Digital Marketing Strategy. The Mondadori Case Study

Is it possible for a traditional industry such as book publishing to harness the digital change and technological disruption, or books are doomed to succumb in this new environment?
In recent years, the growth of the book market has been slow and a wise digital marketing strategy can make the difference between the first and the second scenario. This thesis aims at answering the above question, as well as actively proposing new ideas, through the analysis of both the digital ecosystem and the publishing sector, supported by the Mondadori case study. Indeed, in the Italian publishing landscape the Mondadori Group is trailblazing in its digital activities and choices, however not every publisher composing the Group reaches the same high standards and in such a fast- paced ecosystem there is always room for improvement and new tools to experiment with.
The first chapter is mainly theoretical and it focuses on the six pillars of the digital evolution: customers, contents, touchpoints, platforms, business models and last but not least, engagement. In fact, another pivotal element in the digital ecosystem is the shift from passive and unaware to active and informed consumers, with the birth of the prosumer as arrival point of a long evolution of the purchasing process.
The second chapter addresses the book-publishing sector and its digital transformation, starting from a theoretical framework of models on the concepts of technological paradigms, discontinuities and disruption. After a brief paragraph on the history of the book, the research focuses on the analysis of the European and Italian publishing sector, their main players and the competitive environment, thanks to Porter’s Five Forces. In 2014 the European book industry grew of almost 1 percentage point, and it is expected to grow of 7,8% by 2019. However, the Italian book sector contracted during the last years and it is recovering with difficulty, presumably because the percentage of readers remains steady and barely grows, a huge problem for the overall market. Noticeably though, in Italy the digital branch of the book industry is rising, especially when it comes to sales and production of e-books, and in 2014 it accounted for 7,30% of the Italian market, compared to the 5,40% of the European average.
The second half of the chapter is about the disruption of the book industry: interestingly, it passes through the evolution of reading devices and publishing platforms (e.g. crowdfunding and social writing) as well as the asserting of new reading habits or services, such as eBook bundles that allow reading without limits on almost any platform, upon payment of a monthly fee, and thus combine economic convenience and the online sharing experience, fundamental for Millennials. Therefore, a fundamental query is how publishing companies react to these innovations and changes.
The third and last chapter rotates completely around the case study on the Mondadori Group. In 2013 Mondadori created a Digital Innovation area, specifically aimed at finding new opportunities of business development and guiding better and increasing the innovation process. These goals have been pursued also through strategic acquisitions and they are perfectly in line with Mondadori’s mission and value proposition, “Quality books for everyone”, formulated on the basis of value curves that compare accessibility, quality, price and online presence to the respective performance of competitor companies.
As regards the strategic guidelines of Mondadori’s digital approach, they are deduced by the interview to Giovanni Dutto, Marketing and Planning Director of Mondadori Libri. The digital presence of every imprint of the Group is then analysed, in their positive and negative aspects.
Building on the overall analysis, it was eventually possible to formulate personal proposals to enhance the digital strategy of the Group.