Giallozafferano

Giallozafferano, the most followed food media brand in Italy, and ALMA –La Scuola Internazionale di Cucina Italiana (The International School of Italian Cuisine) for culinary higher education – cement their partnership with an important contest aimed at discovering new talents in the world of chefs, capable of communicating cuisine in innovative ways.

Yesterday, at the ALMA headquarters in the Reggia di Colorno (PR), the first edition of the “Diventa Food Creator” competition aimed at graduates and students of ALMA ended. The chefs who took part in the initiative challenged each other by making a video reel where they prepared one of their recipes, inspired by Italian tradition, and a picture of the dish, one that could promote it from a social media perspective.

Andrea Santagata, Managing Director of Mondadori Media Area Digital and Polo MarTech said: “We are excited to support and promote young Italian culinary talent in partnership with ALMA. Giallozafferano brings together the best food creators in the Italian digital scene and is always looking for new talents who can integrate tradition and innovation, both in cooking and in the way they communicate it”.

From the many applications received, 10 finalists – who starred with their day’s dishes in ALMA – were selected for their ability to interpret contemporary cuisine in an original way and to engage the audience through the reels they made.

The finalists were evaluated by the jury, which was made up of representatives from ALMA and Giallozafferano, including renowned food creators Daniele Rossi and Lulù Gargari. The judges evaluated not only the culinary aspects of the recipes, but also the communication potential of the young chefs participating.

Jacopo Lanci and Elena Zeng were proclaimed joint winners of the first edition of “Diventa Food Creator”. Jacopo Lanci, a talented ALMA graduate, took first place with his dish “Filetto alla Rossini”, awarded for being able to create a great classic by presenting it with a modern twist. Meanwhile, Elena Zeng, another talented ALMA graduate, won first place thanks to her dish “Bao alla Norma”, and for her extraordinary ability in combining Asian influences and Italian tradition, pairing the two while also being entertaining.

The winners get the opportunity to collaborate with Giallozafferano to create a series of videos for the brand’s social media, with the chance of reaching the community’s audience that boasts more than 20,000,000 followers.

The General Manager of ALMA Andrea Sinigaglia said: “Thanks to the collaboration with Giallozafferano we offered our students the opportunity to participate in this challenge, where communicating the profession digitally is at the heart of the competition. ALMA explores new languages of communication without ever forgetting the professionalism that distinguishes every hospitality expert. We believe that, in an increasingly relevant and ever-expanding digital context, the content created by our school’s students can communicate technical skills and bring attention to subjects in contemporary language, while respecting the great tradition of Italian cuisine”.

Giallozafferano, the most followed food media brand in Italy, is delighted to announce its participation, as a Universal Marketing media partner, to the Summer Fancy Food Show, the prestigious fair held in New York from 25 to 27 June, 2023.
Now in its sixty-seventh edition, the event is an important opportunity to explore new culinary trends, create relationships with commercial partners and launch new products and brands in the food sector.

Giallozafferano‘s participation to this fair was made possible thanks to the agreement drawn up with Universal Marketing, organiser of the Italian Pavilion with well over 300 exhibiting businesses of the food&beverage industry and partner of Italian companies at the most renowned exhibitions worldwide. Such strategic relationship allows Giallozafferano to better present its offer to an international public: six social profiles, 36 million followers and a website specifically designed for Italian cuisine lovers from around the globe.

Giallozafferano will bring its traditional and creative cooking expertise to the Summer Fancy Food Show while organising live cooking shows and exciting events especially thought-out for this exhibition and the food world. At the Javits Centre of New York, in the Fair’s Italian Pavilion, some of the most popular food creators of Zenzero, Mondadori Media’s talent agency dedicated to the best Italian food creators, will enliven the cooking shows: Cooker Girl, the one with the red apron who plans on acquiring valuable experience in the kitchens of renowned international restaurants this summer; Chef Daniele Rossi, with 4 million followers, will create exceptional dishes using the products of some of the over 300 Italian exhibitors; Mattiastable, one of the most popular emerging talents of the US, will share his amazing ability to tell culinary stories bound to inspire the fair’s public.

“New York’s Summer Fancy Food Show is a significant venue of the food industry and we are proud to participate at this great culinary exposition with Giallozafferano and Zenzero,” stated Andrea Santagata, Mondadori Media CEO of the digital area and MarTech. “This fair is an extraordinary opportunity to encounter Italian brands and businesses set on attracting an international public and sharing our passion for food by entertaining the Fair’s visitors and social media followers with the recipes of our creators. We are grateful to Universal Marketing for its support and for making our participation at this important global showcase possible, as we intend to use this opportunity to launch new food-based ideas and formats through digital and social media channels,” concluded Santagata.

