AdKaora

A carbonara can express more than a recipe: it can communicate tradition and quality, as well as innovation, contemporary taste and brand choices. This is exactly whatTulip has done. This Danish brand, which boasts over a century of experience in meat processing, turned to AdKaora, the MarTech agency of the Mondadori Group, for a digital advertising campaign tailor-made to celebrate the latest edition of Carbonara Day.

A tailor-made format for an impactful experience

Goal: to communicate the two variants of its diced pancetta – sweet and smoked – in an engaging way through an immersive experience that speaks to the audience, combining brand storytelling, design and performance.

The heart of the campaign, running from 1 to 13 April, was a fully customised rich media format designed by AdKaora Creative Studio. The creativity took the form of a Product Carousel, designed to highlight the two variants of Pancetta Tulip through simple and engaging navigation.

The format, designed to stimulate user engagement and ensure complete product discovery, integrated high-impact visual elements and immediate call-to-actions, ensuring high visibility and memorability, while encouraging interaction to drive qualified user traffic to the site.

“The campaign created for Tulip best expresses our understanding of shared value: a tailor-made project, creativity built for the right channel and distribution capable of reaching the most receptive audience at the ideal time. What makes the difference is our Creative Studio, which allows us to develop truly tailor-made advertising formats in a very short time to market, designed to deliver fluid, engaging experiences that are perfectly integrated into the user journey. This combination of content, context and innovation yields concrete and lasting results,” commented Davide Tran, MarTech Director at Mondadori Media.

The power of distribution: valuable content in valuable contexts

The campaign found its ideal home in the AdKaora Value Network, a publishing ecosystem that today brings together 159 publishers and over 1,900 web domains and AMPs, reaching millions of passionate users in brand-safe and relevant environments. Thanks to the quality and vertical nature of the contexts on offer, Tulip conveyed its message through the main food properties, reaching highly profiled audiences

“The collaboration with AdKaora is a perfect fit in our multi-channel strategy, which integrates high-performance digital activities with a strong in-store presence. We developed a project that enhanced the product’s distinctiveness in qualified digital environments, generating not only excellent results in terms of engagement and conversions, but also a high and authentic level of attention from the public. Today, attention is a key indicator for measuring the real effectiveness of campaigns and confirms the solidity of our integrated approach, geared towards building value for the brand,” comments Daniele Moggia, Trade Marketing & Business Development Manager at Tulip Italia.

The natural integration of the advertising format within users’ digital habits, coupled with the strength of the tailor-made creativity developed by the AdKaora Creative Studio, led to excellent results: an engagement rate of 4.4% and a CTR of 2.8%, clear signs of genuine and spontaneous interest from the audience.

Hej!, a specialist in conversational marketing and part of the Mondadori Media MarTech Hub together with AdKaora – the international digital agency with full-funnel advertising solutions – launches a new product designed to take full advantage of WhatsApp in lead acquisition and qualification. Hej! has already integrated the solution into several campaigns in the education, automotive, service and utilities sectors.

The right channel for lead acquisition? WhatsApp convinces users and companies

According to research conducted by expert Vincenzo Cosenza in July 2024 using Audicom-Audiweb data, the instant messaging platform has 35.7 million active users in Italy, with a penetration rate of 90.3% between the ages of 16 and 64. It is used more than 17 hours per month on average, making it the most common channel among Italians today. Not only that, 69% of users are more likely to buy from a brand that can be accessed via WhatsApp.

Hej! proposes strategies for using the WhatsApp communication channel at an early stage in the user-brand relationship, and not only for engagement, nurturing, e-commerce and caring activities after customer acquisition. This solution fosters conversation between users and brands and transforms lead acquisition into a simple, functional and high-performance experience.

AI-enhanced conversations to improve digital performance

The new product developed by Hej! uses WhatsApp to activate two key solutions: lead generation and lead qualification, designed to radically improve the effectiveness of media campaigns.

Through AI-enhanced conversations, the system begins an initial interaction with users on WhatsApp, facilitating both their access to information on products, services and offers, and data collection by brands in a natural, non-invasive and privacy-focused manner. After an initial guided exchange, AI adapts the conversation based on the answers, refining the interaction, improving data quality and providing an engaging user experience.

