Loison digital strategy: an artisanal-flavoured company 4.0

If Loison Pasticceri is a leader today in its sector, it is also due to the forward-looking and innovative use of the Internet that has always distinguished it: a history that has continued for more than twenty years and has been studied with successes and awards.

1996 – LOISON.COM IS BORN

The year is 1996, Dario Loison has been at the helm of Loison Pasticceri for four years now and he makes a decision that is going to completely overhaul his company: he launches the first version of the website Loison.com. This website has just a few pages but is immediately successful, gaining the first two foreign sales just a few months after it came online. The first sale was to a Swedish housewife, who bought 400 panettones for the Italians in Sweden association of Örebro. The other sale instead was in Japan, to an Osaka ice cream shop called Pinocchio and this is an interesting story that Dario still loves to tell today: the Loison salespeople realised that the shipped goods had been stored at a warehouse for a long time without being collected by the recipient. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact the ice cream shop by phone, an email arrived in which the owner apologised for not replying – he was unable to do so because he was deaf.

This unexpected international spotlight, at a time when search engines were far from complex and accurate as they are today, enlightens Dario: the website is not merely the online analogue of a shopwindow, but an important tool to “conquer” faraway places and people that would be hard to reach with other means.

These episodes are widely documented by the press, but the first newspaper to bear witness to Dario Loison’s “digital vision” is Il Sole 24 Ore, on July 16, 1999, with an article signed by Giuseppe Caravita, “And Vicenza starts up the Internet community” in the “Internet & Networking” column.

 

THE 00’S – OPERATION TRANSPARENCY

In the noughties the website is enriched more and more with detailed information, catalogues and technical data sheets to allow consumers to understand the features of the product and processing techniques. The aim is to showcase the production process and the artisanal approach, which was not to be taken for granted for companies in the early 00’s.

 

2003 – THE ONLINE TASTING FORMS

Dario Loison realises the importance of interacting with customers more and more, and he develops the tasting forms which can be filled in on the website, and are a tool for consumers to evaluate the product and send their sensorial analyses and opinions to the company. A functional manner to understand whether Loison products meet consumers’ tastes and to gather information for continuous improvement.

 

2007 – EBAY AND THE LOISON SHOP

The Marketplace culture starts spreading from the USA around the mid 00’s. These are virtual market platforms devoted to online shopping, where reliability is guaranteed by the feedback evaluation system and the security of transactions. The most accredited website at the time is Ebay.
That’s why in 2007 the Loison Ebay shop is born. Taking advantage of the great worldwide growth of the website, Dario understands its potential and, further dismantling geographic and time constraints, he lands Loison’s artisanal excellence on this website.

 

2010 – “INSOLITO PANETTONE” IS BORN

In the early 00’s, Dario Loison starts a close collaboration with many chefs (from Herbert Hintner to Peter Brunel, from Danilo Angè to Fabrizio Farrari) that allows him to put together an extraordinary collection of recipes and creative ideas in which the panettone takes centre stage in both sweet and savoury dishes. In 2010 everything started taking shape and being expressed in the blog InsolitoPanettone, a platform that brings together chefs and foodies with the aim of freeing Panettone from the usual stereotypes and using it as a versatile ingredient in all dishes.

 

2014 – GOOGLE AND THE “DIGITAL EXCELLENCE” PROJECT http://press.loison.com/presskit.php

In January 2014, Dario Loison is involved as testimonial for his story of extraordinary digital entrepreneurship, in the “Digital excellence” project, a Google teaching platform, coordinated by Prof. Stefano Micelli of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

This is a training platform for companies, where small businesses learn to innovate in order to compete. The special feature of this project, however, is that the teaching is not done by professors, but by the most innovative entrepreneurs, willing to share their digital strategies.

 

2014 – THE LOISON ONLINE SHOP IS BORN

In order to meet the increasing number of requests, the Loison e-commerce is born in 2014.

The virtual shop thus makes it possible to sell products online in a smooth and widespread manner, virtually without any middlemen. Using e-commerce tools not only satisfies the end customer, who can conveniently order their Loison panettone from home, but also those who cannot use distributors, through tailor-made solutions.

 

2015 – GOOGLE AND THE “GROWTH ENGINE PLATFORM” PROJECT

The Google Team comes to the company to interview Dario Loison for the “Growth Engine Platform” project, second step of “Digital Excellence” and a training platform that involved Dario Loison as testimonial in January 2014 through a series of tutorial videos looking at the Loison Case and its innovative use of digital instruments.

 

2016 – THE PAST LOOKS INTO THE FUTURE: THE “LOISON MUSEUM” WEBSITE IS BORN

For Dario Loison, it is important to communicate the strength of our traditions and our roots, and that’s indeed the reason why he wanted to set up the Loison Museum at the company: a small “sanctuary” that collects historical materials on baking and confectionery.

The undertaking is complemented in 2016 by the website Loison Museum, an intriguing virtual journey that allows all users to experience the history, art, culture and technology of artisanal confectionery tradition.

 

2017 – SOCIAL SOCIAL SOCIAL!  

In 2017, Loison’s digital communication is taken by storm. Social networks become even more important and that is why the new digital marketing project is kicked off, with the aim of organically and strategically integrating communication across the Loison websites and social networks, overhauling the Costabissara-based confectionery company’s digital presence.

Today, Loison has a far-reaching presence on 6 social platforms and has a loyal following on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

 

2018 – DARIO LOISON BECOMES A GIF WITH OVER 12 MILLION VIEWS

Dario Loison becomes a Gif with over 12 million views in few weeks! The confectioner from Costabissara had fun making as many as 35 GIFs and stickers, in the Christmas version but not only: he cuddles a panettone, pets the sourdough starter and spoofs Munch’s famous “Scream”.
“All that was made in-house by a young team whose job was to animate Loison’s social presence – says Dario Loison – with a swift and up-to-date digital strategy”.

 

2019 – THE SIXTH LOISON DIGITAL SPACE IS BORN, FOCUSING ON BUTTER BISCUITS

BiscottiLoison is the new digital space, born to communicate the whole multi-sensorial world of Loison biscuits, creating an essential tool to support customers in the Horeca industry.

 

2020 – PAPERS: THE COLLECTION OF 12 YEARS OF CORPORATE PUBLICATIONS IS ONLINE

Papers is a new digital space that acts as an archive of over a decade of Loison catalogues, brochures, monographs and booklets. This website is a window over the company’s history and that of Loison products, a corner where it is possible to witness the evolution of the Vicenza-based confectioner’s unmistakable style.

 

 

2021 – JOB.LOISON IS HERE, THE WEBSITE FOR WORKING AT LOISON

Loison’s Human Resources are also jumping onto the Internet bandwagon!

With the creation of the job.loison.com website, Dario Loison also digitises the relationship with his employees by setting up a portal entirely devoted to the company’s workforce. This digital space is a hub designed to manage job offers and applications, but also for internal communication and employee training, by uploading video courses. On the website it is also possible to find out about the many collaborations that Loison Pasticceri has built over the years with schools and universities all over the world.