“This partnership with Giallozafferano confirms the increasingly growing importance and strategic role of the international Summer Fancy Food fair for the Italian agri-food sector, especially in the United States of America. We received an amazing amount of participation requests, reaching a fully sold out quota, and can’t wait to admire, together with New York’s great public, Giallozafferano and Zenzero,” stated Donato Cinelli, Chairman of Universal Marketing.

All food lovers and operators of the industry can follow Giallozafferano and Zenzero’s food creators on the social channels to discover the latest trends, opportunities and Italian products planned for the Summer Fancy Food Show.

For more information www.giallozafferano.it

The partnership between McDonald’s and Giallozafferano, Italians’ preferred food media brand, is increasingly strengthened with 33 million sandwiches sold and is renewed with the 5th edition of Chicken Creations to present two tasty novelties inspired by the original McChicken, which will be available in all 670 restaurants from June 14 to August 29.

The two new recipes are based on quality Italian ingredients that are harmoniously added to the fully Italian chicken breast supplied by Amadori and Bimbo’s Italian-made bread. The McChicken Mediterraneo combines mozzarella and tomatoes with the strong taste of an olive and Italian caper sauce. The McChicken Pesto Rosso, available both in the sandwhich and wrap version, instead associates the delicate flavour of chicken with crispy bacon and a dried cherry tomatoes sauce made with Grana Padana DOP.

The Chicken Creations further strengthen the commitment of McDonald’s towards the Italian agri-food chain, from which the company purchases over 140 thousand tons of raw materials each year, for an investment of 370 million euros. Such data confirms the strong bond with this sector and further emphasises the continuous development of Made in Italy products. In fact, today, 85% of McDonald’s suppliers are Italian companies and, thanks to the partnership with the Qualivita Foundation, 20 partnerships have been signed with the Protection Consortia.

The Chicken Creations were jointly achieved by the chefs of McDonald’s and Giallozafferano, who once again worked on two recipes in the name of Italian excellence to bring a new tasting experience to customers’ trays.

“We are happy to celebrate the 5th anniversary of this partnership with Giallozafferano today. Such partnership allows to continue on offering new and original recipes to our customers and to demonstrate our strong bond with the Italian territory and its delicacies. For some time now, we decided to pursue a Made in Italy path and thus invested in the country’s agri-food sector to ensure that top Italian products can reach an ever greater public. Thanks to the precious 15-year partnership with the Qualivita Foundation, we signed numerous partnerships with the Protection Consortia. Among these, the one achieved with the Grana Padano DOP Consortium is the 20th, to which, according to the recent announcement of the agreement stipulated, the Pomodoro di Pachino IGP Consortium will be added,” stated Dario Baroni, CEO of McDonald’s Italia. “We are certain these new recipes will be very successful among our customers, who have always recognised chicken as one of their favourite ingredients.”

“In the fifth anniversary of partnership between Giallozafferano and McDonald’s, we can confirm that our project yielded excellent results,” stated Andrea Santagata, CEO of Mondadori Media. “Innovation, which has always been part of our brand’s DNA and of that of McDonald’s, the Made in Italy concept and this complementary target were at the basis of the partnership’s success. But the ability to create new languages and use the creators, or new media, were also an essential part of the conversion process: a high-value engagement which resulted in over 33 million sandwiches sold,” concluded Santagata.

The new Chicken Creations project involved some of Giallozafferano’s most popular top creators, from Daniele Rossi to Andriana Kulchytska, from Rafael Nistor to Foodqood, from Luisa Orizio to Sebastian Itarau and Eva’s Food Addiction. Each of them, through their own style and communicative tone, will create a series of exclusive contents on the social profiles of the most popular Italian food brand to entice its 60 million followers and 18 million unique monthly users.

The new recipes were presented today at a special event, organised at the McDonald’s restaurant of Milan, in Passaggio Duomo, and hosted by Willwoosh and the youtuber Guglielmo Scilla, together with the exclusive participation of the songwriter and record producer, Mr Rain.

The 2023 Chicken Creations campaign and visibility plans were developed together with Brand On Solutions, Mediamond’s project department, coordinated by OMD and in partnership with Leo Burnett, and promoted on all Giallozafferano’s digital channels, from their website to all their social profiles – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – and up to the App consisting of specific push notifications for McDonald’s drive-to-store and drive Apps.

