Meet Gianandrea Facchini, Brand Buzz Detector

It must be the made in Italy thing, I liked Gianandrea instantly. We met in the comments of blog posts first, and then in person a couple of years ago around Christmas time in Rome.

In between getting his own company off the ground and being very hospitable, Gianandrea espouses the generosity of social with the sharp intelligence of the business person who has the hands-on experience.

If you're a company doing business in Europe, do yourself a favor and look him up. I rarely recommend, but when I do you can count on results.

Gianandrea joined the community early on, he wrote a couple of posts on luxury brands that are still worth attention. Here's the context and links. It is my pleasure to introduce him to you.

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Why are you online?

Gianandrea: Because it's the place where we can forge the future of business as well as society and politics. The true impact of the Social Web on our daily life is emerging day by day and if you are a passive receiver, a couch potato, it means you'll lose the opportunity to have an impact.

And I wish to get the max from this opportunity as Passion to me is the engine for change.

What prompted to post in "About You" at Conversation Agent?

Gianandrea: Because Conversation Agent is a place where to meet thinkers and develop ideas.

My business is built on listening to conversations between people and trying to get the best out of them for my clients: how are people talking about you, your company? Do they use your product as expected? Is there a new market you have not investigated, yet? What about your competitors?

So is there a better place than a blog called Conversation Agent? I don't think so. Recently, through monitoring, my company delivered the concept for a new TV campaign to one of our clients. This is a great case study about the opportunity offered by the Social Web.

Boehringer Buscofen Case Study - we monitored conversations for 8 weeks with the purpose of getting a picture of the situation for the company. Within the research, we found a couple of product description provided by one user and by the boyfriend of another users. The two description were rather unusual and we brought them to the client's attention.

Then we worked with the creative agency to explore the concepts. The agency prepared four storyboards, two with our concepts and two with their own concepts, and ran some tests. And the winner was: Roaring ladies.

It's based on the concept that the monthly menstrual cycle is not only a problem for women but for their boyfriends and friends because it turns sweet souls into devilish creatures!!!

The ad is currently on TV and we further begun to work on a website called Lunastorta, with the goal to turn it into a small dedicated social network. For something more structured the first 14 pages of this document, including the TV ad, are here.

What are you working on that you feel will connect ideas and people?

Gianandrea: I'm working on a book where to transfer the experience and the key learnings of these last three years. I'm also working on creating a Non Profit association because this is where the Web can give its best.

Another action is the retooling of my online presence, through a new layout for the two blogs, Bizandbuzz and Buzzdetector, and a greater focus on fewer topics like monitoring and strategy.

The future is to turn my company into a strategic boutique that leverages the insights emerging from the Web, to build a bridge between people's ideas and the reality of corporations.

Who would you like to connect with?

Gianandrea: Thinkers, people looking at the future to get actionable insights to make the world a better place to live and work. Practitioners of the Social Web working on the strategic side of the business.

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It sounds just like my cup of tea - or rather espresso. Chime in, meet Gianandrea, ask questions.

Comments

[gianandrea facchini]

Cosa dire di più: grazie!
(what can I say more than Thank you so much?)
It's a great honour to me to know you and to have the opportunity to have conversation with you.

[jasmine]

Nice blog post. Thanks for sharing it.

[CK]

2 items of note:

#1: Regarding Gianandrea:
"Gianandrea espouses the generosity of social with the sharp intelligence of the business person who has the hands-on experience." I can't agree more; I've been astounded for years at these qualities of Gianandrea. A rare gem is he.

#2: Regarding, YOU (Valeria).
You never cease to turn the spotlight on others; be it here, on Twitter, in your speeches/presentations or during our conversations. I just wanted to let you know that we recognize and appreciate that... as well as the copious smarts you share and write on every day. (I'm just not sure how you ever find time for sleep with all you do!)

[Alex Grech]

I'm just an hour's flight away from you, Gianandrea. We both know Valeria. And all our work is around the strategic use of the social web, these days. Let's connect over a cappuccino in Campo de' Fiori in January.

Grazie Valeria, come sempre!

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Gianandrea - I still remember the lively dinner conversation in the timeless city. Thank you for being so hospitable.

@CK - Awww, you're very kind. Sleeping? What is that? LOL!

@Alex - glad you jumped in with the offer. You would both benefit from the exchange and connection.