‘We wanted to create a product that was simple for users, but advanced for businesses, one that could combine the immediacy of conversations via WhatsApp with the power of AI applied to conversational marketing. We have specialised in lead generation and conversational marketing for several years and our technology is designed not only to optimise lead generation, but especially to enhance qualification, making each contact more relevant and useful for the brand. We have always focused on offering functional user experiences, aware that there are humans on the other end, at least at the moment, and that they are the only thing that matters,’ says Paolo De Santis, COO and co-founder of Hej!

Different user acquisition channels are available, starting with the more traditional ones, such as Meta, TikTok and Google, up to proprietary channels.

The heart of the product is the proprietary platform, developed over the years for conversation management and predictive scoring. Together with a wide range of marketing automation and AI features, it maximises performance and guarantees concrete results for brands.

Hej! and WhatsApp: optimising the entire lead generation chain

The campaigns conducted for customers to date have yielded extremely positive results. More than 70% of users completed the qualification process and were sent to the brands’ CRM systems with different qualification scores, allowing for more streamlined and effective post-lead management. The reaction speed was also surprising: 80% of users completed the qualification within five minutes of first contact. The data show how an intuitive interface, direct communication and a familiar context can make a difference in terms of performance and engagement.

‘This project is the perfect example of how innovation in the MarTech Hub can generate tangible value. In the Mondadori Group PLAI accelerator, we have a hub of innovative solutions and the possibility of interacting with tech professionals. Artificial intelligence is not only the workflow engine, but also the key element that allows us to personalise the conversation while making it scalable with high performance. The integration of WhatsApp into lead-generation flows is not just a technological choice, but a concrete response to the evolution of consumers’ digital habits. We are already working on other innovations that will significantly change the world of performance marketing,’ says Davide Tran, MarTech Director at Mondadori Media.

AdKaora, the Mondadori Group’s digital company, has completed the process of incorporating Adgage, a Spanish agency operating in mobile advertising in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, which has been renamed AdKaora S.L..

The rebranding of Adgage – which has seen significant market growth in recent years – represents a strategic step for AdKaora, which to all intents and purposes has become an international digital agency offering full-funnel cross-country advertising solutions.

“The name change from Adgage to AdKaora is not just a matter of rebranding but a concrete expression of our strategic vision: to combine the expertise of over 80 professionals, the use of advanced technologies and a global advertising network of premium publishers to offer our customers innovative solutions. This step marks a crucial moment in our international growth path,” commented Davide Tran, MarTech Hub Director of Mondadori Media.

“Since its inception more than 11 years ago, Adgage has been a benchmark in mobile advertising in Spain. We are very proud of the path we have travelled and the contribution we have made to the growth of Mondadori Media. Our name change to AdKaora represents the creation of an international player in the digital advertising industry, an expansion to which our team wants to make a significant contribution,” remarks Gonzalo Guzmán, founding partner of Adgage and Co-CEO AdKaora Spain.

With the new structure, AdKaora’s international network of more than 600 premium publishers in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Latin America has been strengthened, ensuring ever broader coverage that is rapidly growing beyond Europe’s borders.

The company remains focused on the development of high-performance mobile advertising strategies for advertisers, as well as on the creation of innovative next-generation advertising formats, display and video, always ensuring the best user experience.

The goal is cross-cutting and multifaceted in all countries: to create value for brands and their communication projects, to ensure the best market KPIs through strategic use of data and artificial intelligence, to optimise campaign results and to maximise publishers’ advertising revenues.

AdKaora is therefore confirming its ambition to continue expanding internationally thanks to an approach that combines creativity, technology and measurable results.

AdKaora, the digital agency of the MarTech Hub of the Mondadori Group, a leader in mobile advertising, proximity marketing and full funnel solutions for brands and publishers, is enhancing its team with the aim of further consolidating its position as a reference point in a constantly evolving market.