Giffoni and Giallozafferano, a partnership that tells of excellence and talent. In fact, the Giffoni Food Show will partner with the no.1 food brand in Italy for the second year running, in a collaboration that promises to be stronger than ever.

After last year’s resounding success, this year the project is enriched, renewed, and grows in terms of content and shared values.

The goal is the same one as last year: to accompany the festival’s young jurors, together with their parents, visitors or those merely curious about food, on a conscious quest to learn about healthy but above all sustainable, food-waste-reducing cuisine, all free of charge.

The story is told by first-rate storytellers, such as food influencers, star chefs, master pastry chefs and pizza chefs of national and international stature, through a schedule of initiatives powered by Giallozafferano.

And this year, one new feature will be the presence of some of the food creators from Zenzero, the talent agency inspired by the experience of Giallozafferano, which brings together the best food creators on the Italian digital scene. A unique agency with a roster that racks up, to date, a total of more than 20 million followers, 200 million video views and more than 10 million interactions per month.  The protagonists of the Giffoni Food Show will include prestigious food talents such as: Daniele Rossi, the Tuscan chef whose cuisine is modern and sophisticated but has its roots in local traditions; Cooker Girl, the girl with the “red apron”, a passion for cooking and a desire to experiment; Diletta Secco, a stylish, cheerful and spontaneous storyteller, always attentive to the environment and healthy eating. The Zenzero roster also includes many outstanding talents with a gift for igniting the passion for cooking in all generations of Italians on all platforms. A kaleidoscope of languages, flavours, styles, traditions and innovation that has already won over millions of followers, a loyal audience of cooking enthusiasts and gastronauts always on the lookout for new ideas and flavors in the kitchen.

The first edition of Giffoni Food Show last year was met with great acclaim and enthusiastic participation by children and their families. More than 30 professionals including chefs, food bloggers, master pizza makers and master pastry chefs took part in the format, bringing to life moments of food education and cooking performances. The protagonists of the evenings were the grand masters of the Accademia Nazionale Pizza Doc, the AMPI (Association of Italian Master Pastry Chefs) who presented the “GiffonDOro” dessert created exclusively for the Giffoni Film Festival. The partners in the food section included Accademia Nazionale Pizza Doc, Terra Orti, Accademia Maestri Pasticceri Italiani, Sacar Forni and La Sciccheria Gourmet.

Last year’s event was a new opportunity for the crowds in attendance, who represented a society that is increasingly aware of and interested in food sustainability issues. Giallozafferano played a leading role in last year’s busy event, with the creators and faces of the brand creating a compelling narrative.

For 2023, the partnership is renewed and strengthened with new content and new ideas. Explaining the taste and pleasure of healthy cooking to kids, is the ambitious mission of Giffoni and Giallozafferano, as they join forces to tell the story of excellence and talents in the world of food.

Giallozafferano, the magazine designed by the most popular Italian food media brand, evolves and presents itself to the public with a new formula.

The format is entirely renewed, especially in terms of contents. The first section of the most popular Italian culinary monthly magazine will be strongly linked to Giallozafferano’s social and digital world: The brand’s most popular creators and top bloggers, each through their own style and area of expertise, will suggest tasty and original recipes each month.

Among these, Daniele Rossi, Cooker Girl, Diletta Secco and Rosy Chin, as well as many other creators of the Zenzero Talent Agency, such as 2foodfitlovers, will be the highlights of this month’s Giallozafferano issue together with the top food blogger, Luisa Orizio.

Three special and historical figures of Giallozafferano, who have always contributed to the magazine with one of a kind recipes, will also be represented throughout the issue’s pages: Aurora Cortopassi, expert in vegetarian and zero waste creations, Giovanni Castaldi, with his passion for Mediterranean cuisine and pastries, and Manuel Saraceno, with his street food recipes and secrets on bread-making and leavening.

This dynamic offer further confirms the brand’s exceptional success, thanks to the continuous expansion that allowed Giallozafferano to achieve an overall fanbase of more than 50 million people. This is an unbeatable offer for the worldwide foodlover audience who will also be able to find some dishes and ingredients in pure Giallozafferano style throughout the magazine.

THE NEW COLUMNS

Giallozafferano‘s new offer is enriched with many new columns and sections: from the “monthly theme” to the “travel” column with local dishes, products and wine, ideal for all those who love to travel and discover new food and wine cultures.

There will also be a “healthy and tasty” section devoted to a healthier cuisine and a “shopping guide” useful in selecting the right ingredients needed, from the butcher to the greengrocer and fishmonger.

