{"id":14495,"date":"2013-08-11T13:07:57","date_gmt":"2013-08-11T11:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/?p=14495"},"modified":"2013-08-11T13:07:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-11T11:07:57","slug":"where-does-the-strength-of-a-product-lay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/where-does-the-strength-of-a-product-lay\/","title":{"rendered":"Where does the strength of a product lay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone knows Mr. Bistefani \u2013 the great expert of the ancient recipe of Krumiri biscuits \u2013 who in a famous TV commercial argued with the pastry chef Carlo about the perfect balance between costs and the product\u2019s highest quality (\u201cWho do you think I am? Santa Klaus?\u201d).
\nOnly a few people know that in fact he was not the inventor of Krumiri but the beneficiary of a pastry chef\u2019s invention who in 1878 invented in Casale Monferrato the legendary biscuit with the typical curved shape in honor to the mustache of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. That was Domenico Rossi, whose invention is documented in a letter dated 4 December 1890 signed by the then-mayor of the Piedmonts small town, naming him as the \u201cone and only inventor of Krumir<\/strong>i\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since then many things have happened, but the leadership hasn\u2019t been changed. The present owner of Krumiri Rossi company, Annamaria Portinaio, states that \u201chere in Casale everyone knows that the smell of the original, traditional Krumiri comes from our own laboratory\u201d and adds \u201cThe recipe is secret and a patent does not exist<\/strong>\u201d.
\nMario Emmi, an expert of Industrial Property of Brevetti Turrini Firm in Florence, affirms that patenting a food product \u201cis possible where the food product obtained is able to solve a technical problem in a creative way, such as the case of food products which have been made highly digestible thanks to particular processes of processing\/preparation\u201d. In our case the product \u201cderives from a simple recipe which mixes high quality but generic ingredients, hence there is no innovation but \u2018only\u2019 an excellent produc<\/strong>t\u201d.
\nThe cover image of Krumiri Rossi is a registered trademark worldwide. The difference between the patent of a recipe and the registration of a trademark (or, such as in our case, of the whole box) is wide. The patent is applied to an industrial invention; it is an exclusive right, guaranteed by the State, thanks to which a temporary monopoly of exploitation is conferred.<\/p>\n

The brand is a sign which identifies the products of a business, distinguishing them from those of the competitors.
\nFollowing the registration of a trademark, the owner acquires the right to exclusively exploit the brand, preventing others from using an identical or similar sign to his brand.
\nThe brand Krumiri is not registered because it is of a common domain. The theme is fascinating for specialists. Sometimes the name of a very famous and widespread product is not registrable, so it cannot be of exclusive property of a single subject but it becomes a common good. There are several examples: the words Fohn and Thermos identify hairdryers and thermal drink containers.
\nBefore becoming a common name, Fohn was the name of the product\u2019s inventor, the same goes for Thermos, used for the first time in the 40s as the products\u2019 name of Thermos GmbH.
\nA similar case is Petit Beurre biscuits, invented in 1876 in Nantes (France) by Louis Lef\u00e8vre-Utile, and now used by many producers to identify that specific type of biscuit.<\/p>\n

Certain legendary products\u2019 names that are part of history remain property of the company, even though the name identifies a whole, wider category. Massimo Temporelli organized an interesting exhibition on this theme entitled Ma\u00aechi da Diziona\u00aeio: \u201cThe adhesive tape and the ballpoint pen are common, everyday use objects. Even if we do not realize it anymore, we commonly use the names of the products invented by the companies in order to identify the products themselves. In this way, the ballpoint pen becomes Bic and the adhesive tape turns into the easier term Scotch<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

We underline the fact that the two mentioned biscuits \u2013 Krumiri and Petit Beurre \u2013 share the same characteristic of a name that now stands for a category. The product\u2019s strength lays therefore in the brand name and not in the product\u2019s name. Moreover the recipes, secret but somehow similar, identify the territory of origin, becoming a common good used by several businesses.
\nTypical food products use the image of the territories of origin and bring back their success, as in a mutual exchange. If an exceptional recipe coming from a specific territory becomes a success for a food company, the company will give back its success to its territory that allowed it to take the \u201cfirst step<\/strong>\u201d towards success.<\/p>\n

The marrons glac\u00e9s remind the German-Swiss that the inhabitants from Ticino are quite good in the processing of chestnuts. The expert in the business is Sandro Vanini company, founded in 1871.
\nVanini is seemingly very successful, that much that it has recently opened a new laboratory in the surroundings of Rivera. The text of light-sign on the highway says: \u201cSpecialty from Ticino<\/strong>\u201d.
\nIt is a classical example of a generic product (marrons glac\u00e9s were defined as the \u201cbread of the poor\u201d) deeply linked to the territory. Because of the presence of chestnuts, people from Ticino learned how to process them and the success is even confirmed by countless local traditional recipes.
\nAn evaluation of who counts the most between a company brand and the territory is difficult and maybe even useless. Between the two there is an \u201cagreement\u201d which is sometimes regulated by an origin brand.<\/p>\n

The \u201cTicino Brand\u201d, promoted by the Union of Farmers, has gained much attention in the Ticino area. The quality of the products marked by such brand goes beyond the mere but very important common origin: they are symbolic products.
\nIt is common to ask to a new encounter \u201cwhich are the specialties from where your homeland?<\/strong>\u201d Someone will answer \u201ca kind of pasta<\/strong>\u201d, another will say \u201ca liquor\u201d, people from Ticino have \u201ceverything that lays under the Ticino Brand<\/strong>\u201d. Vanini uses the Ticino Brand for the mustard of vegetables produced for Migros.
\nThe brand of origin must, therefore, fulfill two fundamental tasks: 1) from one side it must avoid that one producer damages the Country of origin of the product, hence the other producers 2) it is fantastic, and also very \u201cdemocratic<\/strong>\u201d, marketing tool: the big ones help the little ones.
\nMinor producers rely on their territory as a major marketing tool: they benefit from the virtuous production ecosystem of other businesses and they are interested in producing in the country of origin of the recipe. If Vanini produces its marrons glac\u00e9s in Ukraine, or if one day the name was modified, losing its Italian linguistic origin, everything would change. If, for example, the name turned into \u201cVaninonsky<\/strong>\u201d, the reliability of the brand would be much different.<\/p>\n

There is a logical connection between the success of products and the memory of a territory. Very rarely a successful product\u2019s history is not linked to its territory. For this reason, smart businessmen pay attention to maintaining a strong relationship with the original territory of their goods, also preserving recipes that otherwise would get lost.
\nAs said, the producers must pay attention not to commit mistakes, and the bigger and more famous they are, the higher is the risk. Moreover, the origin brands must be protected in a serious and well-articulated way.<\/p>\n

Do you remember the blue mozzarella cheese \u201ctypical\u201d from the city of Caserta? Every newspaper featured pictures of the blue mozzarella cheese, which was the effect of a particular mold. In the first place the damage was attributed to some \u201ctricky game<\/strong>s\u201d of the local producers, but the information was soon rectified. In fact, that mozzarella cheese had been produced in Germany with improper proceedings and ingredients, but worst of all it had been labeled as if it actually came from Caserta.
\nThe image damage was enormous as the consumers have a long-term memory and people make often confusion, have other things in mind, and, as a result, remember only a newspaper title but not the contents of an article.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read the published version in Italian here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone knows Mr. Bistefani \u2013 the great expert of the ancient recipe of Krumiri biscuits \u2013 who in a famous TV commercial argued with the pastry chef Carlo about the perfect balance between costs and the product\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gwhswiss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/krumiri-e1590585895838.png?fit=600%2C278&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwhswiss.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}