A New Season

My two cents. An editorial by Giacomo Frigerio.

We are in the midst of a warm autumn, and it is so damn beautiful! It’s a second spring. This is the stuff I used to be jealous of when talking to my Roman friends, but now it is ours too. Newness.
A new climate, a new war, but also new people, new challenges, a new website.

Things that are new are scary at times. Other times, they are the epitome of evolution.
And within evolution, humans are called on to take risks, to put themselves on the line, and to take on new responsibilities. To search high and low just like explorers – like Columbus, who a certain culture wants to erase – for the meaning of things.

We are men and women who are constantly searching and constantly evolving. Consumed by a restlessness that doesn’t let us sleep at night and makes us wonder if we are doing the right thing. For us, for our clients, for the people who love us, we want to ask questions. And we also want to question the people we are with every day, as we put ourselves to the test in order to change habits, open new doors, let new people in, and sift through the shit to find the shine.

We are trying to do it this way. It is the work of strategic people. They are creatives and artisans, even if they work with thoughts and pixels. Because if you don’t ask questions you can’t go anywhere, and without meaningful answers, the truth won’t come to the surface. And we won’t be able to find beauty in the things we do each and every day.

There is another bend in the road at this place called Blossom.
I am sure many were better off where they were before, where everything was clear and safe. But that road has closed. We ask those who travel with us to walk their own part of the journey, to set out in search of a new meaning and a new way of doing things, and to seek new and beautiful things that lie beyond this change that we must embrace, together.

14 years ago we wanted to take a road without knowing where it would lead us, but we had a clear idea: whoever would be with us must be treated with respect… the respect that every man and woman, and his or her uniqueness, deserves. And we tried to do just that.

I started the journey with my sister Valentina, who used to go to punk concerts with me in the 1990s, and in that world we learned the meaning of DIY and community. We looked at the positive values of that culture and made them our own. The space we created makes people feel welcome and respected here at Blossom. We strongly wanted to allow people to grow and, who knows, those people might stay, or they might go and continue their journey elsewhere.

Over the course of the various twists and turns, some people have left us to explore new avenues, and I am glad because they will take an extra piece of life that they lived here with them. Gianluca comes to mind. He is a creative from Lecce who passed through New York and was in transit at Blossom for three years. He then returned to his home in Salento to create a business that would bring positivity and jobs to a region that young people are usually forced to leave. Ciao Gianlu.

Now we are looking at yet another evolution at Blossom. And among the many new features is the one you are scrolling through: it is called Snap and it’s our first magazine. It’s a platform to share what we believe in, how we do it, and the people we meet along the way with others who cross our paths.

The road has changed many times over the years, but we have always gone beyond the bend. Because we have learned that the twists and turns and the end of the climb reveal fascinating surprises. To be amazed each time, you just need to keep your eyes peeled.

Snap’s first articles talk about just that: the spirit I mentioned earlier. It’s what launched us and got us here. But it’s also about what we love and the amazement we feel every time we come into contact, inside and outside of Blossom, with someone who lights us up and spurs us on.

It just happened to me. A few months ago, the latest album by Paolo Nutini, a Scottish artist with an Italian father, came out. I read an interview with him in which he talks about his 7-year hiatus between records. When asked a question about happiness he said, “That is something that everyone wants, but it’s difficult, it takes time, and when people ask me if I have a happy life the answer is that I have no idea. However, if the question is “Do I want to be happy?” The answer is “Yes, I do.” Am I happy right now? Yes, I am. A year from now my life will be full of music and I couldn’t ask for more.”

We will never be the absolute answer to people’s search for happiness, but we certainly want to continue being a workplace where people can feel free to be their true selves – with their challenges, their successes, and their uncertainties – and somehow continue on this quest for something that unites all human beings: happiness.

“While the rivers are many, we dawn clear to the sea”
Everywhere, Paolo Nutini

Two hands-on sessions that transformed perspectives and enhanced team skills

We conducted a bootcamp at the Illumia headquarters, our long-time client, as part of a training program aimed at their marketing, communications, digital, HR, and IT teams. Over two days of practical training, we shared tools and techniques we use daily, offering concrete knowledge on using AI for content creation – from text generation with ChatGPT to image creation with MidJourney and advanced research with Perplexity.

This bootcamp marks an important milestone in our eight-year partnership with Illumia, built on mutual trust and a desire to grow together. With a creative and strategic approach, we supported the team in enhancing their skills, even encouraging those who were initially skeptical to explore new possibilities in the practical use of artificial intelligence.

We continue to share our expertise in communications and marketing, offering innovative and actionable solutions to transform the way companies work.

At the service of creativity, strategy, and innovation: here are the tools that continuously evolve our work.