Finally, a “preparing with” section, with the “preparing and freezing” and “preparing to take away” options, will also be suggested.

The “Giallo school” section will also be available with cooking shoots, bread-making techniques and much more for all those who wish to learn the best cooking strategies.

All readers will be able to discover 100 original recipes and their respective culinary preparations created for February’s festivities: from the hottest Valentine’s Day menu to the most varied Carnival sweets, or even Harlequin’s green menu dishes with thought-out vegetarian recipes, without mentioning the frangipane cream found in the pastry techniques and basics section.

THE NEW GRAPHICS

A new graphic design will accompany the contents of the magazine’s new editorial sections to facilitate reading. The final result will be characterized by a more harmonious iconography throughout the pages with suggestive illustrations and images.

The restyling will be enriched with a new logo: the chromatic saffron flower, the magazine’s emblem, is enhanced with dynamic shades characterized by purple to fuchsia and orange to yellow blends. The colours are more lively and immediately noticeable, in line with the brand’s distinctive young and digital language. The strictly purple font recalls Giallozafferano’s contemporary style, in line with the social trends.

THE GIALLOZAFFERANO COLLECTION

Another absolute novelty consists in the Giallozafferano Collection, a new monographic collection magazine dedicated to presenting recipes linked to a special theme each month. In the newsstand issue, readers will be able to discover many meat-based main courses to serve at the table, including many tasty cooking techniques.

Giallozafferano magazine’s restyling was also highly appreciated by the advertising market through a collection, edited by Mediamond, which marks a double-digit growth in this year’s first two months compared to the same period in 2022.

One month after its launch, Zenzero, the talent agency of top Italian food creators, has already raised great interest among the influencer marketing segment thanks to a roster of quality talents and to the absolutely important numbers achieved through a one of a kind, dynamic and innovative formula.

Based on the experience of Giallozafferano, the leading Italian food media brand, One Shot Agency and five top food creators of the Italian digital scene – Daniele Rossi, Cooker Girl, Diletta Secco, Rosy Chin and Luisa Orizio – Zenzero now boasts over 25 million total followers, 450 million video views and 25 million interactions each month thanks to its growing hub of creators.

Its winning formula consists in working directly with the best food talents and in relying on their creativity for projects aimed at addressing brands’ increasingly stronger need to intercept the passions, values and new languages of the Z Generation.

A first month full of initiatives
Zenzero is actively working on more than 70 new project opportunities with the brands. Moreover, the agency has been participating in the most important events of the industry, at which Zenzero’s young faces and fresh and original spirit have already raised great interest within the first few weeks.
This from UPA’s Influencer Marketing to the Digital Innovation Days, From Influence Day to the IAB Forum, and all the way up to Largo Consumo’s and WomenX impact’s “2023 Best Insignia” event. The new agency’s talents were the protagonists of these events, at which they revealed their stories, experiences and ingredients used to successfully conquer the young generations.

Next? The important partnership involving the co-founder of the Daniele Rossi Agency and the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Japan. On December 2, the Tuscan chef renowned for his modern and refined way of interpreting traditional culinary specialities will be the Executive Chef at the Gala Dinner planned in Tokyo for the association’s 50th anniversary. This one of a kind setting filled with illustrious guests and prominent personalities will allow the chef to make a unique experience in the area and to learn more about the Japanese culture by experimenting with new flavours, techniques and ingredients. The chef will share these culinary encounters in detail with the community via his social profiles.

Such high-impact initiatives demonstrate the new agency’s strength and how it’s able to enhance both the originality and distinctive positioning of each individual talent and the vastness of the food world through transversal projects – achieved also thanks to its strong partnership with Giallozafferano and to its synergy with Mediamond – which are deemed to make its various facets, popularity and lifestyles stand out.

Last night, Zenzero decided to share such vibrant beginning with “Spice Up Your Night”, an exclusive evening organised in the setting of the new Tripstillery club in the heart of Milan. The event was the first time the new agency was able to gather its numerous talents to celebrate together with brands, agencies and media centres.

Zenzero just keeps on going. Young talents, including international ones, of the food world capable of triggering a passion for cooking, even among the Z Generation – which represents an increasingly growing target of the industry – were recently added to the agency’s roster of new creators.

