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| omino
coi baffi - the little man with a moustache with hand raised ordering a coffee |
The great Italian salesman and marketer died a few days ago in Ascona, at the age of 93 and "fruits -of-success" would like to pay tribute to him and tell a little of his story which has a lesson relevant to today's sales professionals.
Renato Bialetti, is the Italian entrepreneur known for having launched the Moka.
While he lived in Omegna, Italy he was raised in a family whose business had been founded by his father Alfonso in 1933. Renato started running the business in 1946.
Renato's mission was to make the Moka famous around the
world and it started with a restyling of the design by launching the popular
"omino coi baffi", a little man with moustache which is now the
symbol of the Bialetti Moka worldwide.
The Bialetti Moka is now a global icon and an estimated 330
million have been sold worldwide.
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| Obituary in the London Times 24th Feb 2016 |
The
Bialetti Moka Express was designed in Italy in 1933 by Luigi di Ponti, who sold
the patent to Alfonso Bialetti, an aluminium vendor.The patent for the pot was acquired by Renato's father,
Alfonso, in 1933.
The brewing process used by the Moka was devised by Alfonso.
A soap story
It was inspired by watching his wife Ada washing laundry in the fields of Omegna., on lake Orta north-west of Milan.
Looking at the tub which had a central column that drew up a mixture of soap and ashes when the water boiled- Alfonso realised that the method could be applied to making coffee.
The brewing process used by the Moka was devised by Alfonso.
A soap story
It was inspired by watching his wife Ada washing laundry in the fields of Omegna., on lake Orta north-west of Milan.
Looking at the tub which had a central column that drew up a mixture of soap and ashes when the water boiled- Alfonso realised that the method could be applied to making coffee.
Alfonso recognised the potential of the gadget – one of the
first kitchen items to be made from aluminium - which promised to bring
high-quality, espresso style coffee into homes for the first time. The principles improved on standard percolators where the circulated brewed coffee reduced its flavour.
Alfonso cast his octagonal 'caffetiera' in aluminium rather than steel. This gave a futuristic look as well as making it easier to mass-produce using moulds.
Alfonso cast his octagonal 'caffetiera' in aluminium rather than steel. This gave a futuristic look as well as making it easier to mass-produce using moulds.
But Alfonso struggled to market the aluminium pots on a large
scale, only selling them at local markets around Piedmont.
By the time his son took over the company in 1947, only
70,000 pots had been manufactured.
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| The Balietti Moka range on the shelves of the wonderful kitchen cookware department of Elphicks of Farnham |
Renato launched a huge marketing campaign, renting billboards in major Italian cities and became a mascot for the brand, printing a caricature of himself on each pot.
Renato Bialetti’s temperament was an unusual mixture of rigour and and
imagination, exuberance and shyness, genius and recklessness.
A salutary lesson for us all
Despite his
success he kept his feet on the ground and like to tell of how he had once gone
to a swanky car showroom in Milan and asked the price of a Mercedes.
The salesman had looked at his sober
jacket, buttoned to the neck, assumed he was a chauffeur and asked when his
master would pick up the car. Bialetti went next door and bought a Bentley !
Lesson :NEVER judge a book by its cover. – applies to show
room selling and working off an exhibition stand today !
Renato Bialetti passed away on February 11, 2016. He was 93.
After cremation, his ashes were placed in a large Moka Express-shaped urn. The
urn was blessed in a funeral mass, then placed in Bialetti's family plot in
Omegna, Italy.
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