The Project:“territorial rooting as a distinctive feature of Coop”

1. The Project:“territorial rooting as a distinctive feature of Coop”

2. THE CONTEST Coop is rooted in territories, according to its social basis and sales network, different from the cultural, social and economic point of view. The need to meet stakeholders’demand (members, workers, communities) required the creation of a new model which sets the territory as the predominant strategic dimension through: • a trade policy which meets territorial distinctive features; • a targeted offer of products and services; • a listen-and-communicate relationship with the players in the social, economic and local institutional fabric.

3. PROJECT OBJECTIVES • STRENGTHENING THE COOP/TERRITORY IDENTIFICATION The link with the territory becomes the means for Coop to be an active player, a benchmark, a development driving force in the community. • PRODUCE VALUE FOR THE COOPERATIVE AND THE TERRITORY Coop not only supports regional economy but also works to make it healthy by supporting exemplary supply chains, an economy that respects the quality product, the environment, workers and consumers: • local products are better and fresher, • local production uses local sources thus bringing on income and fostering an environment of trust This link must be reported and made explicit in order to become a new way of featuring Coop.

4. 5. EVENT’S SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES FOR MEMBERS/CLIENTS MAGAZINE POINT OF SALE MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEES’ ACTIVITIES WEBSITE

5. EVENT’S SUPPORTING ACTIONS • ACTIVITIES FOR MEMBERS/CLIENTS • Magazine: for each event is expected a magazine aimed at launching the project, explaining the initiative and providing informations: the products’excellence, the work that supports the regional economy, Coop and suppliers’s virtuous experiences. To create such leaflet the adopted approach is to provide informations in the form of stories which give a concrete but not heavy idea of what territory value means.

6. EVENT’S SUPPORTING ACTIONS • ACTIVITIES FOR MEMBERS/CLIENTS • Point of sale management • All the territory’s products related to the categories of such event will be pointed out using a pointer/stopper. • Any eventual areas dedicated to the territory’s products with leaflets/setting • Institutional Video containing figures and suppliers’interviews • Guided sales or in-store activities (varying according to the type of goods and the size of the point of sale) • The point of sale staff is decisive for the outcome of the event as they are the best sellers. It is essential that those in charge of the sales divisions involved, know the content of the “magazine”: there are very important information which could help them to be influential interlocutors towards the consumer. • EMPLOYEES’ ACTIVITIES • Training course for X Sales Division and Shop Managers

7. EVENT’S SUPPORTING ACTIONS • THE WEBSITE • Why a website • To overcome the point of sales’ limitations as a communication space • To burst and enrich the magazine’s contents: more updated, more intertextual, more operative, always available • To frame all actions and commitments of Coop VS Territory • To reach different and potentially wider range of users. • Strong points Strategic role in the positioning project: • “Genuine” and innovative contents • Online supply chain transparency • Case history among LOD signs • From the declaration to the realisation of a committment www.territori.coop.it

8. EVENT’S SUPPORTING ACTIONS • THE WEBSITE • Objectives • Make territories the protagonists through the story of products and producers • Obtain website’s visits and generate online buzzing • Increase Coop’s reputation • Netsurfing & contents • ARTICLES: stories about products, producers and Coop values • GALLERIES: pictures of production sites • VIDEO-INTERVIEWS: suppliers talk about their job • MOTION GRAPHIC for the presentation of economic features • VIDEO-ADVICE: suppliers as “specialists” www.territori.coop.it

9. EVENT’S SUPPORTING ACTIONS • THE WEBSITE • Spread the Word! • On a daily basis: electronic signature, signalling to suppliers and acquaintances • Creation of a referent websites network (link from the coop world and more) • Push through social media • .... Online editing, blogging, campaigns with fee... www.territori.coop.it

10. TRAINING COURSE FOR SALES DIVISION AND SHOP MANAGERS A positioning project must necessarily involve all the cooperative structure. With this purpose we organised a training course which involves sales division and shop managers aimed at having knowledge of the products and supplier on the territory realised through visits to production plants. THESE ARE THE MAIN FEEDBACK WE RECEIVED: • “We should extend the participation to the people responsible for the sectors and/or the sales division managers in order to make them more aware of the supply chain that supplies the products they sell and display on their stalls and/or shelves to give importance and enrich their daily work for them and their colleagues” • “It would be nice to include them to the new shop managers training plan .” • “I think that knowing in details the various steps of the process of a product starting from how the raw material arrives -the methodology they have to determine the purchasing choice- to the shop delivery, is an experience that could benefit many, and when I say many I mean involving nearly all Division Supervisors and delicatessen department Coordinators...

11. THE POINT OF SALE The point of sale is where the meeting between the consumer, the local product and its history is accomplished. To promote this acknowledgment and guide the customer through a journey which is completed only through Consumers or the website (as they are aimed at telling the values which feature the product, the producer and the production procedure) it is suggested to: • Point out all the territory’s products using poiters and stoppers for the whole year; ATTENTION: it is necessary to identify a spotlight method different from the promotion’s because the signalling will be fixed. • Study the stopper graphic with regional declination, the project logo and a QR code which directs to the regional homepage in the website; • Carry out an institutional campaign in the points of sale to support the project

12. MAGAZINE 1^Event: Swine 2^Event: Fish 3^Event: B-ovine 4^Event: Fruit & Veg

13. SETTING EXAMPLES Swine: Nova’s Point of Sale B-ovine: Ravenna’s Point of Sale Fish: Fidenza’s Point of Sale Fruit & Veg:simulation

14. SWINE EVENT LEAFLETS Versione ISTITUZIONALE SUINO

15. FISH EVENT LEAFLETS

16. B-OVINE EVENT LEAFLETS

17. POINTERS AND STOPPERS

18. TERRITORI.COOP 2012: development and consolidation 2011: launch of a new positioning Building a path from zero, one piece at a time, like a puzzle through an approach for each merchandise category. The focus on products led to a review of what each region can express whitin each category. The communication campaign has been extended to the events regarding the merchandise categories, with ad hoc advertising launches to present each merchandise. Some functions have been involved within the Cooperatives, in particluar marketing and communication. 2012: development and consolidation of the project The project disposes of an amount of contents and knowledge to organise, update and elaborate further: this allows to overcome the merchandise approach and present what the region can best express. The focus becomes the whole region, thus enphasizing its own features and vocations. The communication campaign is exclusive in the point of sale. The project is the Cooperative’s heritage: it requires the involvement of all corporate functions, from the Board to the associate offices.

19. TERRITORI.COOP : bearing fruit Recognitions RECEIVED: • The Innovation Environment’s Friend Prize 2011 promoted by Legambiente • Ethic Award 2011, the prize for a sustainable future organised by the weekly newspaper the GDOWEEK, for the Local Retailer and Territory/Community The project was given recognition for: • “(re)create a direct link between who produces and who consumes, emphasizing on local quality and traditions, short supply chains, biodiversity and the social-environmental sustainability” • to be “innovative in terms of transparency and members/customers information as well as social responsibility towards the local economy and reduction of the environmental impact” • “to have strengthened the distinctive role of Coop in increasing the value of local economy and agroalimentary excellent processes in the regions in which it operates by giving its customers the opportunity of a conscious consumption and promoting supply chains transparency”.