“The inclusion of new strategic figures is crucial to strengthening our ability to face the challenges of a constantly changing market,” said Davide Tran, MarTech Director Mondadori Media. The creation of an increasingly integrated and cross-functional team will allow us to respond with greater agility and precision to the needs of brands, agencies, and publishers. These roles are essential for consolidating a structure that not only enhances the offering of multichannel solutions but also promotes synergy between the different areas of the company, with the aim of becoming increasingly widespread and responsive in meeting market demands. All choices and new hires made, in addition to being focused on the know-how and experiences gained by professionals over the years, are mainly linked to personal qualities and soft skills, which have always been an expression of the value that differentiates us in the market: Elisa, Sara, Marta, Miruna, Giulia and Alessio are the confirmation of our business strategy,” concluded Tran.

An enhanced Sales Team to enhance the multichannel offering 

The first change relates to Elisa Sergi, who takes on the role of Head of Agencies. Elisa will lead the sales team, optimising commercial strategies for media centres, with the aim of enhancing the multichannel offering of AdKaora and Hej!.

With 10 years of experience and a continuously growing career, Elisa has held key roles such as Sales Account for City News, Senior Sales Manager for Viralize, and Team Lead Sales for ShowHeroes Group. She worked closely with media centres and agencies, developing strong relationships and managing direct relationships with clients. Now, her focus will be to provide increasingly targeted solutions that can respond innovatively to market needs.

In an increasingly competitive sector, our ability to offer multichannel solutions represents a significant advantage. I am excited to put my experience to use in support of the sales team’s activities, optimising strategies for media centres, responding more precisely and in a personalised way to the needs of our clients,” commented Elisa Sergi, Head of Agencies at AdKaora.

In 2024, the sales team was strengthened with the addition of Marta Ammirati, part of the Key Account team, who manages AdKaora’s strategic clients, and Miruna Toader, a new Sales Account, responsible for helping to strengthen partnerships with direct clients, agencies, and media centres.

Focus on the publishing network: new members in the Publishers Team and strengthened leadership

AdKaora also welcomes Sara Saffioti as the new Head of Publishers – Italy. Sara brings with her an innovative vision and solid experience in managing strategic relationships with publishers. Her mission is to lead the development of new business opportunities and solutions for content monetisation, consolidating AdKaora’s role as a reference partner for the Italian market and opening new perspectives on international scenarios.

Throughout her career, Sara has gained significant experience in internationally relevant companies, including Teads, where she managed relationships with premium publishers in Italy, Google, where she consolidated her technological skills, and Evolution Group, where she contributed to the expansion in the Spanish market. Its international approach and ability to build valuable partnerships will be crucial for the expansion of AdKaora’s publishing activities.

I am excited to be part of such a dynamic team. My goal is to build and strengthen strategic partnerships with our publishing partners, providing innovative solutions to tackle a constantly evolving sector,” emphasized Sara Saffioti, Head of Publishers – Italy at AdKaora.

Alongside Sara, the publishing team strengthened in the second half of 2024 with the addition of Giulia Campbell and Alessio Castrichella, both Publisher Managers with key roles, focusing respectively on international development and a solid, targeted national presence.

AdKaora, an international digital agency with full-funnel advertising solutions in the MarTech hub of the Mondadori Group, has signed an exclusive agreement with Haiku Technologies, the leading IoT advertising platform in Italy for pharmacies, thus entering the pharma retail media sector.

The aim is to plan advertisements on screens situated in premium pharmacies, benefiting from expanded media through integration with other channels involved in retail media campaigns, whose advertising market share has grown in recent years.
Positioning of the ‘pharmacy’ sector has also evolved significantly in recent years, becoming a ‘service pharmacy’ and expanding its operations beyond dispensing medicines.

Through the proprietary Addendo Pharma circuit, the digital network of Haiku Technologies, AdKaora and the MarTech hub of Mondadori Group are adding an important element to proprietary advertising solutions, delivering content to a target that is already present at points of sale and inclined to product conversion.

Furthermore, it draws on systems installed in more than 200 independent and municipal pharmacies and health product shops, for a total of approximately 5.6 million passes and more than 18 million contacts per month. This is an opportunity for brand visibility, taking advantage of the exclusive positions of the screens inside the stores, where significant daily traffic is recorded.

