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Archive 2000-01
(Once Upon A Time In Italy)
(INTRO) In Sabato, Domenica e Lunedì, a film directed by Lina Wertmüller (1990), the Priore family in Pozzuoli, Naples, follows tradition and fiction consolidated by holiday meat sauce, marriage life on the ropes, thankless sons, oldsters affected by dementia... Such an housequake is producing collateral effects as bad as the earthquake that is periodically causing damages across Italy. Whose fault is it? Maybe of the Great Mediterranean Mother? Nope! This is simply a family portrait that should be today filmed with success for reality programming to ordinary people (on the air from 3pm everyday).
Now I'm going to review --with the same practice of fiction-- some brands that have contributed to the family unity, the same way the public television has unified the nation of Italy out of different regions and dialects.
SET1Home Sweet Home...
Branded products are just kinky projects if we think of several conniving duets as Sole for detergents, Amadori for chickens, Polli for pickles, Rana for pasta, Panna for mineral water, and Hero for jams...
What a confusion for the Italian consumers traditionally represented by the Signora Maria, who is not a Lady Marmelade or a desperate housewife but simply the average shopper.
Luckily a few cases don't make a rule so most Italian-born brands are pure names appealing the italic genius of marketing. Levissima is such a champion of informative product name defining both supreme lightness and quality of the water --and easy to decline into "altissima" and "purissima" thanks to the Italian tongue (www.levissima.it).
Santa Lucia and Certosa have got something of sacred inspiration, so consumers can trust these dairy products or their umbrella-brand that is a fine family program since advertisers created the effective pay-off "Galbani is meaning trust"... (www.galbani.com).
This primary brand has conceived even offspring as Galbanino and crossbreed as Galbi, while Galbusera doesn't come from the same products race. Be aware!
The Italian food-valley per excellence has produced some territorial affinities to traditional Parmesan cheese and ham, for example Parmareggio and Parmacotto.
A deeper reflection deserves the mother of all Parma-based companies. Parmalat became a top Italian trade mark thanks to the commercialization of UHT milk, a new technique to keep it long, that was a real cow generating billions of cash. But where has that treasure finished as the company is now shy of money? Rumor has it they have been cooking not milk but books... it's a new technique to ream the savers.
Orogel is a good brand name getting right for frozen food, not to be confused to Fresh&Clean standing in a different goods department... (www.orogel.it).
Special care is taken by the family when preparing the holiday times. Maina is producing that rich bread formally known as Panettone and heavily advertised as symbol of domestic tradition every December (www.mainapanettoni.com).
Nestlé has married some traditional brands as Motta/bakery products, Perugina/sweets and Vera/water so the housewife above is always more confused when she is going around for shopping... Conversely the baby doesn't get a rush when he is drinking powdered milk supplied by that giant of the food industry! The fact is that some months ago Nestlé and other baby formula-makers were fined by the national food authority because of the high prices they have imposed to the Italian families. They have really soaked us for years. Thank you ma'am (www.nestle.it).
Meanwhile I have been comforted by Perugina that don't make cartel but Nero, a chocolate bar the kind you take away from the shelf while you are waiting for payment at checkout. Marketers call that impulse buy!
Disney is another international brand entering the life of children as soon as possible through many by-products derived from its world famous characters and cartoons starring on the movies so called "for family". Familiar brands calling for the family are Pampers as diapers, Zucchi as linen --better if trousseau,-- Buitoni as pre-cooked dishes, Sony as hi-fi equipment, and Bostik as stuff sticking on.
Desperately anti-family brands are Müller whose headline sounds like "make love with taste" or Limoncè whose headline says "chi c'è Cè, chi non c'è non Cè" or Durex, headline censored. We could discuss long time about the positive or negative influence onto the family by other trade marks a bit ambiguous in their name or function at the consumer level... Be sufficient here to mention Mastro Lindo, Pompea, Oral-B or Finish. Don't egg them, have mercy!
SET2 Italians Do It Better.
Do you have a sweet tooth? Fine. Home made sweets and cookies run in the Italian family --just like momism. There are thousands of typical sweets easy as pie, but I would suggest a recipe delivering both aesthetic gratification and gastronomic performance. The result will be a soft and homey sweet, two features that are common to TV soaps and much appreciated by the whole family from the kids to the elderly. Everyone should be able to prepare the formula as follows, cheap to boot as branded products aren't necessary for...
Italian Breasts in the Sun: a) mold two half spheres full of candied almond paste; b) in the centre of each place a fresh strawberry; c) pour zabaione on the tray together with areas of whipped cream; d) this can be covered all over with very hot pepper and garnished with chilli peppers.
I guess you have already your mouth fixed for it!
For reading about another group of brands dear to Italians click here...
SET3 To be continued...
(OUTRO) This project started in July 2005 when Centromarca launched a wide advertising campaign to support the consuming of branded products. They asked the Italian consumers to write about the personal relationship with a famous brand. Managed by Saatchi & Saatchi, this campaign brought to my mind the most important brands with regards to the Italian households scenario.