Italia. Open to meraviglia: the most discussed campaign of the moment

It was presented just a couple of weeks ago, but it has already been widely talked about.

We are talking about the tourist promotion campaign “Italy. Open to meraviglia” carried out by the Ministry for Tourism and Enit.

The campaign was presented through a video posted on the Ministry’s website, in which the marketing initiative is briefly described. And it is in the video that the exceptional testimonial chosen for the campaign is introduced: the Venus of Botticelli in the role of a virtual influencer, repurposed in a modern key with modern-day outfits and accessories.

Through her voice, the Venus explains how from now on she will become “the image of Italy in the world”, the one who will tell about its beauty on various social channels under the nickname of venereitalia23.

Finally, the logo of the campaign is presented, namely an Italian flag shaped as a window and its slogan, which is also the name of the campaign: Italy. Open to meraviglia.

Public opinion was sharply divided on the issue, between those who found the campaign original and, in general, agreeable and those who didn’t like it at all.

But the negative comments and criticism involve a larger segment of the public, which considers the campaign completely inadequate for the purpose of presenting and promoting Italy around the world.

Trying to proceed in order, the main criticized aspects of the campaign concern:

• the choice of the testimonial. Beyond the role of virtual influencer, which didn’t’ make everyone agree, what is unconvincing about the Venus lies on the fact that she could be a testimonial not easily recognizable if we take into consideration the target audience of the campaign. In fact, the campaign is mainly intended to promote Italy abroad, especially among a young audience, and the figure of Botticelli’s Venus, as famous as the painting may be, could not be so well known, especially in countries outside Europe.

• the hybrid slogan between English and Italian. First of all, the meaning to be given to the phrase open to is unclear, but what aroused the most criticism was the choice to use the word “meraviglia”. A word that is difficult for non-Italian speakers as it is long, difficult to memorize and specially to pronounce.
• the poor internationalization. The website created to promote Italy in at least 33 countries around the world is only available in three languages, namely Italian, English and Spanish.

There are, then, a whole series of mistakes and superficiality about technical details and the realization of promotional materials. First of all, the non-registration of the domain opentomeravilgia.it or the official username (venereitalia23) on Twitter; the use of images in the presentation video that were not shot in Italy or mistakes regarding the information included on the website.

But what caused the most hilarity among the public was the German version of the website, in which even the proper names had been automatically translated leading to rather amusing results, with for example the city of Camerino becoming Garderobe.

In short, the presentation of the campaign was certainly not the best and caused quite a bit of discussion, with an interesting basic idea that was executed not very well.

A marketing campaign must be attractive, understandable, and convincing —all premises that perhaps this campaign does not seem to possess at the moment. As well as at the moment it is not yet possible to predict the actual results of Open to meraviglia, which could instead prove to be the winning strategy for a valid promotion of Italy in the world.

At Mediability, as a marketing and communication agency, we are always interested in the latest news regarding the world of communication and innovative promotion campaigns, in order to stay updated and advise you in the best possible way. Contact us to learn more!