Valerio Ginnasi and Giuseppe Facente, respectively Co-Founder and Managing Director of Netmedialick – Haiku Technologies, comment: ‘Through synergy between Haiku and AdKaora, retail media in the pharma sector is evolving, combining IoT technology, intelligent data and multi-channel advertising strategies. Through the Addendo Pharma circuit, brands can communicate in a targeted, contextualized way, further influencing the purchasing process at the most strategic moment. By integrating AdKaora services and technology with our Addendo Pharma platforms, brands can measure the impact of their campaigns, optimizing ROI and offering solid, timely data on sales related to each individual product due to our IoT system “ADBox”. This multichannel approach transforms turns pharmacies into hubs for interaction between brands and consumers, enhancing the customer journey and strengthening the link between the physical and digital worlds.’

Davide Tran, CEO of AdKaora, goes further: ‘Even for the pharmaceutical sector, innovation starts from understanding customer behaviour, personalizing content and relationships, and using data intelligently to improve business strategies. This is why advertising solutions such as retail media can really make a difference in delivering content that is highly relevant to individual pharmacies while gathering timely customer insights. Together with Haiku, we will be active at premium pharmacies nationwide, with the goal of continuously expanding the network of screens, and we will oversee retail media in the pharma channel with a multi-channel approach tied to different campaign objectives. Above all, we will enhance drive to store by influencing product consideration and conversion more directly, fully exploiting the effective micro-moment. Last but not least, we could give all brands a real boost in sales, that is, the real ROI of our activity, an aspect that makes us unique on the market.’

Media planning relates to real-time monitoring of certified passes, reporting on the possibility of integrating sales data at the individual point of sale and post-campaign analyses conducted using Haiku’s proprietary IoT technology ‘AdBox’, which allows the impact of the campaign on sell out to be measured, with a tangible effect of advertising on sales.

This makes it possible to enhance in-store communication, influence purchasing decisions, further personalize promotions, and differentiate communications on a fine scale, down to the individual point of sale.
The mass of data collected on consumers and actual presence in stores thus enriches and fuels AdKaora’s expansion of proximity marketing, with the goal of drawing on the clusters identified to further stimulate drive to store in a multi-channel perspective.

In fact, circular and multi-touchpoint coverage (displays, rich media, push notifications, social networks, Stocard, digital out of home) is offered to create exclusive offline experiences and increasingly innovative digital opportunities.

AdKaora and Hej!, the digital companies specialised in mobile advertising and conversational marketing, the core of the Mondadori Media MarTech Hub, continue to develop with the launch of new integrated solutions and enhancement of their teams’ highest professionalism.

AdKaora and Hej! have always based their growth on advanced technologies, data-driven analysis and consultative approach. To better promote the development of further synergy and enhance the different skills, the two entities have now also adopted a new organisational structure.

Davide Tran, Director of Mondadori Media MarTech Hub: ‘AdKaora and Hej! are first and foremost companies made of people. For us, promoting talent with the aim of creating a professional future in which expertise and diversity are increasingly recognised as factors of success is the real push towards innovation. “Never feeling like you’ve arrived” and always being ready to seize market opportunities are the levers leading to the success of the union between the AdKaora and Hej! teams. For us, synergy starts with shared values, such as courage, determination and cooperation, and materialises in overcoming initial difficulties, which are part of all truly innovative projects, due to the continuous study of best practices, sharing of ideas and a desire to go beyond one’s own boundaries. The joint work of all the teams is real added value for the growth of MarTech Hub, which, for the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, is focused on new acquisitions, investments in AI and the entry in new foreign markets in Europe and Latam,’ concluded Tran.

One of the most dynamic and innovation-oriented areas is business intelligence, led by Iolanda Prezio, Head of Digital Media-Ops & BI at AdKaora, which aims to provide targeted insights and data-driven solutions to support informed business decisions. With data analysis and continuous market research, AdKaora works to offer both a clear and detailed overview of business opportunities and increasingly sophisticated tools to improve internal workflows.

