreneur to believe in a medium/long-term project. The traditional marketing project turns into a cultural project where the emotional lever guides the concept and builds it up by placing the service or the product offered by the company at the core and structuring the entire work plan around it, turning it into the focus center, the main theme in the comparison between contemporary arts or, for example, the foundational topic in a visual arts event.A context is created, an arrangement and a format, maybe an itinerant one that - despite its contents - is capable of calling the media's attention and hence to engross, physically, psychologically and emotionally, the most disparate target segments.The interesting results, the objectives that are normally guaranteed, are not figures, sales or contracts, but rather number of persons, new contacts, acquaintances and alliances, "rumors", a transversal and non-conventional communication of the brand, an exponential increase in visibility and a real involvement by audiences - old and new, acquired or potential. But The Living Seminar is not just evanescent words or ideas. It is also plenty of reality and awareness of the convenience of this type of activity in the daily working world. That's why after the traditional (so to speak!) theoretical lessons, more practical interventions alternate with briefings and assignments of projects to all attendees. In the second part of the Seminar, the different projects created are analyzed and discussed to choose the most eligible to become implemented for internship and employment programs.

Each of the 4 meetings comprising the Seminar ended with the intervention of a Guest Star who turned Maurizio's important words into exciting concrete examples. His voice is chorused with important personages from the entrepreneurial world who have made the concept of Art & Enterprise their strong point: Beniamino Quintieri (Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Roma, Tor Vergata and President of the Italian Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010), Gianfilippo Napolitano (President of Movie & Arts), Elisa Fulco (Curator of the Fondazione Borsalino), Riccardo Costagliola (President of the Fondazione-Museo Piaggio), Michel Boucquillon (Designer for Antonio Lupi and Chateaux d'Ax), Omar Galliani (Visual Artist for Les Copains) and Giuseppe Basso (General Manager at Cinecittà Studios).

"Art & Enterprise. From the cultural project to emotional Marketing" and "The Living Seminar - Behind the mirror", are the titles and the slogans that accompany these lessons which escape traditional university formats and that in a few words explain how the contents illustrated in the course of these lessons - identified, discovered and re-discovered in the creative and management experiences of experts chosen on a national and international level - can feed the minds of these students. Perini Journal, Maurizio's optimal partner, tested and proven in the course of some Events (see PJL ONE Night 2011), was quoted as key testimonial in the application of emotional marketing thanks to its business approach, its communication model and of course his sensitivity for art and culture to the audience. All these factors translate into winning results in order to maintain the company in a leadership position in the worldwide tissue market scenario through unusual and extremely gratifying activities not only for those who develop them, but also for those who - like the Management - look only at the numbers! Real experiences where emotion is the protagonist, told in order to leave a mark and create different prospects, alternative to traditional schemes. •

ART & ENTERPRISE

"Considering a company as an independent self-reference microcosm that must interface with many people in order to perpetuate its existence and make a difference in society, is the same as considering a museum or a cultural project at the same level as an enterprise managed through the various Master Plans, Marketing-Mix Plans, Business Plans, Media Plans, etc. Stating for certain that a good cultural project can turn into a marketing lever for any company, as long as it is designed around its main product or service, why shouldn't we give continuity to the "Art & Enterprise" idea and so react to the economic crisis?

Before choosing the type of artistic project to propose to the entrepreneur or to the company's Communications/Marketing Director, we should take a look at its short-, medium- and long-term targets, the reference audience segments (acquired customers, customers still to be acquired and loyalty building) and of the type of communication and promotion proposed in order to attain the mission. The analysis, segmentation and knowledge of the audiences are foundational in order to understand which type of format to propose. Receiving news on the habits of all the persons that we would like to involve and to bring into the company through the cultural project is indispensable. Every form of marketing is designed to create or satisfy the audience's demand: and this is impossible to achieve unless we know its habits and tastes. New marketing approaches like the emotional, multi-sensorial or relational one, create cultural products - and hence the offer - based directly on the demand by potential customers, who must be identified, intercepted and made loyal, without having to recur to general and improbable forms of conviction any more. With design based on knowledge of the audience, added to the benefits deriving from new forms of marketing, the possibilities of conquering new audiences and making them loyal increases substantially. If the cultural project does not meet the tastes of the customers-users, we risk failure, no matter how great the importance of the event proposed is.

Trade studies have revealed a constant growth in increasingly more interested, motivated audiences, attracted by dynamic and original cultural forms, by emotional participation, by the possibility of socializing and having fun in open, interactive contexts. The customer is invited to get involved and, if he feels good about it, he will never forget the product and the brand that have actively accompanied him along his sensorial experience, even after the end of the event.

Conjuring up a communication focused on each audience segment is fundamental, and this must be connected to a personalized emotional marketing project in order to attain the objectives of "marginal utility" - an essential condition for its existence. One of the main missions of the cultural project designed together with the company is to modify any negative opinions, trying to seduce the customer-user through something unexpected and emotionally engrossing. The aim is to surprise him, make him feel unique, important and active; to entertain him, have him meet new people in a welcoming and stimulating atmosphere: this is how we must welcome our customers-users.

The main target of emotional marketing applied to the concept of Art and Enterprise is to educate the audience's tastes, supplying greater knowledge and awareness so as to have a personality capable of selecting and soliciting behavioral and sensorial answers in regards to our proposal and, indirectly, in regards to the company. In emotional marketing, the customer-user is seen as a person to get to know better and better and to make sure that he is made to feel good. To do this, it may be useful to create special atmospheres, a focused welcome and absorbing, engrossing projects that can involve every segment in multi-sensorial fashion. For a great many people, the cultural project designed for a company falls within the market of free time: just one more reason for it to be associated with emotional pleasure and relaxation.

Communication connected to emotions addresses the right hemisphere of the brain and is built directly on the product (for example, in the PJL ONE Night everything rotated around the roll of toilet paper): a discreet, non-invasive communication that can interpret our guests' deep desires. What we want to transmit is not the product per se, but rather a series of values by activating interaction between the five senses. We must make sure that everyone is capable of improving the rapport with one's own sensorial system, re-acquiring the pleasure of emotions and the courage to live out one's passions.

Through the Art & Enterprise relationship, a company enhances its national and international reputation, disseminates its values that go beyond the product, attracts attention and obtains consensus not just from its faithful customers but also from new audience segments and can exploit a substantial publicity return that are over and above any form of advert spread. Today, communication and marketing through a cultural project is no longer just an opportunity, but the actual answer."

Maurizio Vanni