Hello, I'm Gianluca 👋🏼
I'm a creatively driven Brand Strategist with over 10 years experience helping brands grow.
I’m passionate about brand building and creative development, and have had the chance to hone both those skillsets working in tech, media startups, and creative agencies.
My skillset 👨🏻💻
I've approached Brand Strategy from various angles (creative agency, media publisher, and tech company) which enables me to view a client's business problem from multiple perspectives, with the aim of unearthing deeper insights, and in turn unlocking richer creative opportunities. I've worked with startups, scale ups, multinationals, and NGO's, across many verticals.
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Research & Insights: Market analysis, competitor landscape, consumer trends, audience insights.
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Strategic Planning: Creative brief, strategic approach, comms strategy, pitch deck.
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Brand Strategy: Brand architecture, positioning, and identity.
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Creative Development: Ideation, conception, development and amplification.
My story 📚
I'm half Italian, half French, and was born and raised in London. After finishing Business school, I moved to Paris and interned at Publicis, which gave me a good grounding on how an advertising agency operates. It's only when I got my first "real" job however - working at Ogilvy & Mather Paris on Coca Cola and Grey Goose global business - that I experienced how best in class creative work is made. Coca Cola won marketer of the year at Cannes, Grey Goose launched it's first global brand campaign, and it was the agency's most successful year. I was lucky enough to be in the room for a lot of those meetings, pitches, creative briefings, ppm's, and tried to soak up as much as I could...
I then moved to Düsseldorf to work as a Strategic Planner for BBDO Worldwide, working under the tutelage of my mentor Richard Swaab (AMV BBDO Deputy Chairman). I got the chance to get my hands dirty, working on global client re-branding projects and creative platforms. Growing from junior to mid level, and Senior Strategic Planner in just under three years.
My next chapter was back in Paris, working for Konbini, a leading French media publisher, as a Global Brand Strategist. The role was two-sided. On one hand I was responsible for the brand's strategic positioning in it's global expansion, working directly with the CEO. On the other, I was leading strategy for international branded content pitches, which resulted in over €2M in new business in my 2 years there.
My next move took me to Dublin, then back to London, working for Meta (Facebook & Instagram) as a Creative Strategist. I worked for the Creative Shop team a little under 5 years, honing both my creative compass and my strategic sword. It was a fast-paced, fulfilling experience, from leading Creative Strategy for Southern Europe, to building a strategic framework now scaled globally as official Meta collateral, and working on innovative creative campaigns, I've enjoyed every bit of it.