Make It Authentically, Make It Italian

Following the success of the Italian Trade Agency’s “Real Italian Cheese, Please” campaign, Marino was selected to lead a second national initiative promoting authentic Italian food, wine, and lifestyle in the United States. Building on the momentum of our previous work, we developed “Make It Authentically, Make It Italian,” a fully integrated campaign designed to celebrate the quality, craftsmanship, and cultural heritage behind authentic Made in Italy products while educating consumers on the importance of choosing genuine Italian imports.

As Vice President of Creative, I helped develop the campaign positioning and co-created the tagline “Make It Authentically, Make It Italian,” creating a flexible creative platform that could extend across digital advertising, social media, paid media, influencer partnerships, print, and educational content. The campaign was designed not only to celebrate Italian cuisine, but also to educate consumers about the craftsmanship, quality, and cultural heritage behind authentic Made in Italy products while helping distinguish them from imitations in the U.S. marketplace.

I led the creative strategy from concept through execution, partnering with account leadership, social media strategists, designers, photographers, video teams, and paid media specialists to ensure every touchpoint communicated a consistent brand experience. Beyond directing the creative work, I collaborated closely with stakeholders throughout the campaign, guiding creative reviews, managing multidisciplinary teams, and maintaining alignment between campaign objectives and execution across every channel.

Impact

Rather than developing a collection of campaign assets, we created a scalable marketing platform that the Italian Trade Agency could use to promote authentic Italian food and wine across multiple audiences and media channels. The campaign unified paid advertising, influencer partnerships, social media, digital publications, and educational messaging under a single creative system that reinforced the value of authentic Italian products.

The campaign generated more than 282 million impressions and reached over 23 million accounts, with additional exposure through influencer partnerships, industry publications, paid media, and social channels. The integrated approach successfully expanded awareness of authentic Italian products while strengthening the Italian Trade Agency’s ongoing efforts to educate U.S. consumers about genuine Made in Italy food and wine.