Among the new faces, there is Evasfoodaddiction’s Eva Andrini, a young economics and management student who conquered thousands of followers with her simplicity and passion in a very short time, and the seventeen-year-old Aisha Ben Thabet, known by all as The Avokiddo. Aisha learned how to cook through a video game, has been making her way around the kitchen since she was 5 and was a participant of Junior Masterchef.
There is also the young talent of Cooking With Bello, who went from being a dancer to a successful food creator. His passion for cooking was transmitted to him by both his mother and grandmother, a passion he combined with his technical skills to turn iconic Italian recipes into fun and ironic videos. Last but not least, there is Ivana Ester Marr, from “Studenti ai fornelli” (Students in the Kitchen), a creative, entrepreneurial talent always in search of the perfect ingredient.

A hint of Zenzero, the talent agency of the top food creators of the Italian digital scene, has landed in the world of communications.

This one of a kind reality came to life thanks to the founding fathers of Giallozafferano’s workforce – a leading Italian media food brand behind this initiative; practically the result of One Shot Agency’s experience in social communications combined with the creativity, talent and success of five of the most renowned Italian food creators.

Giallozafferano – already renowned with 50 million followers in Italy and abroad – was the first editorial brand to actively work with young food creators and talents, well before the new market trends. Such relationship grew over time and is now consolidated thanks to the new top five creators selected to “co-create” the project. Zenzero Talent Agency.

A significant change of approach to the marketing influencer setting, where the creators are for the first time allowed not only to establish a commercial relationship with an agency, but to actively take part in its development as founding fathers.

The new agency, specialised in the food industry, boasts Daniele Rossi, the Tuscan chef with modern and refined culinary skills linked to local traditions, Cookergirl, the “red apron” girl with a passion for cooking and experimenting, Diletta Secco, the refined, cheerful and spontaneous storyteller always attentive to the environment and healthy eating, Rosy Chin, the chef and entrepreneur who blends traditions with innovations and Luisa Orizio, Giallozafferano’s number one food blogger, among its co-founders.

The Agency’s offer

Zenzero exclusively manages 20 exceptional talents: not only the co-founding creators themselves, but also some of the most renowned and original culinary talents, as well as several emerging figures of growing relevance in the field at different levels of engagement.

The new food agency is the point of contact of an extraordinary hub of creators – relying on a total of 20 million followers, 200 million video views and beyond 10 million interactions a month. The brand has a dual work objective, working on the growth of its talents to enhance their distinctive positioning on one hand and interpreting the needs of businesses to build communication strategies with effective languages bound to also reach the new generations on the other.

Zenzero will become a new point of reference for the food industry, also thanks to its name which is closely linked to GialloZafferano‘s. Zenzero, or ginger, is a fresh and original ingredient that is much appreciated by those who love to experiment in the kitchen or to add a crisp and natural touch to their preparations, just like the Agency’s soul.

Alessandra Rigolio, a young manager with much experience in the media and already Mondadori’s Marketing Director, will lead Zenzero as its CEO, and Gabriele Colasanto, Mondadori Media’s Food Department Manager as its president. The two will be assisted by Luigi D’Alterio, Sales Director of both Zenzero and Hej, and Nicole Cavallo, the Head Talent Manager who will combine marketing and creative management strategies for the customised projects of each talent.

“We are proud to launch a one of a kind and innovative reality such as Zenzero, and to take one more step towards the continuous strategy of evolution that has always distinguished Giallozafferano. In recent years, our brand has always focused on the social media channels and creators, considering them both as essential elements of its success strategy, in particular on Instagram and Tik Tok. With Zenzero, we’ll be able to provide our partners with both a new media solution and creators capable of satisfying their needs with projects bound to generate real value. Our trump card is the relationship we build with our talents: we work with them at every step of the way, invest in their growth and always provide the market with contents that are in line with the new trends and languages,” stated Alessandra Rigoglio, Zenzero’s CEO.

This turnkey offer and one of a kind strategy, consisting of many tricks of the communications world, along with the know-how of a partner such as One Shot Agency, an Italian agency operating in digital management and communications for years, will be supervised by the team’s account manager Daniele Tozzi.

“As far as our group is concerned, Zenzero consolidates our experience in the management of talents and represents a new ambitious and specialised challenge bound to become a point of reference for the marketing influencer strategies of the food sector. The focal point lying in its ability to manage and develop creators of undisputed talent and who have a unique way of influencing the market,” stated Matteo Maffucci, co-founder of One Shot Agency. “Together with Zenzero, we studied a formula intended to transform these projects into a brand experience through a story adapted to the brands and services of the food industry and to their values, talents and social audience.”

