[:it]Montenegro Group: lockdown, projects, solidarity. Marketing Manager Alessandro Soleschi tells us about it[:]
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Of CORRADO LARONGA
Alessandro Soleschi, Marketing Manager of the Spirits Division of Gruppo Montenegro, tells how the company reacted to the Coronavirus crisis and how it intends to support its customers in reopening
Alessandro, what have you been busy with during this lockdown period?
We have certainly explored all the possibilities of the web, expanding the e-commerce area and taking advantage of the e-masterclasses to try to stay as close as possible to the bartenders, our brand ambassadors and, obviously, to all our customers. We organized several events aimed at industry professionals and held by our master herbalist, while our global brand ambassador interviewed several opinion leaders and bartenders live on social media. Every Friday new content comes out on Amaro Montenegro's Instagram channel. The feedback was very positive, exceeding our expectations.
Solidarity initiatives have been particularly numerous in this period. Have you organized any?
- Certainly. We made an important donation to the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo and then to the Emilia Romagna Civil Protection. We also joined the Solidalitaly project, an initiative by Italia del Gusto thanks to which we were able to provide a series of products intended for citizens in difficulty. Again in favor of less wealthy families, we supported the municipality of Zola Predosa in the purchase of shopping vouchers and finally, as Montenegro Americas, we launched the #MonteForGood social campaign in the United States which aimed to raise funds to support American bartenders, among those most affected by the crisis.
And what can you tell us about the Amaro Montenegro Human Spirits Network campaign?
It was a CSR campaign with the aim of creating a large internet network available to everyone. To do this we collaborated with Salvatore Aranzulla, who as a tutor explained to all Italians how to configure their wi-fi network to make it open, while Frank Matano conveyed the message with his usual playful and engaging streak. The results were very positive for this activity too!
With the outbreak of the crisis, what happened internally to the company?
There was immediately a strong focus on safeguarding people's health by ensuring that the health and hygiene standards promoted by the government were respected in all our offices and production plants. We managed to keep all our offices operational, making everyone who could work smart and making the environments safe for those who continued to work in the company. All employees benefited from their full salary and the productive workers were also given extra for the work done, it was a necessary gesture.
In your opinion, what will change on a commercial level after this crisis?
I think less than expected. People will always have the desire to have fun and have fun. I certainly see greater attention to hygiene and health standards and the consolidation of various trends already seen in the pre-Covid period such as the differentiation between the offer of cocktail bars and restaurants, for example, to try to be increasingly unique and original. The reduction of the spaces available to customers will also lead to a greater importance of table service, of the relationship with the bartender and, I believe, to a simplification of the bottle racks, with fewer products in order to allow a targeted and faster choice. And I'm also thinking of a greater diffusion of low and no alcohol.
What do you think about cocktail delivery?
Well it's a growing phenomenon both on large platforms and in cocktail bars. People have shown that they want to drink well even in quarantine, and to do so they have often turned to their favorite bar. I certainly don't think that delivery will be able to replace the pleasure of a cocktail sitting comfortably at a bar table, after all we are Italian and we want to socialize, but it could be an interesting new market niche.
How do you intend to support your customers during this reopening period?
We have activated promotions, worked on credit and reduced the minimum order to accommodate our customers hit hard by this crisis.
In your opinion, will the bartender be one of the key figures in the recovery?
Yes, because I believe that people missed this reassuring figure a lot. The human component has been missing, the chat, the bond created with your trusted bartender who knows perfectly what you want to drink after a long day and is also there to listen to you from the other side of the counter. I believe that the bond between customers and barmen will be further strengthened, and this will be one of the beautiful things inherited from a period to forget.
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