Meet Francesca, Partner at Canopy

When it comes to a fun-loving, smart, relatable and honest partner, I couldn't ask for anyone better than Francesca Vitali-Allevato. 

Fran and I have worked together since 2004 -- a daunting number of years considering how difficult I can be to work with ;). From our days at Sterling Brands, to today, our brother-sister relationship has never wavered, outside of the usual kicking and screaming I do, which is why we work so well together. She keeps me sane, and protects the integrity of everything we do.

Francesca's 20 years of experience in the world of branding, strategy and innovation gives us a major leg up in the industry. She has innovated and created brand strategies for some of the biggest global brands, such as Lonza, Mondelez, Nestle, Unilever -- as well as creating and launching successful challenger brands. Her categories of focus are food and beverage, wine & spirits, fashion, beauty, health & wellness.

From innovation, brand strategy, naming and product ideation she’s been able to reinvent, reposition, establish and reestablish brands old, and new.

She believes strongly that (and I love this quote), "Where there is tension there is great opportunity.”

“I look at brand strategy and innovation as a building block for untapped opportunities. By understanding global shifts with consumers, brands and businesses across health and wellness, CPG, beauty and retail, I look to uncover ground breaking insights, and bring them to life creating new opportunities.”

— Francesca Vitali-Allevato

Francesca is comfortably set in the sunshine of our Laguna Beach office, where she can literally hear the waves crash. A bit of a juxtaposition from the noise we hear in our NYC office, which is a very nice balance.

Fran and I have also partnered together on a new sister agency to Canopy, LAUNCH Innovation, which she founded in 2018. Here, we partner with Health & Wellness and Consumer Nutrition brands by conducting proprietary innovation workshops and strategies that inspire new, market-ready product ideas.

THE CULTURE RESET: Unsettled Times. Unsettled Culture. Unsettled Brands.

It's time to address the challenges your business is adapting to today, and capitalize on it for years to come. How? Through proprietary insights that determine how generations will make their purchasing decisions.

These unsettled times we're living in have shattered the fundamental meaning of brands. Importantly, this is a "cultural brand leveling" moment for consumers and marketers. A moment in time to smartly re-examine, reposition, reinforce, even reformulate your brand to achieve new revenue goals.

Enter THE CULTURE RESET PLATFORM -- designed to create and maintain brand saliency in these changing times. The platform provides proprietary thinking and key consumer connection points. 

We unlock Generational Consumer Resonance, Cultureography, Narratives and Visualization for defining and optimizing your brands ultimate 'Culture Truth'. They are guaranteed outcomes.

What are the key steps you ask?

1. Virtual Briefing -- A complimentary 30 minute briefing session to take you deeper into the entire platform solutions package and guaranteed outcomes on how people decide what they decide and why they value what they value.

2. Fast Track Thinking Session -- We conduct two 90 minute sessions where we arrive at a group consensus, common vision and action points. It’s our highly collaborative approach to arriving at an initial culture truth platform statements.

3. Synthesize & Shape -- We agree, focus, and shape what we’ve uncovered into final culture platform statements.

4. Generational Resonance -- Recognizing that all truths are generationally shaped, we will provide a structure insuring the message is universally powerful, as well as applicable to that consumer's journey.

5. Visualization -- We create visual design cues to bring these truth statements to life for consumers.

6. Testing (optional) -- Available if you so choose using our video research network.

7. Final Culture Reset Recommendation -- The final strategic roadmap that defines your brands ultimate culture truth along with key narratives for generational resonance going forward.

WHAT DOES "VIRTUAL" REALLY MEAN?

Will Doing Things Virtually Become The New Norm?

You see it in almost any ebook, article, or interview that talks about digital technology: “prepare for doing things virtually to become the new norm.”

But how much truth is there in this statement? And what does it mean for your digital marketing strategy and business overall?

What Does Doing Things "Virtually" Mean?

In marketing, most of the efforts businesses put out take place online, meaning in the digital sphere. Sure, you may still order a few posters or flyers here and there, but there’s no denying that the better bulk of marketing efforts are unfolded online, through websites, Google ads, social media strategies, and more.

Given where we are in this moment in time, could the next step be more than digital, and go into the virtual? You’ve probably heard of the term virtual reality from movies or even other marketing resources. It’s a replica of reality plastered in the digital world, giving the viewer a more realistic experience of what they’re consuming. Audiences don’t just sit on their couch to watch - they put on some goggles and become part of the content.

Virtual Reality in Digital Marketing

Virtual reality poses some exciting new opportunities for digital marketers. These days, consumers are looking for content that can engage them and that they can interact with and control to some degree. And considering how much information is online, you really can’t blame the user for always looking for new forms of entertainment.

Enter virtual reality, the element that can allow digital marketing to meet these demands.

If you think this is something for the future, think again. Around 75% of top brands worldwide have integrated VR into their strategy, with even the New York Times jumping on the bandwagon.

VR technology can take your digital marketing efforts to the next level, and allow you to:

• Engage users in different ways;

• Establish yourself as a leader in your industry, especially since VR technology isn’t that widespread yet. Jumping on this trend soon can give you a competitive edge;

• Improve your storytelling;

• Showcase your products better, which can help increase sales;

• Attract a new audience, especially those most excited about new technologies.

But Will It Be the Norm?

It could, since it definitely has the potential, but it still has a long way to go. The technology isn’t that warmly embraced yet. You still have some issues in terms of accessibility - not everyone in the world has the necessary tools to view or take part in VR content. So, if brands would focus solely on it, it would effectively single out a big chunk of their audiences as a result.

It is a smart idea to adopt this technology now because it’s not yet the norm, and now more than ever consumers are making purchasing decisions online. Brands who jump on the trend today have time to perfect their digital marketing strategy so that by the time it does become the norm, they can become industry leaders.