Personal branding for best-in-class top management
Enel’s top management personal branding strategy was created to increase executives’ notoriety among their audiences (brand awareness), position them on the Group’s key topics so as to make them a point of reference and an industry benchmark (brand association), and help boost Enel’s online presence as best-in-class through an innovative program that is unmatched in the utilities industry (digital leadership).
Personal branding for Enel’s top management is a long-term project that has involved the Group’s top executives (Enel Holding, Enel X, Enel Green Power) over several years.
Today, stakeholders are increasingly seeking personal connections with brands. There is evidence that people trust the messages conveyed through the channels of those who work for the company more than institutional ones, and that these messages have the potential to have a much wider reach.
Each executive was paired with a multidisciplinary team (strategy, copywriting, community management, content production, graphic design, video production) to develop their LinkedIn and Twitter social profiles and to define and strengthen their Thought Leadership.
Brand strategy: creation of the personal branding strategy (analysis of the context, benchmarks, competitive landscape and definition of positioning; creation of a brand book with guidelines and programmatic documents) and of the brand development strategy (analysis of developments and new opportunities, accompanying the team in decision making, fine tuning and updating the strategy).
Project management: project management with executive teams and managing relationships with key stakeholders.
Content Production: production of original content with high visual impact (photojournalistic reports, infographics, videos, data visualization, quote cards).
Events: live coverage of Italian and international events.
Community management: channel monitoring and management of community relationships and interactions, including sentiment management and crisis management activities.
Content strategy: defining content strategy and content formats.
Content Curation: selection and sharing of influential articles and case studies on the issues defined by the strategy.
Longform and Op-ed articles: writing original articles for channels and guest posts.
Profile management: management of social profiles, from link requests to sending any resumes according to Group guidelines.
Optimization and performance tracking: management of social profiles, from link requests to sending any resumes according to Group guidelines.
Over the years, more than 200 high-profile events have been covered, in Italy and abroad, which have helped tell the story of the executives’ experience and expertise, giving a human face to the Enel Group.
Top managers were a constant presence on social media, thanks to a systematic production, with more than 2,000 original contents on brand-relevant topics.
All top management profiles involved in the personal branding activity have grown consistently, both in terms of number of followers and engagement.
These results have also been recognized and attested to by the trade press (e.g., Forbes and Il Sole 24 Ore) and leading international observers. For Top Manager Reputation, Francesco Starace (CEO of the Enel Group) was found to be the top manager with the best online reputation (peak reached in 2019) and has led the utilities sector ranking several times in recent years.
In addition, the 2019 Lundquist Trust report ranked him as the most followed manager on LinkedIn: “Francesco Starace is the spokesperson for Enel’s key messages. The topics addressed are consistent across the corporate website, corporate and personal social media channels of the CEO.”
We accompanied the top managers of the Enel Group in becoming “digital brand builders” and developed the brand’s online presence as a best-in-class, pioneering high-innovation business.
Parallelozero Credits
Brand strategy & development
Content strategy
Project management
Content curation
Copywriting
Article, long form and op-ed writing
Graphic design
Infographics & Data Visualization
Video production
Profile management
Community management
An organic approach to communication
Our method is based on an integrated model that takes full advantage of new technologies and data analytics, enabling us to manage all phases of multi-channel and cross-media digital communication, meeting any storytelling needs for national and international brands, publishers, media companies and institutions.