Zenzero’s creators

In addition to the five founders, Zenzero already has many creators and talents, among which: Chef Nerone, a young cook from the Campania region who combines his love for his land with spontaneity and improvisations: 2foodfitlovers, a social media couple with a passion for fitness and good food; Foodqood, third cooking tiktoker worldwide; Rossella pane e cioccolato, renowned for her exquisite contents; Valeria Ciccotti, of Vale cucina e fantasia, with her creative and simple recipes; Fernanda Michela Nicotra, of Il caldo sapore del sud, a native of Catania who loves traditional dishes and more; Monica Pannacci, of Ricette del cuore, promoter of simple, instinctive and zero waste type of cooking; Gessica Runcio, of Le ricette di Gessica, who alternates precious traditional family recipes to quick and easy to make dishes for all; Sebastian Fitarau, a refined chef with creative, light and tasty suggestions; Nonna Nella, the most social Italian grandma who conquered TikTok and the heart of food lovers; Cuori Veggie, with a simple and quick veggie-based cuisine; Aurora Cortopassi, Giovanni Castaldi and Manuel Saraceno,Giallozafferano‘s three renowned faces. These talents are capable of igniting a passion for cooking among all Italian generations, by covering all tastes and languages across the platforms.

Zenzero’s seat will soon be inaugurated in Milan, right next to Giallozafferano’s: a creative hub in the city centre with spaces entirely devoted to the production of food creator projects, recording studios, sets and equipped kitchens, but also a place for organising events.

Zenzero will have a special team to support the talents in the design and implementation of their projects. The go to the market section will be launched thanks to Mediamond’s expertise and to its Brand on Solutions structure, to ensure the implementation of brand initiatives, contents and influencing.

Giallozafferano, Italy’s leading food media brand, is building up a strong international profile. Little more than a year after its launch abroad, it has been winning record numbers, with 25 million followers for its English-language versions, and growing its international social profiles to more than 1.2 million new fans a month.

These results, added to the 20 million people who follow the Italian version, have made Giallozafferano the world’s fourth most popular cooking brand on social media.

This outstanding success is driven by competitive positioning and continuous expansion, leading Giallozafferano to reach a total fanbase of 45 million people and become a go-to brand for a global public of food-lovers keen to learn about and try Italian dishes and ingredients.

A key factor in the Mondadori Group brand’s extraordinary international results are its TikTok accounts: @giallozafferano_en and, above all, @gzfoodqood, a profile with more than 17 million followers, which has established itself as the world’s third most followed cookery account on TikTok.

Significant success has also been achieved by the @GialloZafferanoLovesItaly Facebook profile, which has more than 4.4 million fans, and on YouTube, where the English version has beaten the 1 million subscribers threshold, winning the “Golden Creator Award”.

These impressive results are joined by yet another record: more than 2 billion video views in the last 90 days on the international Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok channels.

A winning offer that combines exclusive content and original-language versions to engage an ever wider public and become a cookery benchmark, even for the younger generations. Giallozafferano‘s recipes and suggestions involve some of the top talents in the food creator team, which increasingly has become the heart of the brand’s success formula. They include Daniele Rossi with his gourmet cuisine, the little Cooker Girl from the region of Piedmont and Italo-American Nonna Pia.

Extraordinary numbers, which the Giallozafferano international channels have achieved with an offer that has also been successfully developed on the English-language website Giallozafferano.com. The most viewed content includes some of the most famous Italian recipes in the world, from tiramisù to carbonara and amatriciana.

The partnership between McDonald’s and Giallozafferano, Italy’s most popular food media brand, goes into its fourth year after burger sales topping 21 million: the original McChicken recipe is joined by Il Gustoso and L’Affumicato, two new Chicken Creations for exciting new taste experiences.

Available in all 640 McDonald’s restaurants in Italy until 30 August, the Chicken Creations are made with special top-quality ingredients sourced from our local supply chain, as well as 100% Italian chicken breast supplied by Amadori and bread produced in Italy by Bimbo. The flavourful Il Gustoso dresses the chicken with Italian red cabbage, Pecorino Romano DOP cheese & pepper sauce and Italian bacon; meanwhile L’Affumicato comes with smoked scamorza cheese made from Italian milk and grilled pepper sauce and will be available in a bun or as a McWrap.

The new recipes reaffirm and strengthen McDonald’s relations with and commitment to the Italian agri-food chain, from which every year it purchases more than 100,000 tonnes of raw materials worth almost 240 million euro. For the 2022 Chicken Creations alone, the company will use around 6 tonnes of Pecorino Romano DOP cheese, 630 tonnes of chicken, 74 tonnes of smoked scamorza and 61 tonnes of red cabbage.

