Maurizio Pisani landscape

Maurizio Pisani

Maurizio Pisani, formerly commercial director of Fresh Del Monte Italy and marketing director of Chiquita Italia, has formed his own agency specialising in fresh produce marketing.

Pisani Fresh Marketing plans to work with companies, consortiums and producer organisations to create and grow marketing programmes aimed at consumers and the trade, offering a complete service encompassing strategic consultancy as well as practical assistance.

"Fresh produce is in great need of high-quality marketing if we are to increase consumption and get away from the lowest price ethos," Pisani explained.

"But we need to be careful. Fresh produce marketing has its own unique characteristics, making it necessary to have strong experience of working in the sector."

According to Pisani, who began his career as a merchandising manager at the Italian office of Coca-Cola before joining Chiquita in 1995, the agency will offer many companies with an opportunity they might otherwise not have had to develop their marketing strategies, activities and expertise.

Pisani added: "Our mission is to help fresh produce companies earn more by helping them to build and maintain strong brands that guarantee their competitive advantage will last."

Brand equity 

Pisani began his career in 1992 with Coca-Cola Italy, where he worked for three years in trade marketing and category management, helping to implement the country's first space allocation and category management projects.

He also managed all merchandising and trade marketing activities for the Coca-Cola group in Italy.

After that, he went to work for Chiquita, where he held various positions in marketing and sales.

In 2000, Pisani was appointed general manager of the group's European packaged goods division, before becoming its new products director for Europe.

By 2006, he had worked his way up to the position of marketing and retail sales director for Italy, a role which saw him manage sales activity at major retailers as well as all of Chiquita's consumer and trade marketing activities in the country.

Three years ago, he took charge of the multinational's much-heralded launch of Chiquita smoothies in Italy.

Last year, Pisani joined Del Monte as commercial director for Italy. There, his responsibilities included setting up a distribution network, managing all contacts and agreements with retailers and overviewing all sales and marketing activities in the country.