A case history presented at the third international meeting of european Chambers of commerce - digital communication group.

1. “Maestri del Gusto” Digital
Create value for selected agrofood companies in Torino
through digital marketing

2. Some context

3. “Maestri del Gusto” 2017-2018
182 top food companies in the Torino area
(they were 50 in 2002)
Chosen by
26 categories,
3 of which brand new (vinegar, olive oil, vermouth)
35 new “Maestri” in 2017-18
83 “Maestri da sempre” (at least since 5 years)

4. MdG: Consumer perceptions
Data from the survey on the consumer perception - interviews at the stores associated
with the “Maestri del Gusto” brand (report in May 2015) showed a good basic knowledge of
the “Maestri del Gusto” brand (46% of respondents), but led to two critical issues:
● the need for more information on the selection criteria for the membership of the
"Maestri del Gusto" brand
● lack of knowledge of digital channels dedicated to the “Maestri del Gusto” brand
(dedicated website known by 6% of respondents; App - for iOS only - known by 1% of
respondents)

5. MdG: on line presence
As of April 2016, the “Maestri del Gusto” website had more than 3.200 monthly hits - every
user viewed in average 3-4 pages per session. New visitors: 16% of total, monthly.
The project is also present on the corporate website of the Torino Chamber of Commerce
with a link to the site www.maestridelgustotorino.com
From February 2014 to January 2015 the previous edition of the actual guide “Maestri del
Gusto” has been downloaded 314,358 times in PDF.
Maestri del Gusto also are on Twitter (not a personal profile, but hashtag
#maestridelgusto), they have banners on the portal "Golosario" and "Slow Food Planet"
App. Visibility and growing numbers but insufficient to spread on the web... where it is
increasingly important to be present at both "local" and "international" level.

6. Salone del Gusto 2016
● New format of Salone del Gusto with "widespread" presence in the center of Torino
(more than 1 million visitors, with many more "local visitors" than previous editions)
● institutional participation of the Torino Chamber of Commerce (since 8 editions) and
realization of the “Maestri del Gusto Square” (Piazza Valdo Fusi) dedicated to the MdG
(about 40 stands) with a longer opening time than the rest of the venues (12-24)
● collaborations with Jazz Club Torino (musical entertainment, concerts) and brewery
Baladin (craft beers, tastings on the theme, etc.).
● calendar of events and tastings dedicated to the general public and operators in the
agrofood sector (approx. 2.500 participants in over 60 events)
● partnership (existing or potential): Slow Food Piedmont, trade associations, producer
groups and consortiums

7. Salone del Gusto: an opportunity
Great opportunity to:
● Increase the knowledge of the Chamber's activities and of its promotional projects
(MdG and others) among the visitors of the Square stand
● Making presentations and tastings "for many but not for everyone" (investment focus
on who is or might be really interested and interesting for our projects)
● Acquire "contacts" (food lovers, professionals, journalists...) to feed a profiled
database to be used after the big event
● Increase trade flow for the “Maestri del Gusto” companies, with obvious positive
impacts, immediate and measurable ROI
All this could be amplified using digital tools

8. Digital Marketing
Project

9. MdG Digital: the goals
● Leverage on Salone del Gusto to increase information and visibility on the MdG
project taking into account the different "ambitions" of the individual masters (eg
local vs. national / international)
● increase the knowledge of projects and their value (brand reputation)
● inform on initiatives related to projects
● facilitate meetings between the producers and selected merchants
● develop a network of contacts
● structuring and start to feed a profiled contacts database useful for the promotion of
territorial agrofood and tourism projects both "internal" and "third party" (eg:
municipality)
DIGITAL MARKETING as the enabling "tool"

10. Our digital marketing project
Target:
● consumers and “food lovers”
● journalists
● economic operators in agrofood sector
● associations and consumer awareness groups
● food and wine tourists
In short:
Pursue marketing efforts using mobile technology and social channels

11. Our digital marketing project
Tools:
● creating a Facebook page and Instagram channel
● creating dedicated landing page on CCI website and integration with on line existing
channels (eg: Twitter, YouTube etc.)
● planning and monitoring activities on social media (agency + CCI)
● creating a highly relevant basin of users in order to communicate the excellence and
initiatives in the Torino area
● keep alive the interest of the audience

12. Video coverage and events
● creation of informative-promotional contents in order to bring the audience to the
reality of the Maestri del Gusto: who they are, the excellence, the certifications
● working team formed by selected bloggers and videomakers / photographers
● possible narrative format developments such as Storytelling
● Mini online events of approach to the Salone del Gusto (single company events
managed through the Facebook page)
● management of communications for the mini online event organization (eg. "meet
Maestri del Gusto before the Salone del Gusto") to keep alive the interest of the
audience and increase the business opportunities of the companies already in the
months prior to Salone del Gusto