At Blossom, we love to experiment, acquire new knowledge, and engage in constant learning. That’s why we test different AI tools every day, always on the lookout for those that can enhance our communication methods. These tools become an integral part of our creative, strategic, and consulting work.

But which tools are the favorites of each team?

Strategy Team

Perplexity. Why? With its ability to quickly gather and analyze large amounts of data, it provides us with a clear and detailed view of the market, in combination with other research tools. This tool makes strategic planning more fluid and effective, enabling us to make more informed and targeted decisions in less time.

Copywriting Team

An ideal tool for organizing ideas, developing content, drafting, and revising texts. Which one? ChatGPT. From brainstorming to translations, from editing to structuring complex documents. It’s always open on our desk, making the writing process more agile, creative, and precise.

Media House Team

In video production, Runway (Gen-3) is the most valuable support. Its advanced features and constant updates allow us to elevate the quality and diversify our productions, achieving increasingly stunning realism.

Design Team

When it comes to transforming concepts into images, we mainly rely on Midjourney. With its wide range of artistic styles, it enriches the final result, making each creation unique and distinctive.

AI Impact

The AI tools we adopt not only refine our creative and strategic approach but also enable us to quickly translate ideas and data into practical and concrete solutions. Thanks to this integration of technological innovation, expertise, and critical analysis, we can swiftly respond to market challenges, turning every opportunity into a tangible and valuable outcome.

An intimate journey into “The Hammer’s” energy, on and off the court, during Wimbledon.

Illumia chose to tell a different story. And to do so, they once again turned to the strategic and creative consultancy of Blossom. With the Instagram series “Oltre – Stories of True Energy,” we highlighted the most authentic side of Matteo Berrettini, the star of a unique and engaging journey.

An impactful video to present the first range of fully branded Prometeon tires.

The launch of Serie 02 was a key moment. It is the first-ever Prometeon-branded industrial tire range; designed, produced, and tested to meet performance and durability needs in every usage context.

For this occasion, we created a launch video with the tagline Unlock a New Era, announcing the arrival of this significant innovation that projects every journey into the future of transportation. In a post-industrial space, a man enters and opens a container revealing the first Prometeon-branded tire. 3D animations highlight its components and technology.

The video was presented in Egypt during the event celebrating Prometeon’s thirtieth anniversary of the Alexandria factory, attended by representatives from global branches and major suppliers.

We are proud to enter this new era alongside Prometeon. Let’s keep rolling together.

Watch the video.

How do we face times of great transformation? At Blossom, we started with knowledge.

It is said that to invent the light bulb, Thomas Alva Edison conducted thousands of experiments, using hundreds of plant fibers, and testing solutions for over 18 months. For this reason, Edison has been attributed with quotes like:

True or not, this quote holds great appeal in these times of technological transformation. Edison was able to innovate because he could adopt a new mental approach each time.

But, how easy is it to change our mindset when faced with new developments today?

If you don’t change your mind, you change nothing

A survey we recently conducted at Blossom revealed an extremely interesting fact: after a year of continuous training on the use of generative AI, 42% of participants reported changing their minds on this topic.

While it is true that the majority remained in their positions, a significant portion of the course participants admitted to shifting from a more skeptical approach to a more enthusiastic one.

A Form Of Intelligence

The fact that the mindset change occurred in a positive or negative direction is not as relevant. What is interesting is that training, and therefore knowledge, has been the main factor of transformation.

It demonstrates that knowledge allows us to overcome prejudices; that “knowing” remains the first step to forming an opinion, even in these frenetic times; and that understanding helps us see the limits and potential of a change, even when it is still ongoing.

More Sharing, More Awareness

Along with knowledge, interaction has certainly played a fundamental role in the ability to view new developments with a fresh perspective.

The training within Blossom was conducted largely in the form of Communities of Practice, or “safe spaces” where people can learn together, putting into practice or deepening the theoretical notions acquired in exchange for constructive feedback, either among peers or with professionals.

In the survey, submitted to all participants of Blossom’s Communities of Practice, comments and considerations on the limits, risks, and opportunities of AI emerged, demonstrating an increasing awareness and an ability to keep up with the evolutions of AI itself.

“It’s always necessary to check the results, because mistakes are always possible.”

“AI has made routine operations faster and simpler.”

“I’ve sped up lengthy processes, even when it comes to creative processes (like brainstorming).”

“Sometimes I’m tempted to take the results at face value without applying critical thinking.”

It can WOOOORK!

Change, including a mindset shift within organizations, is a difficult but possible transformation. Of course, it needs to be accompanied and guided.

And if it’s true that the “light bulb” of AI is still quite imperfect, at Blossom we have learned that to get closer and closer to true innovation, we must never stop testing and trying. In other words… to be restless!