NeroGiardini sponsors MotoGP and sets about conquering the European market with a totally innovative service
Enrico Bracalente, sole director and owner of B.A.G. S.p.A., has decided to launch a new project to internationalize the company-owned fashion and footwear brand NeroGiardini. The goal set by the entrepreneur is to make NeroGiardini, the leading brand in the Italian market with its men’s and women’s footwear, a reference point also for the European markets. In this framework of brand internationalization, B.A.G. S.p.A. has entered into an important agreement with Dorna Sports, the organizer of the MotoGP World Championship, becoming title sponsor of the Austrian Grand Prix, scheduled for the 14th August. It will also sponsor the four Spanish Grand Prix - Jerez, Barcelona, Aragon and Valencia - and the two Italian Grand Prix - Misano and Mugello. "The agreement with the MotoGP World Championship will give us tremendous visibility and will bring our brand to the world" explains Enrico Bracalente. "Moreover I would like to emphasize that NeroGiardini is the first footwear brand to be a title sponsor of a Grand Prix." This significant marketing investment is only the first step in the internationalization strategy. In fact, the entrepreneur wants to export to Europe the same model adopted in the domestic market, a model based on the excellent quality of its Made in Italy products and on efficient customer service. The decision not to allow the sale of NeroGiardini products online through e-commerce platforms finds its explanation in this context. "A choice", underlines Enrico Bracalente, "that protects our retailers primarily. In fact, with our new method, which actually replaces e-commerce, in 3-4 days we are able to deliver reorders, even of two pairs, to retailers throughout Europe. The excellence of our service consists in having the current season’s best-selling styles always available." Made in the late 1990s, the decision to maintain a Made in Italy production is one of the key factors in the effectiveness of this service, which is being developed further. A second logistics platform is being designed, and it will allow the retailer to enter into the company's warehouse virtually, in order to view the real-time availability of the best-selling products and then decide to reorder. Given such a short timeframe for reorders, this innovative service is an additional protection for the end consumer who has the chance to try on the shoes in store and choose whether to purchase them or not. Exclusively for Corriere della Sera, one of the major Italian newspapers, the German Institute for Quality and Finance has surveyed 388 companies from 70 different sectors and has ranked NeroGiardini, for the second year running, as the best Italian brand in the footwear industry for the quality of services offered to end consumers.
Rai3 – “Officina Italia”: the Vocational Training Centre "Artigianelli" in Fermo and the commitment of NeroGiardini
The educational programme “Officina Italia, broadcast by Rai3, spoke about the Vocational Training Centre “Artigianelli” in Fermo and the real commitment of NeroGiardini. The company, indeed, supplies a real vocational training, teaching young people a useful trade for their integration into the labour market. In 2010 Enrico Bracalente, sole director of NeroGiardini, entered the school and took over what was started by Don Ernesto Ricci in 1946: this is how a footwear operator course started. All young people who attended the course were employed as proof of the commitment taken and kept by NeroGiardini.
Enrico Bracalente interviewed by D Repubblica: what the Italian style is
On the occasion of the press conference which made official the agreement between NeroGiardini and FIM MotoGP World Championship as title sponsor of the Austrian GP, D Repubblica interviewed the Sole Administrator Enrico Bracalente, who explained what manufacturing 100% Made In Italy products means and what the Italian style is. NeroGiardini is the new title sponsor of the Austrian GP and will be present at all the Spanish and Italian rounds of the Grand Prix to reinforce its partnership with MotoGP.
NEROGIARDINI JOINS MOTOGP: TITLE SPONSOR OF THE AUSTRIAN GP AND PRESENCE IN 6 OTHER GPs (SPAIN AND ITALY)
NeroGiardini, the made-in-Italy fashion brand, is set to take part in the FIM MotoGP World Championship as title sponsor of the Austrian GP, give the name NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich. The last Grand Prix having been hosted in 1997, Austria and the FIM Moto GP World Championship now celebrate a return to the Red Bull Ring-Spielberg circuit. None of the present riders on the current GP grid have ever won on the Austrian circuit; this will be a new, exciting challenge for all contenders in each of the three classes.
An extraordinary circuit finds a new sponsor, NeroGiardini, the forward-looking footwear brand, confirming the continual evolution of the Moto GP. Founded in 1975, the company has a steadfast Italian heart, as demonstrated by the Italian national flag emblazoned on all its products. NeroGiardini’s goal is to protect the culture of Italian shoemaking, and the company produces over 3.5 million pairs of shoes every year.
