Claudio Baccarani’s Speech on the Occasion of the Association’s Spring Meeting

In his speech entitled “Supporting the diffusion of historical brands as part of the country’s cultural heritage”, given on the occasion of the Spring Meeting held by the Italian Historic Companies Association, Claudio Baccarani (former Professor of Economics and Business Management at the University of Verona, Professor of Territorial Marketing and administrator of the association’s Scientific-Cultural Observatory) focused on the value of Italian brands with over a hundred years of history. Prof. Baccarani drew attention to the fact that a few years after the discovery of America, the time prominent figures such as Lorenzo the Magnificent, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Pico della Mirandola belong to, the sparks of a few still-existing companies were already lighting up the entrepreneurial scene. “The fact that those companies and the brands representing them are part of the cultural heritage of our country is clear,” said Baccarani, “because the intellectual capital that generated them and guided them over time comes from the territory they were born in, in terms of its landscape, natural physical conformation, settlements, relationships, traditions, knowledge, inclinations, and aspirations for the future, and thanks to the relentless pursuit of beauty, quality and goodness contradistinguishing it”. For Prof. Baccarani, “the hundred year-old brands, with their ability to face the challenge of time in a relentless succession of tradition and innovation, represent real, living, constantly-evolving works of art, set on the path of longevity. They reflect the lifestyle that distinguishes our country, and they are worth protecting for the beauty they represent and their role as precious bridges projected into the future”. With this in mind, a contribution to heritage marketing can come “from the accreditation of the historicity and ethical nature of historical brands through the institutional communication channels of the associative brand, the “UISI” brand in this case, manifesting the company’s choice to be part of a cultural alliance for the progress of the country. The advent of the UISI collective brand represents an alliance aimed at protecting the culture behind these historic companies, and a tool they can use to defend themselves effectively against any possible counterfeiting attempt, when it comes to protect their excellent products”.

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