Great success for the Italian Historic Companies Association’s Summer Meeting 2016, held on Thursday, July 14 in Modena. On that occasion, the great ultra-centenarian brands representing the Made-in-Italy excellence have come together to talk about the values related to the concept of “brand” and product trademark. “His Highness the Brand” was the title of the conference organized by the association (currently encompassing 46 companies with a 100+ years-long presence on the market) and held in the premises of the MEF, the Enzo Ferrari Museum.
The event, organized by the Scientific and Cultural Observatory of the association, meant to offer a focus on the oldest Italian brands that, thanks to their history, are capable of providing their products with a feeling of exclusivity, a unique emotional background and an excellent reputation, the winning characteristic of Made in Italy products.
Franco Torrini, superintendent of the association’s Scientific and Cultural Observatory, opened the conference by recalling in his introductory speech how “ultra-centenarian brands exceed the limits of imagination with their history”, and how “the association need to be the standard-bearer of a collective mark expressing the supremacy, in terms of identity and values, of those brands which stand out among all the other historic brands”.
The first speaker was Giulia Ceriani (Semiotics expert, President of “Baba – research and market scenarios” in Milan, and Advertising and Integrated Communication Strategies Professor at the University of Siena), who addressed the theme “The brand: Between Heritage and Innovation”. The following speaker was Massimo Dutto, Director of Bureau Veritas Communication Italy Spa 1839, a company with 600 employees and 18 offices throughout the country, leader in inspection, verification and certification of compliance in all the commodity market’s sectors.
Giulia Ceriani highlighted the strong relationship between the “brand” and the “trademark” concepts, with the former summarizing the latter. “If the brand has a strong identity, the trademark becomes an even more valuable asset on the territory, and big brands identify themselves with big trademarks, thus creating a complicity feedback between the product’s ethics and aesthetics open to an extensive range of market-placing solutions”.
Massimo Dutto placed the emphasis on the value of the brand as a business asset of paramount importance, promoting values that range from product quality and originality to territorial storytelling, not only from an economic, but also a historical, cultural and social point of view.
July 14’s event in Modena began with a visit to the ultra-centenarian Aceto Balsamico Giuseppe Giusti Grand Deposit, a family business that since 1605 (17 generations) has been producing a vinegar of extraordinary density and sweetness. The members of the association attended the meeting, in addition to representatives from other prestigious Italian brands like Riso Gallo 1856, Villani Salumi 1886 and Aceto del Duca 1891.