The approach of the Media Buying Team, led by Francesca Ianniello, Head of Buying at Hej!, aims to bring the best results to clients, managing campaigns as well as possible on all digital channels involved in the strategies (from social media to search engines).

Clients can also rely on the consolidated experience in campaign management and continuous improvement of the AdKaora Key Account Team, led by Sara D’Apote, Head of Key Account & Agency Relationship Manager, and the Hej! Operation Team, led by Giusy Esposito, Head of Operations.
The goal of the first is to develop innovative strategies to enable customers to finalise new business opportunities.
The second successfully coordinates campaign operations, working with different departments to optimise performance and develop strategic partnerships. In Rome, customer management for Central Italy is entrusted to the sales division, which is led by Marianna De Vita, Head of Sales for Rome and external areas. She is responsible for consolidating the business areas and strengthening the network of relationships with advertisers and media centres, contributing to the cross-cutting development of the MarTech Hub.

Growth and evolution also come from shared values and a solid corporate culture. Audacity, understanding, flexibility and strategic vision have guided MarTech Hub towards an increasingly clear, full-stack and global positioning on the market. Its message is amplified by the Communication and Events Team, led by Giusy Zaccone, Head of Communications, who manages the communication strategy, collaborates in defining the product storytelling and organises key events to enhance networking with partners and customers.

There is also news of MarTech Hub in the tech and IT sector, and its stronger team with the arrival of Nicholas Farinato in the role of Chief Technology Officer. His team aims to carry forward a vision for the international growth of Value Network properties and marketing solutions that AdKaora offers on the market.
In Rome, technological development is instead entrusted to Paolo Molinara, Chief Technology Officer of Hej!, whose twofold goal is to orient the business lines towards innovative solutions that effectively meet market needs while using advanced technology to develop solutions that add tangible value for customers. The overall objective is to create a tech area capable of creating increasingly differentiated assets on the market, as well as fully developing the synergies already established with PLAI, the Mondadori Group startup accelerator.

AdKaora and Hej!, the international digital companies of Mondadori Group specialised in mobile advertising and conversational marketing with full-funnel advertising solutions, participated in ‘Intersections 2024’ – an event created through the union of IAB Forum and IF! Italians Festival – with a workshop entitled ‘From online to in-store with mobile coupons: the multichannel retail strategy for L’Oréal Paris’.

How can loyal shoppers be engaged by turning drive-to-store into an in-store strategy for retail? The integrated campaign, created by AdKaora and Hej! for the launch of Serum Le duo by L’Oréal Paris, used different channels to cover all levels of the marketing funnel and reach users near Esselunga stores. The project ranges from brand awareness to purchase, where mobile interaction and digital coupon incentives play a key role in pushing consumers to action.

During the meeting, Paolo Ingrosso, Chief Revenue Officer of MarTech Hub Mondadori Media, and Walter Ferrari, Chief Marketing Officer of MarTech Hub Mondadori Media, explained the strategy together with Agostino Massara, Performance Media Manager – Consumer Products Division of L’Oréal Italia, and Martina Conte, Digital Lead of Wavemaker Italy.

The goal was to increase user awareness of the product, as it involved a new launch, stimulating their consideration and intention to try and purchase it.

The campaign, online from September 24th to October 13th, was created together with Wavemaker Italy. The specially-designed project aimed to build engagement and improve the customer experience up to the last mile, objectives achieved thanks to conversational marketing by Hej!. Meanwhile, custom display formats, the click to web format on the Stocard app and social planning guaranteed visibility and visual impact.

Through the integration of checkout technology by Savi, AdKaora’s partner in mobile couponing strategies, it was possible to intercept consumers in the final steps, transforming interest into purchases through the use of digital coupons.

Through cross-channel planning, further profiling via Stocard – an application that allows users to upload loyalty cards from different industries – and the AdKaora proximity suite, it was possible to stimulate loyal Esselunga customers – women aged 25-54 – to push coupon downloads, taking advantage of the product offer, and activating an effective drive to store for product sales locations.