As well as sponsoring the Austrian GP, NeroGiardini will be present at all the Spanish and Italian rounds of the Grand Prix to reinforce its partnership with MotoGP. With 50 single-brand shops and collections sold in over 100 shop-in-shops as well as 2,500 multibrand sales outlets, NeroGiardini targets international fans of MotoGP with a decisive move towards globalisation.
The agreement was made official this morning in Milan, at the Foreign Press office, in the presence of Enrico Bracalente, sole administrator of B.A.G. Spa, owner of the NeroGiardini brand, and Pau Serracanta, Managing Director of communications at Dorna Sports, the organisation that coordinates and manages the MotoGP. Guests included Franco Uncini, the former MotorGP World champion and current head of safety at the MotoGP circuits.
Enrico Bracalente, Sole Administrator and Owner of NeroGiardini said: “We are putting various strategies into practice to increase globalisation of the NeroGiardini brand. This agreement with MotoGP will bring us tremendous visibility and will take our brand out into the world. Our sponsorship of 6 Grand Prix Championship rounds, the four in Spain and the two in Italy, and title sponsorship of the Austrian GP on 14 August will definitely guarantee excellent returns on our image to the benefit of a cross section of the public of all ages. I have been a motorcycle enthusiast ever since I was a boy, so the satisfaction of this agreement is twofold”.
Pau Serracanta, Commercial Area Managing Director at Dorna Sports commented: “It’s fantastic to see a fashion brand as famous as NeroGiardini taking part in MotoGP as a sponsor. The fame and growth of MotoGP continues to increase and the new partnership with NeroGiardini is proof of this, not just through the title sponsorship of the NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, which will take place at the Red Bull Ring-Spielberg, but also with their advertising presence at the GPs in Italy and Spain during the 2016 season. We are proud to have them aboard for this new adventure in Austria, mixing a classic circuit with a modern brand”.
FRANCESCO ALBERONI MEETS ENRICO BRACALENTE AT THEMICAM
Professor Francesco Alberoni attended theMicam for the first time ever and selected the NeroGiardini brand to elaborate his research into Italian fashion. An honoured visit at the opening of the International Shoe Fair. The sociologist and journalist, one of the most well-known and popular living Italian writers, was accompanied by his son Giulio at the NeroGiardini stand. Here, a two-hour meeting was held with business owner Enrico Bracalente, his son Alessandro and daughter Gloria plus members of the brand’s PR staff. "This is the first time I’ve been to theMicam”, declared Alberoni, “I want to understand where the inspiration comes from, what concepts are involved in the creation of a model and what the future trends will be. I decided to come and see Bracalente because he embodies the distinctive characteristics of the first generation entrepreneur who has had considerable success and who today, after 40 years of being in business, still manages to possess the enthusiasm, plans and foresight to compete on international markets." Enrico Bracalente thanked professor Alberoni for his visit. "The attentions of a world-famous sociologist spur us on to go ahead with our goal of growing and creating wellbeing in the Marche shoemaking district.
NeroGiardini in La Nazione: a discount policy with quality and professionalism
A report published by the daily newspaper La Nazione after the sales, has commended the integrity and professionalism of NeroGiardini’s own brand stores and retailers. The article, written by journalist Elettra Gullè, looked at various businesses in the fashion sector in Florence. The favourable appraisal read: “For shops of a certain level such as those of NeroGiardini, the rightful discounts are 20%”. Bag Spa-NeroGiardini has always looked after its customers and consumers with integrity, services and products that are made in Italy.
Enrico Bracalente In the pages of the weekly newspaper supplement El País Semanal
In the pages of the weekly newspaper supplement El País Semanal, Enrico Bracalente tells of the NeroGiardini production model and of his intention to develop its presence outside Italy, where the brand is known and is the industry leader. The translation is as follows:
NeroGiardini – king of Italian footwear
At the helm of this business enterprise is Enrico Bracalente, a self-made man who promotes the “made in Italy” concept and his production model.
