Today was a simpler day than the past few, consisting of two media visits, but it was definitely the most interesting so far, for several reasons.
We started the day by visiting Arkage, part of the Artattack group, an Italian advertising agency. Their clients are some of the largest brands in the country and the world, including Universal, Uber, Ford, Fiat, Save the Children and more.
The three presenters from Arkage were the most passionate people that we’ve met so far in Rome. It was clear that they loved their jobs and people who worked to better themselves with every project.
They showed us examples of their work and talked about the current state of advertising in Italy. When we were at the American University of Rome lecture, the professor told us that women are still being exploited in Italian advertising and in the media, but the folks at Arkage were not for that – they rely on real people for several of their projects and don’t like the way women are viewed in the media.
“Try not to create more ugliness in the world,” the agency’s creative director said. “Decrease the noise.”
The group walked through their creative process with us and gave us some pastries and espresso after our talk.
After Arkage, we went to la Repubblica, one of the largest newspapers in Italy, for a presentation from some of their employees and a tour of the facility.
Inside the security fences of the campus – which also hosts other media companies and other business offices in addition to la Repubblica – stood a tall, modern building with a glass exterior and no indication of its identification. In America, almost every building has at least a sign outside, with usually large letters at the top to share its identity to the world. There were no signs, large letters, or even a directory.
Our host told us the lack of signage was for security purposes.
We were taken to the television studio inside the paper’s offices, used extensively as part of the publication’s multimedia wing.
They gave us a presentation on their social media strategy and walked us through how they created some of their best interactive multimedia stories that rely on thorough data journalism.
After our presentation, we had more espresso and went on a tour of the building, which included the online and print newsrooms.
Sidebar – Espresso in Italy is one of the most popular drinks. It’s our version of coffee, but it’s taken in small doses and is incredibly strong. The kicks I got from the espresso at Enel and la Repubblica were stronger than any kick I’ve gotten from American coffee in a long time.
Anyways – Like the ad agency, the folks at la Repubblica really had a passion for their job and were visibly happy to be there. They were cheery and welcoming to our whole group.
When our media visits were done, we adventured to a bar in downtown Rome that was Pittsburgh-themed. The owner, Giovanni, is from Canada and was thrilled to see a group of Yinzers. There was even a Point Park banner on one of the walls.
After taking in the first half of a soccer game, he took us to a nearby restaurant that he highly recommended. When we were walking to the Pittsburgh bar, someone stopped us on the street (because of our Pittsburgh gear) and told us to come to his place after we were done because he was friends with Giovanni. Well, apparently he’s just some schmuck from LA who wanted to scam us. Giovanni treated us so well.
Our dinner was amazing – I haven’t had a bad meal yet – and the only downside of the night was our venture in the rain. While we were on the tram going to Downtown Rome, the floodgates opened and we got soaked. Everyone was drenched from head to toe. We stopped in a small gift shop to take cover and wait out the storm, but it didn’t go away. We made it nonetheless and had a really nice night as a group.
Tomorrow, we will visit an energy company that has a heavy focus on internal communications and have a group dinner in ancient ruins.