Made By Italy
Reinventing Tradition + Preserving Culture
Client: Italia Innovation
Role: Project manager; co-led team of 11 master’s candidates from Parsons School of Design
Skills: Project management, workshop facilitation, qualitative and market research, prototype testing, business modeling
CHALLENGE
To design an innovative way to introduce panettone to the US market without compromising its traditional Italian heritage.
Consulting firm Italia Innovation enlisted Parsons School of Design to envision a product launch to bring a high-end, artisanal panettone to the US market.
While panettone would be featured under their own label, Italia Innovation’s business primarily involves strategies for other companies’ craft products — hence our team developed concepts that could use panettone as the prototype, and be reimagined to introduce other examples of culture and craftsmanship into new markets.
RESEARCH APPROACH
In addition to researching consumers’ relationships with food and culture, we explored what luxury meant to individuals in today’s increasingly digital world.
Research methods included field observations of shopping and dining experiences as well as short, anonymous surveys to learn about emotional experiences with food and reactions to the concept of food as luxury.
Market research and ecoystem mapping helped us understand the landscape of the baked goods market in the U.S.
Stakeholder interviews included a broad demographic spectrum of both seasoned and uninitiated panettone customers, food business owners, and artisan baking experts. We synthesized the range of personalities and experiences we encountered into a set of customer personas.
Rather than diluting our market strategy to appeal to all consumers, we focused on the journey of the Uninitiated Panettone Consumer as our target audience for concept development.
INSIGHTS
Quality and transparency = highest priorities for consumers making food choices
Consumers associate authenticity with transparency and quality as well as the idea of a story or tradition
Most American consumers who appreciate panettone associate it with experiences with family or loved ones
Consumers uninitiated to panettone associate it with being dry, stale, and antiquated – an image our solution would need to work to overcome
Luxury is more about very personal, intimate experiences and micro-indulgences than elite status
What consumers seek in their food choices — quality, authenticity, transparency — aligns with the tradition of Italian craftsmanship
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Two questions framed our concept development:
How might we introduce new consumption rituals into a person’s life that are both luxurious and accessible?
How might we involve consumers in the experience of craft?
I co-facilitated a design sprint with our team to brainstorm concepts that responded to our framing questions and insights.
Each member of our team chose a concept to develop further and present to the group.
PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT + TESTING
We used “Made By Italy” as an overarching theme to encompass two ideas we selected to prototype and test.
PROTOTYPE #1: ITALIA MARK
A curated subscription box of artisanal Italian goods paired with exclusive digital stories from the makers.
Designed to introduce curious consumers to unique artisanal products and the stories behind them, Italia Mark is an intentionally curated subscription box of Italian goods delivered monthly. The box is paired with digital content that introduces the consumer to the people and process behind the products they will experience.
PROTOTYPE #2: MADE WITH ITALY
A marketing platform for entrepreneurs to teach and promote their craft.
The Made With Italy platform equips entrepreneurs to teach short courses on the basics of their craft, while facilitating a dialogue around heritage and cultural exchange. Students experience classes online or in the instructor’s studio, and can access an online marketplace to purchase their instructor’s wares as well as other products in the Made With Italy family.
KEY TAKEAWAYS + LEARNINGS
Wide range of reactions to pricing —> further testing needed
Users responded enthusiastically to the experiential components of both prototypes
Cultural focus = easy to understand and inspired users to begin imagining their next experience
We distilled users’ feedback into a set of actionable insights to share with the client and to implement in the next phase of prototyping the concept they chose to move forward with.
IMPACT + NEXT STEPS
Italia Innovation launched their collaborative panettone. product in Northern California in November of 2019.
A collaboration between local Californian producers, Italia Innovation, and culinary incubator KitchenTown, the product was offered throughout the holiday season at a number of specialty retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area.