The communication of food places and their beauty goes fast with Claudia Solaro, journalist of ATnews.it, athlete and creator of the project Dayunner, born in pandemic and became a hit on social media.
At a time when companies, journalists and communication professionals are facing new challenges, your Giornarunner project was born, discovering the territory by running: can you tell us about it?
«It is a project that aims to tell the territory by tying it to the concept of movement, to spread an idea of life linked to well-being immersed in beauty. It is no coincidence that it was born at this very moment: I have always raced and I have been a good regional competitor, I also wore the youth blue jersey in "mountain running". But I have always been focused on the stopwatch, in each of my outings. One day in early October 2020, while I was walking along a hilly road surrounded by the Roero vineyards (which I will have traveled hundreds of times in training), for the first time I took my attention away from the clock and a world opened up for me. The beauty of the colors of the vineyards, the castles that stand out on the top of the hills, the bricchi with cypresses: at that moment I felt the desire to share all this, putting my face to it.
From 25 October 2020 I officially launched Giornarunner on social media, a term that I invented and that combines my two vocations, that of a journalist and that of a runner. So, I tell my experiences in the territory of Monferrato and Roero, with a few trips to the Langa; I show and provide specific information on local traditions.
At the center of it all are the photos that immortalize me as I run in beautiful places. I think it is very important to make it clear that I really live what I tell to send a true message. There are already many people who have contacted me for information on the places I showed to go and discover them in turn. In the project, the photographer Maria Grazia Billi, who is a great artist of photography and makes the most of the beauty of these lands. I also put a dedicated website online, Giornarunner.com, where I tell curiosities related to the history of the territory and its traditions, or I suggest trips out of town with an emotional edge ».
What is the relationship that Giornarunner has with food places? How does he tell them?
«Monferrato, Roero as well as Langhe are places with a visceral link with food. My project tells them starting from the earth, to get to the table. So it was for example for hazelnuts: I first showed the photos in which I ran near a hazelnut grove, and then told about the sweet hazelnut-based discoveries of a great pastry chef from the Langa Astigiana who uses zero km products for his delicacies. .
I think that making food known through the communication of the places where it has become tradition is an essential element for my story. Obviously, all with a view to promoting the area. I want my every post, my every piece on my site Giornarunner.com can make someone want to visit the places I present, when possible, and discover them with a 360-degree experience, ranging from the well-being of movement to food and wine ».
You have collaborated with organizations and companies because yours is an innovative and particular project. In this regard, after the pandemic, how do you think communication will change? Which channels should be privileged and which ones have had their day?
“I think the pandemic has worsened the sector. In the Online world, a logic linked to clickbait prevails, to the scoop at any cost, and not to what really needs to know who is addressing the information sector. The general feeling is a loss of confidence in the figure of the journalist. We need more and more trained and specialized people while exactly the opposite is happening: I find that there is a desire to be “all-rounders”. Probably behind there are logics more related to the economic sustainability of the publishing product; I think there is no need to offer a quality product.
In my opinion it is essential that communication is declined towards education, understood in the sense of offering the end user understandable messages that serve to enrich their knowledge. This requires a great deal of preparation on the part of those who deal with it and I hope we can go more and more in this direction. Certainly the social networks, in particular Facebook, have contributed to accentuate the confusion of the user. I see well, also from personal experience, the possibility of communicating to a specific target, much more achievable on a social network like Instagram, which is prepared to receive the message launched by the communicator.
However, we must not forget the role of newspapers, print and web, which represent the lever from which to trigger the attention of the target audience ".
You also write in the online newspaper ATnews.it. How are companies communicating during this pandemic? How do your advertisers ask you to work?
“Companies have drastically reduced communication during the pandemic, especially in the first phase, particularly in the food and beverage sector. As for advertisers, if during the Christmas period there was a great desire to try to "push" their products towards normality, the subsequent closures, between red and orange areas, have slowed down the advertising campaigns. The prolongation of a situation of uncertainty has increased the fear of planning the future as it was normal before the pandemic ».
Do you think that in the near future, food and beverage companies will develop their communication channels to address consumers directly?
«It is certainly an approach that many companies in the food and beverage sector, especially the largest, have already started effectively but I believe it should not be an exclusive way. Especially for those who aspire to grow. Back to the previous discussion: the “generalist” newspaper is an ally for growth, otherwise you risk remaining within your own circle of acquaintances. We need to invest on several fronts, to capture the attention of a new audience that can turn into a consumer. Unfortunately, however, I note with regret that many companies, especially small and medium-sized companies, do not give the right importance to communicating, which is often left to improvisation. In my opinion it is the biggest mistake that can be made, because it is not enough to be there, but we must also make it known and in the right way ».
How should the web press communicate in the post-pandemic?
«I hope a communication made of certainties. This is what people need and I speak in the light of my decades of experience, also made up of analysis of public choices and reactions. The web press should take off the anxiety that permeates all activity, and that the pandemic has helped to increase, especially of hyperlocal digital natives. The journalist should never forget that people read newspapers that give them confidence, not necessarily whoever publishes a news first ».
Do you have other projects in progress or in the pipeline?
"It is curious how in the same period in which Giornarunner was born, the journalist Silvia Musso, together with my colleague from the editorial staff of ATnews.it, also conceived another project that I care very much, ATnewskids.it, the ATnews of Guys. On ATnewskids.it you can find contents proposed on ATnews but reworked by simplifying the language so that they can be easily understood even by children and young people aged 7 to 13 years. It is a great challenge that we have chosen to undertake to bring young people closer to the world of information. An adult cannot be expected to begin to inform themselves responsibly, with a critical capacity, out of the blue, if they have never had the opportunity to approach the world of information before. The articles, before publication, are subjected to strict controls by a sort of "listening group" made up of very young readers; moreover we often host interventions by students of the Parini Middle School of Asti, on topical issues.
In short, I never lack new ideas and I think they are as precious as bread, especially in a pandemic! "
