Among the essential ingredients of good field marketing is an excellent knowledge of local preferences, where people like to meet, shop and socialise. In fact, you cannot deliver good field marketing without having an excellent understanding of the urban and socio-cultural fabric of the environment within which you operate. This means staying up to date on current trends, understanding what is influencing local interests and how this is changing people's behavior. Field marketers need to keep a keen eye on the market, ready to capitalise on every new and interesting opportunity that presents itself.
Our Italian Partners, Settimo Piano, outline an excellent example of doing just this, by the regeneration of municipal market, Piazza Wagner, which is the oldest covered market in Milan.
The recent refurbishment of the Wagner market saw the opening of a bar, with tables placed in the center of the market for consumers to dine on the locally produced products. Additionally, a space was created that combined services; such as a medical clinic for the elderly and an area for homework and snacks for the little ones.
"The goal of this redevelopment is to create new hybrid places for neighborhood life: spaces intended not only for shopping, but also for social gathering and catering. The Wagner Market has always been a place much loved by citizens, both for the quality of the products that are sold there for their everyday shopping but also for the sociability and proximity of the services they can offer."
Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala
Settimo Piano immediately recognised in this project an opportunity for their field marketing activities and entered into a specific agreement with the municipality of Milan to carry out field marketing activities in the Wagner Market. In particular for their client, Remedy Dental Care, a network of Italian dental practices that had recently opened a new clinic In Milan. Settimo Piano was briefed to create a lead generation campaign to drive consumers in-store for the Dental practice. The new Wagner Market was the perfect location. Not only was it a new trendy destination, but it allowed the brand to be highly visible to the right target demographic.
Remedy Dental Care was the ideal starting point for Settimo Piano to showcase how brands can use the Wagner local market to appeal to new customers. As Milanese citizens rediscover the beauty of the market they will also fall in love with the convenience. Markets are no longer just a place to shop, but real points of gathering both socially and culturally.
With these initiatives, Milan further strengthens its cosmopolitan and international reputation by embracing the culture of large foreign covered markets, but it does so without losing that neighborhood dimension that allows the city to be close to its citizens. This is good news for the city of Milan and an excellent opportunity for field marketing, bringing brands even closer to their target customers.