The Chicken Creations were developed jointly by chefs from McDonald’s and the Giallozafferano brand, once again the prestigious partner on the initiative thanks to the strength of its community and ability to involve some of the most popular food creators on an innovative project that is spreading from social media to McDonald’s restaurants across Italy.

“We are excited to renew our collaboration with Giallozafferano, which this year once again has produced original new recipes to satisfy Italians’ love of tasty original food. We are very proud of this project because it reiterates the quality and flavours of our country’s ingredients,” said McDonald’s Italia CEO Dario Baroni. “Chicken is increasingly popular among our consumers, who recognise the quality and origin of the ingredients they find in our restaurants: this, in addition to the tasty recipes, is the reason for the success of a project where we tell everyone about the unique quality of ingredients Made in Italy.”

“Innovation, constant attention to the passions of our community and use of fine Italian ingredients: these are the values underpinning our four-year relationship with McDonald’s, a partner of excellence,” observed Mondadori Media General Manager Andrea Santagata. “We are delighted to continue a collaboration that combines one of McDonald’s most popular burgers with our brand’s creativity and experience. The project is even more innovative this year thanks to the involvement of our creators on the social channels, especially TikTok, where Giallozafferano can try out styles that appeal to young users, and so become a reference in the kitchen for them too,” added Santagata.

The protagonists of the project, starting with the campaign teasers, are the two brands’ web communities, who were invited to guess the ingredients and the names of the burgers.

The Foodqood creators, Daniele Rossi, Fernanda Nicotra, Chef Nerone and Rafael Nistor, each with their own style and communication approach, will deliver a series of exclusive social media content, replicating in their videos the recipes of the iconic McChicken and the new Chicken Creations — presented today during a special event hosted by Willwoosh, youtuber Guglielmo Scilla.

The Chicken Creations campaign and visibility plan were developed together with Brand On Solutions, the Mediamond project area, coordinated by OMD, and will be rolled out on all Giallozafferano digital channels, from the website, all social profiles – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok e YouTube – and the app, with McDonald’s drive-to-store and drive-to-app push notification.

Giallozafferano, the leading food media brand in Italy, is endorsing Italian cooking excellence with the launch – for the first time on the virtual market – of a series of NFT collectibles: fifteen digital works dedicated to the best known and most loved Italian recipes around the world.

An exclusive project – created in partnership with OMD Italy, media agency of the Omnicom Group, and developed together with ACTA Fintech, a consulting firm specialised in NFTs – which focussed on multiple objectives:

• Innovating: bringing the most authentic and representative recipes of the country’s culinary culture to the Metaverse.
• Protecting and spreading Made in Italy branding: selecting the best of its products and guaranteeing its authenticity via blockchain technology.
• Giving back: by supporting Banco Alimentare, a food bank providing food to the neediest.

For its first NFT collection, Giallozafferano has selected certain most globally iconic and well-known dishes in Italian cuisine, travelling from north to south Italy, and it has entrusted their preparation to the most well-established chefs on the national scene according to the authentic recipe, certified by a gastronomic committee made up of industry chefs and professionals.

“Giallozafferano has always been at the forefront in seizing innovations offered by the digital world and in promoting and making Italian cuisine available to everybody, in any form, along a path that is continuously evolving. We were born on the Web, creating the largest community of food bloggers in the country and we have created a fanbase of over 40 million followers around social media, becoming an international benchmark for food, and today we are home to the best food creators. Now, we’re taking the next leap forward landing on the Metaverse: an important project, which once again sees us engaged serving the authenticity and promoting great Italian cuisine around the world”, Andrea Santagata, general manager of Mondadori Media, stated.

“As OMD, we believe that innovation and experimentation are the basis for staying abreast of change, a constant factor in the technological landscape. NFT and blockchain are important levers in the digital market and we believe it is essential to learn about them and use them correctly. As we have done with other schemes, the projects we implement need to be part of a wide-ranging strategy, which enhances use and mechanics. We believe that Italian culinary heritage lends itself beautifully to be immortalised and narrated using NFTs and, for this reason, we have contributed to this impressive project with Giallozafferano. The beneficial purpose of the initiative shows yet again how culture and innovation can impact the social sphere, raising public awareness and making a substantial impact also from an economic standpoint”, Giorgia Paloschi, Strategic Director of OMD Italy, commented.

