Ismaele
Michelotti.

Companies almost always arrive with the wrong diagnosis. They think they have a communication problem. They spend on campaigns, content, agencies promising more visibility.

The real problem, most of the time, sits further upstream: a positioning the market doesn't read correctly, a buyer who perceives the product differently from how the company describes it, a sales network or a foreign agent communicating a different message than intended. Sometimes the problem is inside management itself.

This is why the work always starts with a Brand Clarity Session: a fixed-scope diagnostic, delivered in one week, that maps where the positioning breaks and where to intervene first. It's the only way in. Skipping it doesn't save time. It just moves the guessing further down the line, where it costs more.

From there, most clients move into a Strategic Retainer: an ongoing, senior outside perspective on brand and positioning decisions, on a monthly basis, for a minimum of six months. The work takes shape in a strategic document the client keeps and revisits every quarter. It isn't support. It's direction.

I founded and ran MOAR Studio for several years, coordinating teams and structured projects for premium Italian companies. I later chose to work alone, not because the team model doesn't work, but because the kind of work I do today, on the cause rather than the symptom, needs a single point of direct accountability between me and the person deciding. No handoffs, no dilution.

Clients are mostly Italian food and beverage companies, wine in particular, alongside design and premium manufacturing businesses going international. Occasionally the opposite: foreign operators entering the Italian market.

1. Wine

   Gave a winery a clearer identity at home, and a stronger pull internationally.

   At home, stronger names were absorbing their identity. Abroad, their exports landed without weight. A five-year brand vision and refreshed online presence strengthened them at home and earned real attraction abroad. Consolidated US, Canada and EU; opened Japan, China and Singapore.

2. Furniture

   Repositioned an internationally active furniture maker, from chasing work to fielding inbound.

   Already operating across borders, but without a defining edge. Built their online presence from scratch around solid-surface interior fit-outs for shipbuilders. Consolidated Italy and raised international reputation; inbound increased.

3. Interior design

   Lifted a premium interior-design studio past its regional ceiling.

   Plateaued at regional commissions despite the quality of the work. Social and commercial strategy that crossed regional borders. Now expanded to Milan, collaborating with leading interior studios and art directors.

I started in the Italian design and manufacturing sector, trained specifically to position Italian product companies for international markets. From there, the work increasingly concentrated on food and beverage, wine in particular: the sector where I built the largest part of my direct experience.

The last seven years split between advisory work and building things. I founded MOAR Studio in 2021 and ran it for several years, coordinating teams and projects for premium Italian companies. I later chose to work alone: the kind of intervention I do today needs a single point of accountability between me and the person deciding, not an additional layer.

A consistent part of this work has involved Italian companies expanding abroad.

I have also worked with Japanese food and beverage operators on their entry into the Italian market: direct exposure to a market, premium Italian retail and distribution, that requires a precise read for anyone arriving from outside.

Currently splitting time between Italy and Lithuania.