This report shortly summarizes the impact of a corporate storytelling project carried out by i-strategies (www.i-strategies.it) for Ciù Ciù winery (www.ciuciuvini.it), an Italian wine company based in Marche region (Italy). The report shows how relevant it can be, not only at the economic level but even at social and cultural ones, telling the story of the company founder.

1. THE IMPACT OF A CORPORATE
STORYTELLING PROJECT:
CIÙ CIÙ WINERY
i-strategies impact assessment report n. 1
FEBRUARY 2020
by Gianluca Vagnarelli - gianluca@i-strategies.it
DEEP INNOVATION AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
www.i-strategies.it +39 328 7440451 I gianluca@i-strategies.it

2. I N T R O D U C T I O N
This report summarize the impact assessment of a Corporate Storytelling Project carried out by i-strategies
in 2015 for Ciù Ciù winery (www.ciuciuvini.it), an Italian company based in Marche region. The Corporate
Storytelling Project toke the form of an autobiography of the company founder Natalino Bartolomei. In
this case corporate autobiography can be defined as the story of the founder of a company, told by
himself, in which existential events are overlapped and sometimes identified with those of company
history offering a moral and values point of view1
.
The questions we would like to answer through this report are the following two: what happened after the
Natalino Bartolomei’s autobiography, Ciù Ciù. Una storia di vino nelle Marche2
, was published? What was
the impact of the corporate storytelling project on the company, community and clients?
We can summarize the impact of the Corporate Storytelling project in five points:
DEEP INNOVATION AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
1. Celebratory function
The book, in particular its official presentation which
took place at Offida's Serpente Aureo theatre, in front
of an audience of about 400 people, including city and
regional authorities, immediately carried out a celebra-
tory function of the company's founder. The event
offered to the family, and to the local community, the
opportunity to celebrate Mr. Bartolomei and his goals
achieved in a long life of honest and hard work. A
special occasion for everyone involved.
2. Community building
To tell a story, as Andrea Fontana wrote, allows
listeners to socialize experiences and information, to
place people in relation to each other and to gener-
ate highly emotional links among them3
. The publica-
tion of the Natalino Bartolomei’s autobiography was
an opportunity for many company employees,
especially young people, to learn about the compa-
ny's history and the values on which it is based. This
community building effect was clearly shown by a
focus group organized after the presentation where
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3. 3. Content generation for company
communication
The autobiography of the founder was also an opportu-
nity to generate original content for digital corporate
communication which, in the case of Ciù Ciù, is
achieved through a website and Instagram, Youtube
profiles and a Facebook page with a worldwide follow-
ing of 85 thousand people. Channels in which extracts
of the book have been published. This shows how
corporate storytelling can be a useful tool for produc-
ing original content for business communication.
4. Events generation and promotion
of the territory
The publication of the book offered to the company
the possibility to organize a series of events and
interviews for presenting it. Furthermore, from the first
pages of the autobiography the reader can immedi-
ately understand how the book is not only the narra-
tion of a personal story but, more importantly, it tells
the history of a culture and a rural civilization. It was
precisely this aspect that created interest in readers, in
particular foreigners (the book was published in
bilingual, Italian and English versions). It was this
discovery of an "exotic" and rural civilization, such as
the sharecropping civilization, that generated a new
interest in the territory in which the story is set and,
consequently, in the company that embodies it. A good
example of indirect marketing4
.
DEEP INNOVATION AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
5. Strengthening corporate identity
Corporate identity refers to what constitutes the
essence of a company, the unique and unrepeatable
characteristics which differentiates it from the
competitors5
. When a company chooses to tell its
story, the company starts a cognitive process on itself
that reinforces its identity and self-awareness. A
narrative process that allows it to be recognized,
remembered and, ultimately, "bought" by clients6
. It is
no coincidence that the positive experience of the
book has generated in Ciù Ciù a new and more lively
interest in the rural history of its territory. An interest
thanks to which the company decided to invest in
innovative and strategic heritage marketing projects7
.
company employees underlined the strengthening of
the sense of belonging to the company and, conse-
quently, the better cohesion for the work-community
generated thanks to the story.
www.i-strategies.it +39 328 7440451 I gianluca@i-strategies.it

4. Note
[1] Cfr. Erica Schoenberger, Corporate autobiographies: the
narratives strategies of corporate strategists in «Journal of
Economic Geography» n. 1. (2001), pp. 277-298.
[2] Cfr. Natalino Bartolomei, Ciù Ciù. Una storia di vino nelle
Marche, Capponi editore, Ascoli Piceno 2015.
[3] Cfr. Andrea Fontana, Storytelling d’impresa. La guida
definitiva, Hoepli, Milano 2016, p. 30.
[4] Cfr. Andrea Fontana, Storytelling d’impresa. La guida
definitiva, Hoepli, Milano 2016, p. 30.
[5] Cfr. John M.T. Balmer, Corporate identity and advent of
corporate marketing in «Journal of Marketing Manage-
ment», vol 14, 1998, pp. 936-996
[6] Cfr. Fontana, cit., p. 35.
[7] Cfr. Marco Montemaggi, Fabio Severino, Heritage
Marketing. La storia dell'impresa italiana come vantaggio
competitivo, Franco Angeli, Milano 2007.
DEEP INNOVATION AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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