IT from ITaly:
German market entry for the market leader
Market leader in Italy - still barely known in Germany: Var Group is the largest IT service provider in Italy with 3,800 employees and a turnover of over 800 million euros. In 2024, the company management decided to set its sights on Europe's largest IT market: Germany. Partner agency for this project: Carta.
Media Relations
Trade Press Relations
Digital Communication
Consulting
Starting point and Challenge
To enter the market, Var Group had a concept that had already been tried and tested in other European countries: small and medium-sized IT specialists are taken over, but their owners initially remain with the company - this creates continuity. However, especially at the beginning, this caused that the individual companies were not perceived as one big new player on the market.
In 2024, a critical size was reached in a positive sense: the individual companies were to be formally integrated as a group and a German company founded. Carta's task was to position the new Var Group as a 360-degree provider on the german market and to increase its visibility throughout all target industries.
Approach and Implementation
In-depth fact-based communication and direct press relations
In order to create awareness, Var Group had to get into the media - but the advertising budget was very limited. And in contrast to the domestic market, Var Group was one of many providers in Germany and the name was not familiar to journalists. So, the first step was to change this: Once the positioning had been fixed together with Var Group and speech regulations had been worked out, we contacted dozens of trade press representatives directly by telephone. Nowhere else is there such an extensive trade media landscape as in Germany and Carta contacted not only the IT trade press, but also industry media from target groups such as automotive, security and production.
To this end, we produced corresponding reports with technical depth, because you can't convince fact-orientated Germans with cloudy announcements alone. To accompany this, we positioned the managing director on LinkedIn and ensured a constant stream of topics, which we sourced and processed from the Italian parent company, the individual German companies and the topic plans of the key media. We also supported the Var Group with its first trade fair appearances and media co-operations.
Results
150.000 € AVE
181 publications
22+ distribution lists
Visibilty across industries/bereiche
Extensive coverage in key media, personal contacts with journalists, interviews with managing directors, press visits to the trade fair: Carta has positioned Var Group as a provider to be taken seriously via substantial trade press topics and ensured awareness among potential customers and employees - and continues to do so!
Within the first six months, Carta realised:
- 8 press activities with an AVE (advertising value equivalency) of around 150,000 euros
- A total of 181 publications (print, online, social media, newsletter)
- 20 detailed specialist and opinion posts on LinkedIn to support the positioning
- Extensive editorial creation of additional documents, such as company dossier, boiler plate and tone of voice
- 22+ distribution lists in DE+CH: automotive, cybersecurity, electronics industry, IT, logistics, motorsport, production and automation, daily press, business press, regional media for M&A + other topic-specific distribution lists
- Consultancy, topic planning, positioning, networking with journalists and other stakeholder groups
- Continuous coordination with marketing in Germany and Italy
And this is just the beginning: Var Group GmbH has ambitious goals for Germany - and is continuing on its successful path with Carta.
