Client Alfa Romeo
Partnership an event staged in collaboration with RIAR (Registro Italiano Alfa Romeo), and in partnership with Fiera Milano, the City of Milan, and Pirelli
Location Milan
Typology of the project and activity Coordination - Organizing Office and Press Office - Production, Sets and Shows - Club and Community Management - Partner & Sponsor Research and Management -Grand Automotive Event - Brand Heritage - Territorial Marketing
Objectives
- To reinforce the value and identity of the Alfa Romeo brand with an unprecedented event, reviving for all participants the tradition of Alfa Romeo, an automotive Company that has written Italy's automotive history for 100 years.
- To gather Alfisti - clubs, collectors, dealers, enthusiasts - from all over the world and motivate them to participate in the international rally with their own cars.
- To organize an event capable of reaching diverse audiences - Alfisti, the Media and Opinion Leaders, the Milanese Public, and Italian and International Public Opinion - presenting the technical, stylistic, sports, and emotional values of the Alfa Romeo brand.
- To take advantage of the event's occasion to open new partnerships and co-marketing relationships.
Strategic guidelines
'Milano Città Alfa' (Alfa City Milan): launching off of the strong historic association between the Company and the City of Milan to make both the stars of a grand international event, like the Alfa Romeo Centenary. Milan was the heart and stage of welcoming activities that entertained, excited, and intrigued visitors, in particular, the Clubs and Alfisti that arrived from all over the world. A "programme of events" was created that, despite the constraints of a limited budget, permitted working on different levels of communication: Corporate aimed at Institutions, the Media, and Opinion Leaders; Conquest Marketing aimed at the market and Public Opinion, tied in particular to the launch of the new Giulietta; Loyalty Marketing aimed at Clients and Alfisti.
Furthermore, all collateral events organized by private and public entities for the celebration of the Alfa Romeo Centenary were coordinated to coincide: among these were the extended opening hours of the Museum in Arese, the afternoon on the racecourse at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the photography and stamp exhibition covering the automobile industry hosted in the Spazio Cultura Lem Uno (the exhibition area of the Fiera Milano Rho), and the themed exhibition 100x100: cento alfa per cent'anni (one hundred Alfas for one hundred years) on the programme at the Parco Esposizioni Novegro (Milan).
Action
MAC Group devised a Strategic Plan by which the entire event (Production and Organization) was coordinated and organized, directly managing relations with all participants (Customer Relations Management), and all operational, administrative, logistical, and creative phases (Project Management).
Milan was transformed and personalized into an event-city, involving piazzas, streets, parks, exhibition areas, meeting points, and even the tangenziale ringroad for a symbolic, record-breaking, final embrace. From the morning to well into the night, in 5 important piazzas of Milan - Piazza della Scala, Via Dante, Piazza San Babila, Corso Como, and Bastioni di Porta Venezia - two cars were put on display: important models from Alfa Romeo's history set alongside the newborn Giulietta. MAC Group involved Poste Italiane in the event, reserving a place for them in the Fiera Milano Rho to present an exclusive cancellation stamp created specifically for Alfa Romeo's 100th anniversary.
About 3,000 Alfa Romeo crews from all over the world were received in the Fiera Milano Rho, where the registration area and buffet zone were prepared for a Saturday lunch. Following this, a prestigious bronze monument designed by renowned artist Agostino Bonalumi and the Alfa Romeo Centro Stile of Arese was inaugurated, having been commissioned and donated by RIAR and many worldwide enthusiasts for the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the "House of the Biscione;" the monument will remain in one of the Fiera di Milano's main entrances.
Afterwards, a parade of over 3,000 participating vehicles was organized in the city centre: the cars formed a motorcade, escorted by the law enforcement into the centre of Milan. Upon their arrival in Piazza Castello, entertainment was provided by RTL 102.5 radio station, followed by a parade of the Top 100, that is, the models participating in the rally that were the most representative of Alfa Romeo's history. Everyone, participants, enthusiasts, and inquisitive onlookers, had the opportunity to watch the parade, which presented a wide range of vehicles, from those built as far back as 1924, to those registered in more recent years. Celebrations continued throughout the evening, staged in Piazza degli Affari and culminating in Happy Birthday wishes.
The following morning, Alfisti gathered for the Abbraccio in tangenziale ('Embrace on the ringroad'): the inner lane of Milan's ringroad became figuratively 'red' for the occasion, 'invaded' by Alfa Romeos engaged in completing a record-breaking embrace of the city of Milan, each marked with the Centenary's flag on its roof. Images of this "Biscione" (the snake of the company's badge) were captured from a helicopter to submit the embrace to the Guinness World Records under the category of "the longest snake of Alfa Romeo cars in the world."
The numbers
- Over 3,000 registered cars
- Over 5,100 participants (including passengers)
- 54 countries represented from 5 continents, including Brazil, Uruguay, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore
- Over 90 thousand km travelled by "Alfisti" hailing from extra-continental countries
- Foreign cars registered: 80%
- 100 cars, both classic and modern, representative of Alfa Romeo's history
- 537 cars registered between 1924 and 1975
- 175 staff members engaged in preparations, participant registration, and the delivery of materials