by VIRGINIA COLLERA
photo FEDE SERRA
The past, present and future of the NeroGiardini business enterprise all follow on from one another at Monte San Pietrangeli, a small town located in the hills. Since the post war period the Marche region has developed into the hub of the footwear industry in Italy, and Enrico Bracalente understood straight away that his future would not lie in the fields where his parents worked with such dedication. At the age of fifteen he decided not to continue with his studies to become a cutter and by the time he was 18 years old, by working overtime, he had already saved 3 million lire in the old currency, which he invested in the machinery needed to open, with his brother, a modest workshop in the cellar of the town church. The present NeroGiardini headquarters is located just a few minutes by car from the parish church of Ss. Lorenzo e Biagio – where it all started. The previous site, having become too small, is now an Outlet. “Forty years on we are the leading mid-range footwear brand on the Italian market and a well-known company at European level” sums up 58-year-old Bracalente. Business prospered, new partners joined the company, more and more brands requested the footwear manufactured. “But the first period of difficulty arrived, at the end of the eighties” remembers Bracalente. “An American group that we worked for stopped paying us, without giving any reason. Its orders accounted for20% of our turnover. We were on the brink of bankruptcy”. Self-taught, without any chance of obtaining credit from the banks and no work, Bracalente then took one of the most important decisions in his long entrepreneurial career. “I made my partners a proposal: launch ourselves on the market under our own brand and create a commercial structure to gradually move away from customers who sold our footwear under their own brands”. Season after season, NeroGiardini was finding its way onto the Italian market. “Everything was going smoothly, and so I asked the other two partners to invest in marketing to create a leading brand, to compete in a globalised market and to lead the final consumer into the sales outlet. But no agreement was forthcoming: the partners saw it as a cost rather than an investment”. He was going against the tide and time has proven him right. “Before, there were 4000 manufacturers in the Marche, now only half of these have survived”. The biggest problem in the industry is that the need to invest in marketing has not been understood. In May 1998, Bracalente acquired all the shares of Batam, and since then has had total control of NeroGiardini. The 20 shoe factories throughout the province that work exclusively for the brand produce 3.5 million pairs of women’s, men’s and kid’s shoes, 120,000 belts and 50,000 bags. A new addition for 2008 was the launch of a clothing range, now managed by his son Alessandro. His aim, he emphasises, has always been simple: to buy raw materials, transform them into products and sell them to create employment, real economy, wealth and wellbeing for the country as a whole. This Italian entrepreneur and self-made-man is often quoted in interviews as saying - in conversation with business school students that study the NeroGiardini method – that it is the entrepreneur’s ethical duty to look after the territory where he works. In the nineties, when all the talk was about relocation and China was put forward as the factory of the world, Bracalente took the decision not to move from his native region. “In Italy we are highly specialised, we have veteran workers of great worth and I didn’t want to help to destroy this value that has contributed towards the prosperity of the area. While everyone else decided to relocate, I preferred to reorganise”. An industrial zone near the company headquarters is where the jewels of NeroGiardini can be found: a modern logistic hub of 12,000 square metres. “Inditex is an example for us. It offers a real time service and we, in our own operations, do the same. If an item is successful we can produce it continuously and deliver it to our proprietary shops, to franchises and to multi-brand shops throughout the entire season. This has allowed us to command a greater share of the market.” Bracalente’s ambitious expansion projects were put into perspective by the economic depression of 2008. Until 2011 the company maintained growth – in actual fact that was its best year, with a turnover of 229 million euros – but only a short while later a downturn started being felt. The company had to reorganise itself again. “we changed strategy and decided only to continue working with solvent customers and at the end of 2014 we returned to a 6% growth.” This change of direction also included globalisation. “In 2012 we set ourselves the goal of achieving in future a 50% balance of sales between Italy and, mainly, Europe.” This is the process which the company is involved in at this present time. “We are already well known in Italy. We are a leader. The next step is to strengthen our brand in Europe. We are present in Belgium, Germany, France, UK, Holland and Russia, an important market for us, where we launched our products around ten years ago. We are growing in Spain where we have just opened a shop in Girona and, if all goes well, in the forthcoming years we plan to open more shops in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.” At the Professional Artisan Training School in Fermo, the students, aged between 16 and 18 years old, are proud of their work. They are learning to be shoe production operators on the training courses launched and funded by NeroGiardini. “We plan to double our production output, but in this area we come up against two problems: a generation of professional artisans that was retiring and a generation of youngsters that has only been absorbed by businesses in the industry in recent years because there weren’t any professional schools that could offer training.” But this is history, emphasises Bracalente. “22 young people have just graduated and they all work with us”.