BBS Alumni Network. ITEXISTS – Unconventional Italy
4 July 2016Where does your experience after BBS has taken you? The BBS Alumni shares with us their projects. That of Martina Teggi and Armando Castaldo, Alumni del Master in Business Management Made in Italy, is the first project we would like to tell you about. ITExists.
The importance of Italian tradition. It is, at the same time, quality production and guarantee mark. Giving visibility and a voice to all those producers that made it famous, especially from the point of view of food and wine production. The heritage called Made in Italy that must be promoted and saved from the intrusiveness of the large industrial productions. Discovering the Italian tradition in the places where it is created, so that also areas less popular with tourists could come to be known. This is ITExists‘ project.
Martina is 30 and she studied oriental languages. Armando is 31 and he holds a degree in philosophy. They met whilst attending the Business Administration Master’s course, focused on Made in Italy, at Bologna Business School. During classes they discovered their characters, during the breaks in-between lectures they got to know each other’s ideas. But it was at dinner time, socially, that the idea of a project on territorial excellences, based on incoming tourism took shape. The fact that Martina and Armando studied abroad has made them aware of what foreigners look for in Italy and what Italy cannot provide to foreign tourists. Then an internship, after the Master’s, during which they understood what they like and don’t like to do. They conducted a test with a project for a small municipality that wished to increase the flow of tourists in their area. The BBS Master’s was a fundamental stage, in order to complete their professional profile and bridge the gaps in disciplines such as marketing and economics. For those who like Martina and Armando have studied the humanities, the Business Administration Master‘s course is the choice that guarantees a wide-ranging preparation, an efficient, across-the-board look on how a business works.
The keyword is “experience”. The events organised by ITExists do not just involve one sense: the attempt is to involve all of them. Top care is devoted to the beauty of the location and the atmosphere that is created. All revolves around an accurate selection of producers. It all starts from the narration of a place, of a context, then, next step, to satisfy the palate with local food and wine products and, whenever it’s possible, to complete the experience with some musical accompaniment. Such care for the client creates a strong and long-lasting relationship. Martina and Armando aren’t interested in busloads of people, dragged around, following an umbrella. They focus on original ideas and a special attention for the aesthetic aspect. ITExists works in a tailor made way. Clients called by their names, because at the basis of the relationship there’s trust, respect, habit. Clients remember their experience and often return. This way of dealing with people caters also for a relevant segment of Italian tourists who are interested in a territory they live in but don’t know.
Martina, Armando and Enrico, one of the entrepreneurs who believed in the project. Armando deals with communication, Martina with the product and Enrico with sales and admin. ITExists though, both out of necessity and vocation, works as a team where everyone does everything, helping each other: from product creation to management of suppliers, from the contacts with the foreign tour operators to text and graphic contents.
The best thing about a start up is the continuous brainstorming. Even choosing a photo becomes an exchange, taking place in a single room where things are exchanged and shared. A bearing structure in which many services are out-sourced. Behind a tour there’s a guide, transportation, the caterer, accommodation, all services for which ITExists acts as a catalyst.
Strengths: care for the product quality, especially food and wine products, focusing in particular on organic ones or slow food tutelage. Weaknesses: the difficulty of the role, constantly mediating between clients and partners. Many efforts go into the establishment of trust, which should never be neglected. Those who buy the package see the producer directly, and producers must always confirm quality expectations.
If some digital tourism platforms are like supermarkets, where price and quality are inversely proportional, ITExists behaves like a local store. Everything rests on communication to convey the message that it’s worthwhile to receive a white-gloved treatment. The Future: creating a sounder, smarter network of interchangeable partnerships able to meet in a modular way ITExists’ creative needs and clients’ expectations. Only with a functioning and well-oiled network it is possible to increase sales. And to let people experience quality tourism.
Read here the other projects published.
Are you a BBS Alumnus? Do you have any project you would like to tell us about? Send us an email to marketing@bbs.unibo.it
