A communication agency set up in Bologna forty years ago rewrote the rules of the game when it comes to services for companies and public bodies. Listening is at the base, with a unique direction to define an integrated communication strategy thanks to the work of fifty professionals - a skilled, empathic and visionary human capital. For FARE INSIEME Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Alberto Tivoli, founder and CEO of Life
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
This business story begins with a passion for communications that become
stronger by studying. In order to become true, a dream needs to be cultivated,
protected and helped to grow in order to become something real. The story we
are about to tell you involves a young student in love with the media,
marketing and relationship values. In the beginning, the office was in his
parents’ basement: a desk, a phone and a bulky grey computer. One of the first
ones connected to the world and, above all, with his dreams. Life was set up
forty years ago and has become a fully-Italian integrated and independent
communication agency. Today, the agency boasts over fifty professionals working
in the various sectors of communication. It is one of the longest-standing and
historic Italian agencies: Life has always helped companies define a winning
strategy, activating and managing all communication levers and using the most
important planning and monitoring tools. It manages leading national and
international private and public clients including Chef Express, Trentingrana,
Opera La Pera, Sojasun, Tecnoplast, Mec3 as well as public entities such as
Regione Sardegna and Visit Veneto. Everything started with a bet. That is how
Alberto Tivoli founded his startup in 1984. He was 19 at the time, and still
studying at University. But, as we mentioned before, dreams sometimes have a
way of succeeding in becoming true. They must be listened to. “Already at the
time, I was interested in communication and I had the intuition that
communication would increasingly become a fundamental element for businesses. I
immediately believed in the importance of data - also considering that the
Internet was in its infancy - and I started investing in direct marketing with
an approach that started being successful right away as it is a very concrete
discipline and technique to verify the effectiveness of communication and
assess the results necessary to measure the return on an investment. This is
how I put together a passionate specialized team. This is the strength of my
company,” says Tivoli.
The
history. Everything started
in Bologna, yet looking out to the whole world. Because communication breaks
down borders. It is an ongoing evolution with which we need to tackle the
challenges we are faced with day after day. The payoff chosen to accompany the
evolution of the company is Independent
Thinking, in order to stress the importance and uniqueness of free thinking
as key to create value for the brands that choose Life as a partner. What
matters for this entrepreneur are experience, dynamism, solidity, curiosity and
passion - all elements that help the integrated agency stand out, together with
the propensity towards innovation and the digital world, which form an
essential and propulsive power behind the agency. The choice of the logo, which
sees the brand associated with a ping pong bat, is also an unusual choice in
the communication world. “The bat represents a tool that has two clearly
distinguishable yet united faces, just like the two identities that coexist in
Life: the strategic and creative one as well as the digital and technological
one. Ping pong is a discipline that is in line with Life’s day-to-day work:
preparation and technique are fundamental, with immediate actions and reactions
at the right time and with the right movement being just as important. Finally,
in ping pong, the player, bat and ball work together, almost merging to become
the same thing. This is how you score a point, just like Life works combining
ideas, means and strategies to reach all the objectives,” stresses Tivoli.
People and projects. Being born in the
past, yet looking out towards the future from the start. Just like tackling the
organizational challenges of flexible work. Everyone works from home at Life.
For this vision too, the company attracts and holds talent from all over Italy,
thanks also to its agile organizational model and concrete investment in
training. Among Life's objectives, there is first of all that of developing
services that have a social, environmental and economic impact capable of
contributing to a more sustainable future in a concrete and tangible manner.
Through Life Health, the company supports its clients on scientific projects
and communication activities in the health and well-being sector. “We recently
improved our skills to include the Life Health department and support
businesses with their scientific projects and communication activities when it
comes to health and well-being - both human and animal - integrating the strategic
approach with specific vertical content that leans on the concept of well-being
as a crucial asset for communication,” concludes Tivoli. A gaze turned
towards the future, as we mentioned earlier. Because, after all, change is part
of this agency’s DNA. Changing means recognizing, discovering and adopting new
skills, methods, tools and technologies. People at Life are convinced of one
thing: successful businesses in the future will be those capable of
experimenting swiftly not only with products and services, but also with new
business models, products and strategies. The future is made up of courage.
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