The NFT collection
The first recipes of the Giallozafferano 15 NFT collection were prepared by exceptional chefs: Milanese Risotto by the multi-starred chef Alessandro Negrini; classic Tiramisu by Frau Knam and the special version by Ernst Knam; Naples-style Pizza by world champion Davide Civitiello and Carbonara sauce pasta by Luciano Monosilio, the chef who raised this dish to haute cuisine status.

Each dish was photographed by Marianna Santoni, an artist who is an international calling card in digital photography which was then converted to a limited edition NFT.

“Together with Giallozafferano, we’ve managed to combine certain cornerstones of our present times in a single project. Gastronomy, a flagship of our country and a pioneer all over the world, together with innovation, will open the Mondadori Group brand to the universe of non-fungible tokens, highlighting, yet again, the brand’s far-sighted approach with respect to emerging technologies. Being part of this project is a source of pride”, Gian Luca Comandini, Co-Founder of ACTA FinTech added.

Donation to the Milan-based Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo
The project was presented at a special event during which, Giallozafferano donated the first NFT for Saffron Risotto created by chef Alessandro Negrini to the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo.

The recipe will be kept for posterity in the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo Archive, which will receive a first non-fungible token, enriching the documentary heritage that the institution has generated and collected in over six hundred years of history since its foundation.

The Veneranda Fabbrica Archive is the diary of the city, active day after day since 1387, preserving infinite and precious treasures. Old documents, ledgers, projects for the Duomo cathedral, musical scores, and pictures dating back to the dawn of photography, as well as so much more.

Symbol of Milan, the Cathedral is also an exceptional place for the story that binds it to this gold-coloured spice: in fact, tradition has it that, to obtain the characteristic ochre yellow colour used for the stained-glass Cathedral windows, the master glassmakers used saffron. Next to the Cathedral of Milan scaffolding, the very particular and colourful recipe of the Milanese risotto is claimed to have been created centuries ago.

The project with Banco Alimentare food bank
For each recipe, 99 copies will be created, of which 98 will be available on the market through the Opensea platform at the price of 99 euros, contributing to the charitable work of Banco Alimentare.

“We’re happy to be the charity partners of this innovative all ‘digital’ project. We thank Giallozafferano for having decided to support our work in favour of those living in fragile conditions. Thanks to the valuable help given by attentive companies such as Giallozafferano, Banco Alimentare will be able to respond to thousands of requests for help received every day: these projects strengthen our alliance with the business world and we hope that this is just the first step of a long journey in the name of partnering and mutual esteem”, Giovanni Bruno, Chairman of the Banco Alimentare Foundation said.

Benefits reserved for holders of Giallozafferano NFTs
The first 4 NFTs will be available on and after 31 May. Buyers will receive a numbered token and certificate. Each NFT will give the holder the opportunity to view the exclusive recipe, correlated with an exhaustive description of its history, in Italian and English, and to participate in a special Virtual Masterclass, starting in September: a unique experience to learn about all the secrets of a perfect dish directly from the skilled hands of the person who created the recipe.

For each recipe 1 NFT Special Edition will also be autioned, at the starting price of 5,000 euros: the owner will be entitled to an exclusive showcooking session with the Chef that created the dish at the Giallozafferano studios and a private dinner for 4 people.

The iconic dishes that will enrich the Giallozafferano NFT Collection
Over this year, the NFT collection will be enriched by 11 other iconic recipes: orecchiette pasta with cime di rapa turnip tops by Fabio Abbattista, Genoese focaccia by Ezio Rocchi, eggplant parmigiana by Daniele Rossi, lasagna with meat sauce, amatriciana sauce, pesto basil sauce, arancini, breadcrumb fried rice balls with a savoury filling. In 2023, the collection will be further enriched with new recipes, continuing to showcase the variety of Italian cuisine and to better express the importance of Italian culinary culture on the global scene.

Giallozafferano is the food media brand of the Mondadori Group: it is a leader on the web, where it is the favourite cooking site of 1 out of 4 Italians, with 16 million unique users per month (source: Audiweb, March 2022), and the fourth largest cooking brand on social media, with a fanbase of over 40 million followers (source: Shareablee and Insight, May 2022). Thanks to its recipes that are within everyone’s grasp, whether novice or expert cook, it is available to people 24/7 on all channels: from the web to social media, even internationally, from apps to smart devices and including magazines and books and local area events up and down the country. Today, Giallozafferano is also home to the best food talents, to whom the first “GZ Creator Award” was dedicated, also becoming a benchmark for the young generations of cooking professionals.