A communications and public relations company was founded in the Modena area twenty-five years ago, specialising in three services: press office, digital communication and events, with the winning idea of focusing on food, wine and hospitality. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Stefano Malagoli, Managing Director of Fruitecom for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
In this story, everything starts with a cherry. One of those beautiful and tasty ones, with that dark red colour that are well known in the Emilia region. Also because here cherries are a world heritage site. Well, everything starts from there. But you know, one cherry leads to another. And so, over time, that cherry attracted many others. Now try to replace the cherry with new ideas, innovative projects, and passionate people. Here is a company that decided to focus on the most precious thing we have: what we eat, which is also linked to where and how we live. We were talking about a cherry and we are in the homeland of cherries. Because Vignola, a town of twenty-five thousand souls in the Modena area, is the open-air set where the idea for the company we are about to tell was born. The main character of this story at the age of sixteen was already busy, engaged in a summer job led by the schools. A secretarial support to help one of the twenty wholesalers animating the fruit and vegetable market of Vignola. But this same main character, since he was a child, was enchanted by seeing his grandfather's orchard with those wonderful cherries, beautiful to look at and good to eat. Well, this is how the intuition that will later prove to be a winner was born. To try to describe that beauty and that goodness. And therefore to best decline people, products, territories, communities. The meeting with one of the main characters of the story of the Vignola cherry was crucial: Rolando Drahorad, entrepreneur in services for the fruit and vegetable sector who, together with his wife Cristina and son Thomas Drahorad, created a consultancy hub that ranged between exports and the media and who inspired and raised awareness of the importance of communication in the agri-food sector with the birth of Fruitecom.
Company profile. This is how Fruitecom took shape twenty-five years ago, a communications and public relations company specialising in three services: press office, digital communication and events, with the winning idea of focusing on the world related to food, wine and hospitality. One cherry leads to another, as we said before. A bit like the people involved in this adventure, which today employs about twenty professionals for a turnover of 2 million euros. And people are at the heart of the story of Fruitecom: the work team and the help first of the Communication Sciences of Unimore and then of Unibo were fundamental in involving the right resources. We are in Spilamberto, again in the Modena area, in that land known throughout the world as that of balsamic vinegar, in the middle of that countryside that characterises the typical landscapes of Emilia-Romagna. But Fruitecom works for companies from all over Italy, in particular from Trentino Alto-Adige, Tuscany, and Sicily. «We specialise in the agri-food sector. The quiet environment surrounded by greenery is ideal for fostering the creativity and concentration necessary for the agency's activities. We were born with a strong vocation for communication abroad from the very first years of activity and over time we have developed experience and skills in both the B2B and B2C fields. We were among the first in Italy to deal with social media in the agri-food sector.» This is what the entrepreneur we anticipated earlier says. Yes, the one who was busy at sixteen years old with summer jobs. His name is Stefano Malagoli. «The business idea came to life during a conversation in a winery in Valsamoggia, where producers expressed frustration at not getting the right remuneration for their products and from a book: “marketing of agricultural products” published in 1983 by Edagricole. It all started with a meeting with Rolando Drahorad, a pioneer of fruit and vegetable marketing. From an article on Vignola cherries, the journalistic collaboration began, which soon after turned into a full-time commitment, evolving into Fruitecom», Malagoli specifies.
From Modena to the whole world. The clients are leading figures in the food & beverage sector: companies, consortia, trade fair organisations, events and demonstrations. Fruitecom works in Italy and abroad: for example for the VOG Consortium of Alto Adige apples, known above all for the Marlene brand, which exports to over 30 countries worldwide. The beginnings were marked by collaborations with excellent multinationals, such as Chiquita and Syngenta and by contaminations with foreign publishing groups. Today, Fruitecom has transformed from a simple press office at the beginning to a consultancy firm capable of supporting companies, by offering an integrated approach to communication, helping them to position themselves and generate awareness, reputation and relationships in the way most compatible with the companies' business objectives. «We cultivate good relationships and help companies to have better performances in the market by working on awareness, reputation and an ecosystem of relationships. What characterises us? Attention to the customer and to the creation of relationships between companies and their audiences with quality, accuracy and respect for the deadlines thanks to the work of a network of professionals», concludes Malagoli. Doing business and creating a community. But doing it better and better, in the name of an active listening to customers and the market. This also is a winning recipe for the best organisations.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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