The technologically advanced solutions by AdKaora and Hej! therefore intercepted target audiences near the points of sale of interest due to precise and accurate profiling, communicated the offer to active users, initiated a collection of qualitative leads starting from different channels and retargeted users based on their behaviour.

The results are very clear: 1.7 million Esselunga customers reached with advertising. Across creative formats including AdKaora display, Stocard click to web and Hej! social planning, a 2.8% click through rate was recorded, while 7.1% of users redeemed the coupons by using them in stores (a result that reflects market benchmarks).

Agostino Massara, Performance Media Manager and Consumer Products Division of L’Oréal Italy: ‘Thanks to this communication project, we saw that the target audience was not only stimulated in the consideration phase, but especially in the intent to purchase phase, demonstrating that a loyal buyer, such as at Esselunga in this case, will perform multi-channel actions if encouraged by greater product awareness and a current offer. Furthermore, the insights gathered on consumer behaviour through Hej!’s conversational marketing and mobile couponing could be useful for considering how to eventually scale the strategy to other brands in the division and work in an integrated way with the other commercial functions, in synergy with shared business and growth objectives.’

Martina Conte, Digital Lead at Wavemaker: ‘Since this was a product launch for Serum Le Duo, we wanted to work together with AdKaora and Hej! to create a strategy would go well beyond product awareness, encouraging product purchases due to the digital coupon. In fact, all the channels involved in the strategy worked in synergy to intercept consumers in the various phases of the decision-making process and the results confirmed the effectiveness of the project.’

Andrea Zermian, Sales and Marketing Director of Savi, said: ‘We are proud to have supported this campaign with our mobile couponing technology. Covering the “last mile” with integration at checkout has allowed us to convert consideration into purchasing actions smoothly and effectively, intercepting consumers at the decisive moment of their purchasing experience. This project is an example of how an advanced technological approach and well-orchestrated marketing strategy can generate a significant impact, strengthening the bond between brand and customer. Once again, we confirm our commitment to connecting more and more retailers to our platform to simplify the use of digital coupons for customers and offer brands a technologically advanced tool for optimising advertising investments.’

Davide Tran, Director of Mondadori Media MarTech Hub: ‘Intersections fits perfectly with AdKaora and Hej!’s long-lasting approach to proposing increasingly full-funnel and complementary solutions for the market. The campaign designed for L’Oréal Paris also represents an ideal case study in intertwining brand awareness with drive to store, turning proximity marketing into a retail strategy where the last mile of the customer’s journey is stimulated through Savi’s mobile couponing. With precise, data-driven profiling, we were able to target loyal Esselunga buyers and perform multi-channel lead generation activities, collecting qualitative leads interested in using digital coupons to generate conversions.’

AdKaora, an international digital agency with full-funnel advertising solutions under the Mondadori Group’s MarTech Pole, has created a proximity marketing strategy outside Italy for Safilo Group, one of the most important companies in the eyewear market, to promote the Marc Jacobs eyewear line.

The purpose of the campaign, which went online in April and was managed together with OMD, Omnicom Media Group’s media agency, was to cover the entire customer journey, increasing brand awareness of the product line and stimulating drive-to-store for points of interest in France.

The AdKaora Creative Studio customised a rich and advanced media format with a highly interactive and innovative character to users a unique experience in discovering the brand. Using the Find&Go Now! interactive map, customers actually entered the shops, increasing footfall and passes by the shops where the product was sold.

The proximity marketing developed by AdKaora covered all steps in the funnel, from awareness to consideration to stimulating footfall in shops, through a mix of display formats, rich media and integrated channels that denote proximity.

The campaign recorded a 25.7% engagement rate thanks to the Find&Go Now! map and a 17.3% increase in shop visits.

 The complete success of this strategy was also due to inclusion of the Brand Lift Survey (BLS) tool by AdKaora and Hej! which relied on user interception and user activation to gather valuable information on the target audience tied to precise campaign objectives and KPI measurement.
The objectives of the BLS included:

• analysing brand consideration and brand favourability, i.e. the degree to which users prefer and favourably consider the brand and product;
• extracting more details on the target audience in terms of socio-demographics;
• analysing the perception of competitors;
• collecting insights and KPIs from the entire marketing funnel.

