DOP, IGP and web: 51 million users worldwide in 9 months, while presence and investments are growing

Over 6,500 content a day spread on blogs, forums, news websites, social networks all over the world, with over half of conversations abroad (55%), especially in the US (26%), and with more than 100,000 users are hired daily. In the age of the network, these are the essential numbers of the PDO and IGP of Italian wine & food on the web and social media according to “Web Dop”, the first monitoring of the genre signed by the Qualivita Foundation. From which emerges, for example, that the reputation level of digital conversations with positive sentiment is fifteen times higher than those with negative sentiment (46% compared to 3% of the total number of mentions) with Instagram, which establishes itself as the preferred channel for food&wine with a continuously growing trend. The “food” is good, with 28 million users involved in nine months, exceeding the results of the “wine” (23 million users), which however shows a more marked presence of conversations abroad (only in the U.S. almost a thousand content a day contain references to Italian wines with designations of origin).
Overall, there are 51 million users reached in 9 months, with 1.8 million mentions relating to the main Italian IGs, conveyed by 968,000 authors on the web.
The study is the result of a project that lasted nine months, in which it was investigated both the ability of Italian PDO and PGI products to generate online conversations and the set of web actions and digital marketing implemented by the Consortiums of protection.
The first section of the report (the result of a network monitoring and a direct survey on the Consortiums for the protection of IG Food and Wine) provides data and information on the official web channels of the Italian PDOs, the developments of recent years and successful historic houses, the digital investments of the Consortiums and the prospects for the development of the system on the web.
The social boom of the last two years emerges above all, with +63% of Italian IGs with at least one official account (436 products in 2019 compared to 268 two years ago) and with 88% of consortiums investing resources in social media, 86% on the website and 63% in digital marketing. The web is seen by the Consortiums as a global information and spread channel, with digital actions also aimed at the foreign target in 61% of cases.
So much so that the network is now a stable item in the budget of the Consortium, aware that it is not an area to be managed in an amateur way but deserves investment: it is clear in this sense the public support with almost half of the Consortium (46%) that only in the last year has benefited from funding. And the prospects are for growth, as demonstrated by the willingness shown by 28% of the consortium to increase the resources to be invested on the web as early as next year.
Among the historic houses, reports the report, to highlight those of the Gorgonzola Dop (already elected as “Best Typical product on digital 2018” according to “Data Flavour”, which presents an official multilingual website, social accounts in the target countries, use of web influencers and high engagement of the pages), of Parmigiano Reggiano (in particular with the Parmigiano Reggiano Night event, which involved 500 restaurants and in a few hours generated 16,000 cases of engagement), of Franciacorta with its Franciacorta Festival (52.000 engagement), the Grana Padano, which has what is considered the best website among the protection consortia, and still the Brunello di Montalcino, which, with Benvenuto Brunello 2019, generated 54,000 engagements).
The second section of the report is the result of the analysis of the contents of blogs, forums, news websites, thematic portals and numerous social network platforms all over the world to assess the presence and reputation of Italian PDOs and PGIs on the web. From which it emerges that the digital conversations related to products show a very rich and complex lexicon that alongside the “typical themes” of the Ig as quality, tradition, territory, brings out terms such as tourism, culture, sustainability, environment, health that underlines as food and wine made in Italy not only represent consumer goods, but are a vehicle of a broader value that supports the growth of the country and the success of its reputation in the world.