Lieven Serneels, student Communication Management at the Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen:
“The people really made us feel welcome”
Chianina. Many people have never heard of it. Students of the Katholieke Hogeschool in Mechelen launched and worked out a complete campaign to make Chianina a household word .
Plenty of research had to be done in advance. The students set up questionnaires, distributed them among Chianina-owners, tourists, butcher's shops and the youth in the Valdichiana and collected them again. Lieven Serneels, student of Communication Management, explains: “We asked them for example what qualities distinguish the Chianina from other breeds, what it means for them to work with the Chianina, and how they think about exporting the Chianina in Europe,”. “We could really feel that we were working on the passion of some people. They really made us feel welcome .”
With our research as a starting point we tried to define common grounds to reach the target group. The target group of this campaign are tourists in search of surplus value, but also journalists and restaurateurs. That was the first of four stages of the campaign.
Lieven Serneels: "We brainstormed
for a couple of days"
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Strategy, creation and media planning
First we conceived the strategy, which is an exhaustive description of all the objectives. Which people are part of the target group? What are their hobbies? What do they like to eat? What are their favourite travel destinations? How do they have to identify with the product Chianina?
“We brainstormed for a couple of days. After a while we ended up with the key words dedication and respect ,” says Serneels.
The creation stage was our next challenge. The students made two posters, one to attract the journalists, another for the tourists in search of surplus value. “The journalists received a usb stick with advertising material and a full description of the campaign. If the journalists write about this project, they may arouse the interest of investors. The campaign can also be downloaded at our site, “says Serneels. The final stage is devoted to media planning. The students implemented a campaign of publicity and media exposure with the stress on Interactive communication and PR via journalists. 
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The students hope that their project will put the Chianina on the European map, that the campaign will excite the journalists' interest in the project and – last but not least - that local youth will take more interest in farming as a result of the media exposure. “We will not be able to see the result by ourselves but I hope that we will hear how the campaign kicks up dust. We got a strong tie with the locals and the Chianina has conquered our hearts. It would be nice to hear that the campaign isn't missing target,” Serneels concludes.
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You can watch both movies here:
Movie 1
Movie 2 back |