The advertising recorded a 50% increase in brand consideration and a 38%increase in brand favourability, confirming users’ positive sentiment towards the brand. Marc Jacobs also verified the product’s discriminating factors and learned a little more about the target group, such as geographic composition and brand perception amid the competition due to AI-integrated conversational marketing technology.

Mondadori Media’s innovative MarTech Centre – created around the digital company AdKaora following the acquisition of Hej! in 2021 and then the Spanish media agency Adgage, completed a few months ago – aims to offer the market a wide range of next-generation marketing and advertising services.
The offering ranges from proximity marketing solutions to data-driven performance conversational marketing solutions, from mobile first video advertising solutions to a creative studio able to offer customers high-impact and highly effective advertising formats.

The synergies between AdKaora, Hej! and Adgage – which today make up Mondadori Media’s MarTech Centre – began at the end of 2022 with the aim of guaranteeing, from a technological standpoint, better development of new integrated solutions, to enhance the different professional skills available and to maximise commercial effectiveness and go-to-market.
It was a successful undertaking, cemented by the results achieved in 2023, which showed total revenues of more than 32 million euros, up by almost 30% compared to the previous year, alongside the team continuing to grow stronger, and which now numbers 80 professionals across Milan, Rome and Madrid.

GROWTH DRIVERS

International development is one of the strategy’s most important drivers. The acquisition of the Spanish company Adgage opened up important new international opportunities in 2023, starting in Spain itself and, in recent months, Latin America.
This allowed AdKaora and Hej! to expand into foreign markets and to extend the AdKaora Value Network, thanks to the entry of important new publishing groups worldwide, with entry into other European markets and beyond also planned for 2024.

The second development lever for the coming years is the search for companies that can be integrated in order to offer innovative and complementary solutions to the range of services already offered. A number of interesting special operations are already under consideration in this area.

The third area of development focuses on the strong ability of the in-house marketing, tech and innovation teams to continue developing new products by understanding the opportunities that technological developments provide ahead of time. Along these lines, AdKaora has recently launched new advertising solutions on the market, like Impact Video, a high-impact, full-screen mobile format that is part of an advanced total video strategy covering different channels and focusing on the most interesting current KPI: Attention. The effectiveness of AdKaora’s video formats has been proven by the excellent results in ‘The Attention Game’ research conducted by GroupM and by KPIs provided by third-party certifiers such as Lumen and DoubleVerify.

Proximity marketing has also taken a further leap towards even more effective coverage of the entire consumer funnel thanks to the partnership with Savi – a marketing technology company specialising in coupon-based shopper activation services – where the aim is to strengthen product consideration and purchase incentives through mobile couponing.

Consideration becomes a crucial stage to oversee in order to achieve more concrete results: 2024 will therefore see the consolidation of AdKaora and Hej’s! full funnel proposal, which combines the quality of products with branding focus of the former with the performance strength of the latter.
The strength of Hej! Lies in harnessing Artificial Intelligence at different product and analysis levels. Using its proprietary platform, which is increasingly advanced in terms of analysis automation, Hej! can offer its customers in-depth qualitative analyses aimed at optimising the results of the entire supply chain. With data collected in real time, it is possible to achieve optimal performance and act on the subsequent marketing steps, like processing a qualitative lead.

And it is specifically Generative Artificial Intelligence that the Mondadori Group intends to invest in significantly in the coming years, not least to support the growth of the MarTech Centre. In this respect, a major Open Innovation project will soon be launched, which will also see Mondadori Media at the centre of the AI-related revolution in publishing and marketing.

