moleskine-ipo-report-04-03-2013-mediobanca

Moleskine
Strategy
We consider the following to be the key pillars of Moleskine’s future strategy:
Brand – Strengthening of brand awareness;
Product – Expansion of product offering and range;
Distribution – Exploitation of multi-channel strategy potential.
Historical milestones
Moleskine’s history dates back to mid 1800, when the little black notebook with its typical rounded
corners and elastic closure, initially nameless, was used by great thinkers, such as Vincent Van Gogh,
Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Bruce Chatwin.
The Moleskine name comes from the nickname given to his favourite notebook by Bruce Chatwin in
his book Songlines.
In 1986 the original manufacturer – a family operating in Tours - closed down forever. In 1995 a
Milanese publisher Modo&Modo brought the legendary notebook back to life under the name of
“Moleskine”.
Subsequently, the history of the brand can be split into two periods:
1995-2006: start up and initial development: in this period the focus was on establishing
Moleskine as a brand and developing an initial distribution network, together with
setting up a suppliers’ network;
2006-2012: Accelerating growth: the focus was on building brand awareness, broadening the
product offering and expanding the distribution network.
Future strategic drivers
Moleskine’s strategic mission is to develop and market globally products and services that provide an
open platform to create, communicate and share, thus supporting its customers in expanding
knowledge, creativity and individual expressions.
We see the following as the key pillars of the group’s strategy in the near future:
Brand – Strengthening of brand awareness;
Product – Expansion of product offering and range;
Distribution – Exploitation of multi-channel strategy potential.
a) Strengthening of brand awareness
The group intends to capitalise on the strong intangible value related to the Moleskine brand and
profit from its high design and iconic content.
This will occur by nurturing relationships with the design community and the creative class through
below-the- line communication actions (PR & events) which consist of:
Viral communication: supporting collection launches through artists for web videos,
illustration, gifts and photo sets;
Conferences: Moleskine representatives are usually invited to speak and contribute special
editions for conferences worldwide (such as the Economist Big Rethink, Tokyo Graphic
THIS DOCUMENT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA OR JAPAN.
IPO
04 March 2013 ◆ 33