L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 4 SILVIA GIUDICI NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS T he worldwide C O V I D - 1 9 health emer- gency had a decisive impact on international trade and did not spare Italian exports: in 2020, according to ISTAT data, there was a decrease of 9.7% overall, and of 6.7% towards the US market. However, a few months after the beginning of the pandemic, on June 8 th 2020, the Italian government gave a strong signal by developing its Pact for Export, an innovative and shared strategy to relaunch Made in Italy on international markets and to support of the Italian economy. This agreement provides for an unprecedented financial commitment, equal to 1.4 billion euros (1.7 billion USD), and was signed by Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio, along with 7 other Ministers (the Minister of Economic Development, the Minister of Economy and Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, the Minister of University and Research, the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, the Minister of Technological Innovation and Digitization), as well as other members of the Control Room for internationalization. T h e P a c t p r o m o t e s 6 s t r a t e g i c p i l l a r s (communication, integrated p r o m o t i o n , t r a i n i n g / information, e-commerce, t r a d e f a i r s y s t e m a n d facilitated finance) on which concrete action plans can be built: the first is dedicated to communication, with the aim of creating a national re- branding to develop a new non-stereotyped image of Italy, able to relaunch the Italian economy and Made in Italy in the world. With this interview with Alessandra Rainaldi, ICE director at the Los Angeles office, L'Italo-Americano tried to identify the most important aspects of this e x t r a o r d i n a r y communication campaign – worth 50 million euro (just over 61 million USD) and entrusted by MAECI to the ICE Agency -- dedicated to Made in Italy. The short and long- t e r m g o a l o f t h e campaign is certainly to relaunch the image of Italy and to support the economic sectors most penalized by the COVID- 19 crisis. How will this happen? The campaign focuses on three goals: relaunching the image of Italy with a real "Nation branding" campaign c a p a b l e o f a t t r a c t i n g resources, including human resources, and investments; supporting Italian exports, by relaunching the economic sectors most affected by the COVID-19 emergency and, at t h e s a m e t i m e , r e s t o r i n g momentum to the tourism s e c t o r ; e x p a n d i n g a n d diversifying the reference foreign markets for Italian S M E s , i n a d d i t i o n t o consolidating the presence of o u r e x p o r t s i n m o r e traditional markets. On a practical level, what kind of promotion will be carried out? I t w i l l b e a c a m p a i g n aimed at promoting Made in I t a l y a n d t h e " e x t e n d e d " knowledge of our country, its territory and excellence in all sectors, to enhance the entire Italian production chain and convey a message about I t a l y t h a t i s l e s s stereotyped and more t r u t h f u l . T h e i d e a i s t o c r e a t e a m o t h e r - v a l u e campaign and accompany it w i t h d i f f e r e n t v e r t i c a l campaigns for each sector and country, or for groups of homogeneous countries. The campaign will have a global s p r e a d a n d w i l l i n i t i a l l y i n v o l v e c o u n t r i e s traditionally more sensitive to Made in Italy products, but also those considered most promising. The targets a r e o p i n i o n l e a d e r s , e n t r e p r e n e u r s , y o u n g audiences, specific clusters of high potential consumers. W h i c h s e c t o r s i s i t aimed at? O b v i o u s l y , t h e l e a d i n g sectors of Italian exports, those Italy is best known for in the world, such as agri- f o o d , t o u r i s m , c u l t u r e , t e x t i l e s , m e c h a n i c s , furniture, design. But the campaign will also include s o m e k e y s e c t o r s o f i n n o v a t i o n , t h e g r e e n economy and the circular economy. Is this the first time this kind of campaign has been set up, or has the ICE have experience in this? If so, what kind o f l e s s o n s h a v e y o u Continued to page 6 Designer, high quality furniture is among the most well known examples of the excellence of Made in Italy (Photo: Tixtis/Dreamstime) A Pact for Export: using digital progress to overcome the crisis

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