Detergent from Pizzablitz
Florian Biafori of Mediabox believes in the growing importance of below-the-line initiatives and has the best overview.
Florian Biafori from Mediabox believes in the growing importance of below-the-line measures and has the best overview.hundreds of thousands of kebab bags are picked up in Switzerland every month. Advertising for chewing gum could be placed on these pieces of paper and supplemented with a sample to freshen the breath after eating the Turkish snack. When pizzas are delivered, a sampling of new detergent tabs can be handed out at the same time. The drooling consumers would be grateful. "Why not?", Florian Biafori asked himself almost three years ago and, together with Sandro Proietto, gave himself the answer: Mediabox was founded - and both ideas were put into practice. Advertising on petrol pump nozzles at petrol stations, posters on ski lift masts, in toilets or lift cabins, eye-catchers on dust control mats, beer mats or even sugar sachets as well as cards for free or wildlife posters have been around for some time, but these media carriers, some of which were initiated by Mediabox, are now marketed professionally in the same way as a conventional marketing agency does with its traditional advertising media.
"There are hundreds of different advertising media - but no one place where they can be booked centrally," was the brilliant idea. The aim was to set up a pool for all non-classical media - similar to what Publicitas does in the print sector. The most important question in this new type of placement: "Where is the target group affinity for a below-the-line measure?"
In the example of the pizza box, advertising for new detergent tabs was brought to customers with almost no wastage. Young people, who usually have to keep a household in good shape themselves for the first time but work all day, use food couriers and are unlikely to throw away a detergent sample in a pizza box. And if the product is good, they will buy it later in the store.
Florian Biafori learned about these mechanisms working for nine years at media agencies. In 1992, after graduating from business school, he responded to an advertisement at Leo Burnett Media, where he was hired as a media assistant and was ultimately responsible for media planning for the entire Philip Morris Group. He later became media planner and head of outdoor advertising at the former Innomedia and finally media manager at MQI (today: Mediaedge|CIA). At these agencies, he looked after clients such as Credit Suisse, Orange and the Feldschlösschen Group, learned a great deal - and realized "that I was starting to think in flat patterns".
It was while thinking about his job - together with Sandro Proietto, who was working at Cinecom at the time - that they both developed a passion for Mediabox. Today, their company has "every medium that is offered in the non-classical sector in Switzerland under contract". But Mediabox also develops its own ideas and looks for suitable customers.
"Demand is high because below-the-line is becoming increasingly important," says Biafori. Because the agencies themselves don't have time to stay up to date with such previously unknown media. Mediabox, on the other hand, immediately has a lot of experience to offer that a conventional media planner would have to spend days researching. "There are already agencies that take us along to a client presentation because, as a partner, we can show them many new approaches and ways forward," says Biafori proudly.
In addition to the crossover projects area, a "youth pool" has now also been integrated into the Mediabox as a central marketer for trend and youth magazines.
With so much work, Biafori had little free time in three years at Mediabox. He actually started his own business because he had become a father and hoped to have a little more free time for himself and his child. That has so far remained an illusion. Fortunately, there's the pizza courier.
Originally wanted more free time, but instead Mediabox co-owner Florian Biafori is drowning in work.
"There are hundreds of different advertising media - but no one place where they can be booked centrally," was the brilliant idea. The aim was to set up a pool for all non-classical media - similar to what Publicitas does in the print sector. The most important question in this new type of placement: "Where is the target group affinity for a below-the-line measure?"
In the example of the pizza box, advertising for new detergent tabs was brought to customers with almost no wastage. Young people, who usually have to keep a household in good shape themselves for the first time but work all day, use food couriers and are unlikely to throw away a detergent sample in a pizza box. And if the product is good, they will buy it later in the store.
Florian Biafori learned about these mechanisms working for nine years at media agencies. In 1992, after graduating from business school, he responded to an advertisement at Leo Burnett Media, where he was hired as a media assistant and was ultimately responsible for media planning for the entire Philip Morris Group. He later became media planner and head of outdoor advertising at the former Innomedia and finally media manager at MQI (today: Mediaedge|CIA). At these agencies, he looked after clients such as Credit Suisse, Orange and the Feldschlösschen Group, learned a great deal - and realized "that I was starting to think in flat patterns".
It was while thinking about his job - together with Sandro Proietto, who was working at Cinecom at the time - that they both developed a passion for Mediabox. Today, their company has "every medium that is offered in the non-classical sector in Switzerland under contract". But Mediabox also develops its own ideas and looks for suitable customers.
"Demand is high because below-the-line is becoming increasingly important," says Biafori. Because the agencies themselves don't have time to stay up to date with such previously unknown media. Mediabox, on the other hand, immediately has a lot of experience to offer that a conventional media planner would have to spend days researching. "There are already agencies that take us along to a client presentation because, as a partner, we can show them many new approaches and ways forward," says Biafori proudly.
In addition to the crossover projects area, a "youth pool" has now also been integrated into the Mediabox as a central marketer for trend and youth magazines.
With so much work, Biafori had little free time in three years at Mediabox. He actually started his own business because he had become a father and hoped to have a little more free time for himself and his child. That has so far remained an illusion. Fortunately, there's the pizza courier.
Originally wanted more free time, but instead Mediabox co-owner Florian Biafori is drowning in work.
Andreas Panzeri
