Last 4 April, we attended CEO Roundtable on Business Acumen – Creare valore durevole, an event organised in Milan by Fashion Magazine, a reference publication on the world of fashion.
The meeting, now in its thirteenth edition, was animated by several prominent speakers from companies in the sector as well as a number of digital transformation partners.
In particular, for us at THRON, it was a valuable opportunity to share our vision on MarTech and the state of the art of digital processes related to digital assets and the tools needed to govern them.
Among the many themes that emerged during the day, there was talk about sustainability and the importance of using data strategically after collecting it.
Ample space was also given to Made in Italy – a pivotal theme for the fashion brands of the Bel Paese – which can count on the competitive advantage given by the high recognisability of Italian design and manufacturing.
To ride Italianity, however, it is not enough to be Italian.
It is necessary to evolve the organisational culture and give solidity to a vision based on processes and technologies, as reiterated by Claudio Marenzi (President of Herno).
We agree because in addition to being indispensable levers for creating value, the organizational design, behaviour and digital approach are often still unexplored prairies for Italian brands. And not only by them.
It is precisely processes and technologies that are needed to make the customer experience flawless, through coherent, effective and omnichannel communication activities that are as important as an excellent product.
But how best to dialogue? What tone of voice should brands use? And what processes and tools are essential to transfer it to market in the most appropriate way? How do you build customer loyalty?
These – and many more – were the questions posed at the panel attended by our Head of Revenue Antonio Comelli, Arianna Casadei (Managing Director of the homonymous company), Alessandro Pescara (CEO of Borbonese) and Diego Caldognetto (Co-Founder and Managing Director of Fashion Words), moderated by Marc Sondermann.
In the following paragraphs we have summarised and enriched with some reflections the interesting speeches of each speaker present at our round table.
“From Romagna without being an orchestra”, Arianna Casadei jokes seriously about how much for her company making and placing footwear on the market resembles the composition of a melody.
This, she explained, is as true between the production lines as it is outside the company, because a harmonious brand benefits from a virtuous circle that enhance its communication and, by extension, the perception of its product.
This thinking is perfectly aligned with our vision and one of THRON’s main benefits: ensuring omnichannel communication across al company touchpoints.
To return to the metaphor, all of this is the result of orchestrating processes across the entire lifecycle of media content and product data. Made possible by technology platforms that enable a governance of digital assets.
Alessandro Pescara, CEO of the famous leather goods brand Borbonese, on the other hand, emphasised that in order to build customer loyalty, it is essential to transfer the brand’s distinctive heritage to them.
This is an opinion with which we cannot but agree, which in our view always applies when talking about business but is particularly pertinent for the fashion industry.
Pescara reiterated that “…competitive advantage must be translated into the different touchpoints, physical or virtual, that connect the company with the end customer“.
Especially digital ones, we would add, which now dominate the physical ones (as recounted in the latest issue of NORTH). Even if delivery is often the chameleon of marketing reports.
Data and product information are also digital assets.
This is why we listened with great interest to the speech by Diego Caldognetto of Fashion Words, a company that deals with translations and copywriting for the fashion world.
His speech reiterated the importance of textual contents to characterise and differentiate a brand, as well as to make the customer experience unforgettable.
Yet another confirmation of the importance of a joint management of content and product information, just like the one proposed by the Throne.
Our vision of Digital Asset Management is not only limited to photos, videos, audio or documents.
Our Antonio’s speech embraced the vision of the other speakers and emphasised the concept that centralising digital assets is the way to avoid wasting resources and ensure the right tone of voice when communicating with users.
«The goal of THRON PLATFORM is twofold: firstly, to give consistency and uniformity to content and data published in every corporate channel. At the same time, by governing the assets and distributing them at peak performance, to guarantee users of digital touchpoints an appropriate experience in tune with the brand image».
With our platform our customers get back their know-how and all their assets.
A value that goes far beyond the simple sum of contents and products taken individually in a traditional management, respectively entrusted to separate DAM software and PIM software.
The event gave us the opportunity to engage with leading figures from the world of fashion.
Not only that. Dialoguing with the top management of the most prestigious brands in the sector gave us one more opportunity to listen to the most current market needs, giving them our vision and sharing some of the best practices we have learnt from working alongside our clients.
A mutual contamination of value. Which we look forward to repeating.