The Italian market has historically been characterized by a strong penetration and a massive investment in traditional media. Branded Content is a growing phenomenon strongly related to the widespread diffusion of digital devices such as smartphones and tablets. Companies, especially for brand awareness issues, still prefer to plan on traditional media.

On the other hand the economic crisis pushes towards digital investments but the conversational nature of the web is still a strong deterrent for the spreading branded content along digital medias.

Actually the problem is the increasing mass of the elusive consumers. This is why it is crucial to use alternative tactics to engage them on non-traditional media.

Our market is still small when considered in terms of absolute value but potentially interesting for ads investments.

Samsung Maestros Academy reconnects 2 generations, preserving the future of 'Made in Italy' and fostering a new generation of Italian artisans. It is the first cross-device platform where young talents learn the secrets of 5 famed world-class artisans, according to their native language: technologies. The online platform inspired and drove meaningful consumers engagements: more than 40 video-lessons, full of invaluable ancient secrets and real-time interactive lessons, generating great stories of success and outstanding design pieces, that inspired Discovery Italia to produce a 12 episodes series. A multi-platform campaign that also involved digital billboards, smart-TV and social media.

With more than 1 million Youtube-views in few days, 4.5 million FB-users reached, 6 million TV-viewers and 30 million media impressions -in Italy alone-, Maestros became the only place with such an extensive content about handcrafting.

During all interactive lessons, users asked very specific questions regarding what they learnt through the platform. Almost the 50% of live-lessons participants asked the Maestros to become apprentices, exceeding the available positions by 300%, on average. Maestros inspired an entire generation to look at handcrafting with new eyes, empowering consumer awareness on product features, enhancing even brand perception and brand reputation.