Take a Peek at the Future of the Corriere
STUDENTS AT THE WASHINGTON CAMPUS ABROAD TOOK PART IN AN INTERESTING PROJECT WITH THE MILAN NEWSPAPERThere should be short, simple articles, with clear and direct news without getting into too much detail. And then there needs to be a place for interaction for users to voice their opinions, like a community connected to Facebook. And then columns dedicated to travel, work and study. All this would be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on any computer or mobile device. This is what a group of students thought of for the Corriere.it of the future. For them, the future is already here, since they aren't used to getting information the tradition way (by buying a newspaper at the newsstand), but are experts at navigating the deepest chasms of the net.
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| The winning group (with Piergaetano Marchetti in the center) with Fulvio Ortu and Marco Pratellesi (on the right) |
In short, these are the features of the project Up2U designed by Annina Bonagura, Stefania Di Maggio, Francesca Iadicicco, Gaetana Santojanni and Anna Sarto, winners of the competition "Corriere 2015 – The future of digital information in Bocconi student projects." The contest was created by a collaboration between Corriere.it and Università Bocconi and involved students in the e-marketing course which took place in July on the Campus Abroad at Georgetown University in Washington. Twenty-nine students divided into six groups drafted detailed e-marketing projects for Corriere.it, exploring the oppotunities offered by the web and new media, looking at how younger generations use these technologies. Projects were presented Friday, 18 September in the Montanelli room at Corriere della Sera, with Ferruccio de Bortoli, editor in chief of the Corriere, the President of RCS Quotidiani, Piergaetano Marchetti, Marco Pratellesi, editor of Corriere.it, Fulvio Ortu, Vice Rector and Dean for International Affairs at Bocconi, Antonella Carù, Program Director of the Master of Science in Marketing Management, and Margherita Pagani, professor of the course in Washington.
"I think the strong points of our project are its feasibility and its simpliticy," says the representative for the recognized work, Gaetana Snatojanni. "It's a project aimed at young people and keeps the target's needs in mind." The project is actually much more complex than it may seem after a quick presentation, and it required a long phase of research and gathering of information. "We interviewed 25 of our acquaintances over the internet," continues Francesca Iadicicco, "plus we did over 20 other interviews with Americans chosen randomly. We asked about the way they get information and then we gave 130 concept tests to a target of 16-26 year-olds." Results showed that the target group rarely bought newspapers but looked for information for free everywhere, about various topics, using all kinds of modern technology.
"The fact that we worked in the United States," say Gaetana and Francesca, "allowed us to get to know a very advanced setting both in terms of mentality and in terms of available technology. Our project will therefore be just right for the Italian environment in 2015, like the year mentioned in the title of the competition, which might be similar to the current American situation."
"Newspapers are in the middle of a process of transformation due to new technologies and new ways of expressing information," says Ferruccio de Bortoli, "and we viewed the ideas to get to know new readers presented by Bocconi students with great interest." "The aim of these assignments is to demonstrate how new technologies can help companies and reinforce client relationships through new marketing strategies," stressed Margherita Pagani, "since the number of online newspaper readers is continuously increasing."
The winning project, along with the other projects' best ideas, will soon be subject of an analysis by a Bocconi-Corriere joint table to evaluate its feasibility.
by Davide Ripamonti
Translated by Jenna Walker