13. Facts and figures

14. “Maestri del gusto” on Facebook
Facebook page
www.facebook.com/maestridelgustotorino
as the main SMM tool
Some numbers at the end of Salone del Gusto:
More than 8.800 like (almost 1.500 in the last week)
30% of which are sharing and talking about the project
26.000 post visualization in the last week
12.000 interactions with the posts in the last week
Engagement rate: 51%
347 post (since the creation of the page in June)
1 sponsored post (link to events on CCI website)

15. “Le mani dei maestri” project
74 Maestri involved on a voluntary
base (out of 182)
37 food blogger / chef recruited to
visit them and write about them
(among them 9 photographers /
videomaker)
58 articles / post
58 photo shootings
25 video
Every post, article, video, photo,
shared and relaunched on Facebook
The property of the text, pictures and video remains
to the bloggers, CCI is licensed to use them

16. CCI official website to.camcom.it
All the tasting events free on reservation
The mini-site www.to.camcom.it/salonegusto2016
● Information about: Salone del Gusto, Piazza dei Maestri and Food Mood
(b2b event)
● Press area (press releases, maps, pictures, multimedia)
● Booking and management of the tasting events at the stand (60 events in
5 days)
● Collateral events (managed by the single companies on Facebook)

17. #maestridelgusto on Twitter
Tweets from CCI: 150 dedicated tweets
in 5 days, 38.000 visualizations
Use of specific hashtags:
#maestridelgusto, #piazzadeimaestri,
#lemanideimaestri (with 335 tweets, 32
tweets, 24 tweets respectively from
other sources)
#maestridelgusto also has 314 post on
Instagram

18. YouTube dedicated playlists
26 interviews on site during Salone del
Gusto
6 (and counting) short documentaries
made by bloggers and independent
videomakers tagged “Le mani dei Maestri”
Every clip is going to be shared on Twitter,
Facebook and other CCI social media

19. Flickr Photo Albums
26 interviews on site during Salone del Gusto
6 (and counting) short documentaries made by
bloggers and independent videomakers tagged
“Le mani dei maestri”
Every clip is shared on Twitter, Facebook and
other CCI social media
5 photo galleries, one per
each day of Salone del
Gusto
More than 600 photos,
downloadable in hi-res
under Creative
Commons license for the
press and for the single
“Maestri del Gusto”
companies to use

20. What about the MdG website?
Analytics for 01/01/2016 - 30/06/2016 (1st semester)
Sessions: 19.349 (approx. 100/day)
Users: 16.320 (approx. 85/day)
Page views: 53.750 (approx. 280/day)
Pages per session: 2,78
Avg session duration: 01:49
Devices: desktop-51,59% mobile-38,74% tablet-9,66%
Traffic sources: SearchEngines-73,9% Direct-15,9% Referral-7,7% Social-2,5%
Analytics for 18/09/2016 - 28/09/2016 (11 giorni)
Sessions: 2.757 (approx. 250/day)
Users: 2.306 (approx. 210/day)
Page views: 10.908 (approx. 992/day)
Pages per session: 3,96
Avg session duration: 02:15
Devices: mobile-46,5% desktop-45,52% tablet-7,98%
Traffic sources: SearchEngines-49,8% Social-18,1% Direct-17,8% Referral-14,3%

21. Next steps for the MdG project
● Development and supply of online communications services with high added value for the
companies involved in promotional projects with possible cost sharing for developing and
maintaining services (greater responsibility and involvement for the Maestri del Gusto companies)
● Keep on producing new content, with the active participation of the MdG companies
● Promote active participation offering social media training for MdG companies (especially for the
less tech-savvy)
● CCI and single MdG companies using the followers basin to promote other agrofood events or
specific moments in time (holidays, Christmas, Easter, new openings, partnerships…)

22. Next steps for CCI digital services
● Re-use of this “digital marketing project” model for other clusters of SME (eg: collective brands,
geographical, industries, ...)
● Further development of online events run by the Chamber of Commerce (eg. the period prior to
participation in trade fairs, to promote local events etc.)
● Possible sharing with other institutions (eg: municipality, associations) of the engaged users
● Development of a methodology to measure ROI (both on short term and medium/long term basis)
● Support the growth of enterprises in the field of online corporate communication (eg. responsive
websites, ability to manage social channels, specific training, etc.)*
*That’s our mission as a CCI, actually!