Parma Calcio Case Study
When in 2015 Parma Calcio were declared bankrupt and ordered to play in the Italian amateur league gone were the days between 1992 and 2002 when the club won two UEFA Cups, one European Super Cup and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
In the same year, the leading Italian reward-based crowdfunding platform Eppela (Note for the Editor: Link to the company website) hosted a crowdfunding campaign with the aim of getting the fan-base on board of the new project. The new appointed chairman Nevio Scala and his team ended up to double the target amount of 100,000 Euros (£ 88,095) by raising 238,308 Euros (£ 209,699).
An informal meeting in a co-working space has recently been Oliver*’s chance to have a chat with Francesco Di Candio (Note for the Editor: …show more content…
F: We always look for partners in order to promote crowdfunding as an additional tool to marketing and communication.
O*: What do you mean by this?
F: We see crowdfunding as a way to disrupt the traditional marcomms [marketing and communication] approach. Francesco says. We work with companies developing a kind of unconventional marketing based on storytelling with the aim to create a community around someone’s project. The value of this relies on the fact that, especially for a market like ours, generating empathy is pivotal to manage risks related to the launch of a new product or a new service, for example.
O*: What’s the response of the market from your experience?
F: It is not as easy as someone could think to engage big organizations. Most of the time, especially among big corporations, there is a lack of innovation due to the tendency to preserve the status quo. Hence, in our case, prior to find the right partner we usually spend a huge amount of time in meeting top managers across the Country trying to convince them to leverage crowdfunding for their marketing activities. Eventually, when we get to find the right fit then magic happens.
O*: What does your partners’ list …show more content…
In other words, Italians are not used to invest in other’s people business.
O*: Why?
F: I think it all about habits. Take for instance Americans: they are used to buying stuff via TV as well as online. In fact, broadening our view to the whole platform ecosystem, in the US there is a very mature e-commerce industry compared to the Italian one. But we are patient and persistent.
O*: What the current trends in the market?
F: I see that culture, social impact and more in general civic crowdfunding will play a massive role in the development of the sector. On top of this, I think it would be worth start working with banks.
O*: What do you do to catch up with this trend?
F: We have supported a number of civic projects. For instance, we have hosted several campaigns in collaboration with ANCI (the National Association of Italian Municipalities) in the aftermath of the terrible heart quakes in August 2016 and October 2016.
O*: What the main limitation of the Italian market?
F: In Italy there are currently 76 crowdfunding platforms. I guess the market needs to go towards a consolidation phase in order to better its offer. To me, it’s all about the sustainability of the industry.
O*: What does the future hold for
In the same year, the leading Italian reward-based crowdfunding platform Eppela (Note for the Editor: Link to the company website) hosted a crowdfunding campaign with the aim of getting the fan-base on board of the new project. The new appointed chairman Nevio Scala and his team ended up to double the target amount of 100,000 Euros (£ 88,095) by raising 238,308 Euros (£ 209,699).
An informal meeting in a co-working space has recently been Oliver*’s chance to have a chat with Francesco Di Candio (Note for the Editor: …show more content…
F: We always look for partners in order to promote crowdfunding as an additional tool to marketing and communication.
O*: What do you mean by this?
F: We see crowdfunding as a way to disrupt the traditional marcomms [marketing and communication] approach. Francesco says. We work with companies developing a kind of unconventional marketing based on storytelling with the aim to create a community around someone’s project. The value of this relies on the fact that, especially for a market like ours, generating empathy is pivotal to manage risks related to the launch of a new product or a new service, for example.
O*: What’s the response of the market from your experience?
F: It is not as easy as someone could think to engage big organizations. Most of the time, especially among big corporations, there is a lack of innovation due to the tendency to preserve the status quo. Hence, in our case, prior to find the right partner we usually spend a huge amount of time in meeting top managers across the Country trying to convince them to leverage crowdfunding for their marketing activities. Eventually, when we get to find the right fit then magic happens.
O*: What does your partners’ list …show more content…
In other words, Italians are not used to invest in other’s people business.
O*: Why?
F: I think it all about habits. Take for instance Americans: they are used to buying stuff via TV as well as online. In fact, broadening our view to the whole platform ecosystem, in the US there is a very mature e-commerce industry compared to the Italian one. But we are patient and persistent.
O*: What the current trends in the market?
F: I see that culture, social impact and more in general civic crowdfunding will play a massive role in the development of the sector. On top of this, I think it would be worth start working with banks.
O*: What do you do to catch up with this trend?
F: We have supported a number of civic projects. For instance, we have hosted several campaigns in collaboration with ANCI (the National Association of Italian Municipalities) in the aftermath of the terrible heart quakes in August 2016 and October 2016.
O*: What the main limitation of the Italian market?
F: In Italy there are currently 76 crowdfunding platforms. I guess the market needs to go towards a consolidation phase in order to better its offer. To me, it’s all about the sustainability of the industry.
O*: What does the future hold for