A NEW STRUCTURE FOR THE MARTECH HUB

In order to achieve its ambitious goals, the MarTech Centre has established a new organisational structure.
Reporting directly to Andrea Santagata, Managing Director of Mondadori Media, Davide Tran, formerly Director of AdKaora, was appointed as Director of the MarTech Centre, with the aim of implementing the new development strategy and maximising synergies.
Reporting directly to Davide Tran, Stefano Argiolas was confirmed as Managing Director of Hej! and appointed the Head of Artificial Intelligence for the Mondadori Group; Paolo De Santis, Co-Managing Director of Hej!, was appointed the Head of Development of New Acquisitions for the MarTech Centre.
To strengthen international development, Luca Nigro, former Managing Director of Adgage, was appointed the Director of Development for the MarTech Centre in LATAM countries; Francesco Binetti, Head of Operations at AdKaora, was appointed the Director of International Development for the MarTech Centre’s Publisher Solutions.
The central sales department is entrusted to Paolo Ingrosso, appointed as Sales Manager for the MarTech Centre, and Luigi D’Alterio, Sales Manager of Hej! and MarTech Centre’s direct customers, while Walter Ferrari assumes the role of Marketing Manager.

AdKaora and Hej!, the Mondadori Group’s MarTech Centre digital agencies, and Savi, a marketing technology company specialising in managing shopper activation services using discount coupons, have been chosen by Sofidel, a leading manufacturer of paper for hygienic and domestic use to promote the Regina Asciugoni product with a proximity marketing campaign aimed at distributing digital discount coupons.

The campaign ran online in November and December 2023, together with Wavemaker, and was aimed at product awareness and drive to store, through multichannel planning: standard and interstitial display, push notifications, formats and notifications on the Stocard app, Hej! social media. All these formats were shown to the target group of shoppers and frequent shoppers nearby Esselunga sales points and let them get on Savi’s form or on Hej!’s “AI based” conversational landing page, in the case of social media, with the aim of getting the users to download the coupon.

The project’s goal was to intercept the target audience nearby the relevant sales points for the campaign and tell them about the existing product offer, influencing the shopper journey through mobile couponing. According to research by Iri FMCG Demand Signals, more than 40% of Italian households search for discounts and offers when shopping.

The results were positive: on four different placements (AdKaora network, Push Notification, Stocard, Hej!) the campaign reached about 1 million users and about 24,000 users lgot to the landing pages, and over 4,000 coupons were generated.

Moreover, a CTR on AdKaora display formats of 1.63% and on push notifications of 2.45% were recorded, confirming the users’ interest and consideration for the product and the offers activated.

The combination of AdKaora’s advanced proximity marketing suite and Savi’s shopping activation technology enables brands to enhance their marketing strategies, boosting brand awareness, consideration and conversion through the integration of Savi’s technology in the main sales point checkouts and through AdKaora and Hej!’s multi-channel planning. This makes it possible to engage users at the points of interest involved in the campaign, but also to gather important insights for brands about consumer behaviour through footfall and post-campaign analysis.

AdKaora and Savi are active with digital coupons on a major retailer network covering several large-scale retail chains in Italy, including Coop, Acqua e Sapone, Iper, Esselunga, and Carrefour. Savi’s platform is integrated with the ecosystem of individual retailers and allows the shopper to redeem promotions in every large or small sales point increasing product consideration and encouraging impulse purchases.

Andrea Zermian, Sales and Marketing Director for Savi said: “From the outset, Sofidel showed great interest and confidence in the proposal we presented to the market through our partnership with AdKaora. The results were encouraging and this further strengthens the partnership’s development prospects. Today, we are able to offer brands an end-to-end, measurable, omnichannel tool that closes the circle of every promotion by providing timely data on both consideration, thanks to issuing coupons, and actual conversion, thanks to the use of coupons at checkouts. This means it’s not only a matter of engaging customers when they are inside the sales point doing their shopping, but also in the consideration phases: announcements, supported by having a voucher, positively impact on perception by leveraging a concrete benefit that supports the customer through the subsequent phases of the funnel”.

Davide Tran, CEO of AdKaora, stated: “Together with Sofidel and our partner Savi, we wanted to achieve very specific communication goals, such as reinforcing product consideration and encouraging purchase by using digital coupons. In addition to achieving high reach numbers with multi-channel planning, another important result was the collection of qualitative leads through Hej!’s conversational marketing, which enabled significant performance in terms of coupon generation and redemption at the sales point. We would like to bring continuous innovations into proximity marketing strategies not only for distribution channels but also in terms of results by adding other “last mile” solution that give a nod to customers’ wishes”.