By Martin Vedris
SYDNEY: To promote their leading status in the domestic coffee machine market, De’Longhi has produced a six-part television series called ‘The Great Italian Café’ to be aired on the subscription TV LifeStyle Channel available on Austar and Foxtel Digital.
De’Longhi made a substantial investment to produce the series, which will be hosted by Australian television and radio personality, Paul Khoury. The series will debut at nine am on Sunday 9 September 2007 on the LifeStyle Channel.
‘The Great Italian Café’ is an entertaining and informative six part series that takes the coffee traveller on a journey through the birthplace of espresso. Starting where coffee began in the Veneto region and then traveling through the cities of Milan, Bologna and Turin, the series explores the best café’s in the regions, their historical significance, how to best enjoy them, the special drinks to ask for and the people that have made it all possible.
The series concludes in Melbourne where the viewer is introduced to the authentic forefathers of Australian espresso culture.
DeLonghi Australia’s general manager, Tom Mitchell, said, “When we analysed and researched opportunities to best build brand equity and add value into our coffee business, we concluded two things:
“The first was that people buying De’Longhi coffee machines are a sophisticated, high income earning audience that are actively engaged in LifeStyle programming on subscription television.
“The second thing our research indicated was that being recognised as an Italian company, who design and manufacture fully automatic coffee machines in Italy, was critical to the ongoing premium commanded by the De’Longhi brand.
“With this in mind, it became obvious that the best way to leverage our Italian credentials and really involve our audience was for De’Longhi to produce a lifestyle television journey through the great Italian cafés.”
Paolo Albertoni, chief executive officer of De’Longhi in Australia and New Zealand said, “Our Company has had a long history and relationship with the Australian public since our president Giuseppe De’Longhi first came out to Australia for the Davis Cup final in 1979. This was when Giuseppe De’Longhi became aware of the stark contrast between Australian and Italian coffee culture, whereby Italians mainly drink espresso and Australians tend to want milk in their coffee.”
Throughout the years since Giuseppe De’Longhi’s first visit to Australia, De’Longhi have produced many coffee machines specifically for the Australian market. In recent years, De’Longhi has achievesd success in launching their fully featured range of automatic coffee machines.
“De’Longhi now holds the enviable position of being Australia’s number one choice in fully automatic coffee machines,” said De’Longhi senior marketing manager, Jason Haskins.
“De’Longhi’s ongoing success can be attributed to the continued development of De’Longhi automatic coffee machines, recently incorporating a unique milk frothing and dosing system into the coffee machines. Thus enabling anyone in Australia to fully immerse themselves in Australian coffee culture by being able to enjoy a variety of café quality coffee drinks such as cappuccino, latte or flat white at home, with the push of a just one button,” Haskins added.
To support the launch of ‘The Great Italian Café’ series, De’Longhi have developed a dedicated website with episode highlights, recipes and more at: www.thegreatitaliancafe.com
A DVD of the series will also be given away with every purchase of a De’Longhi fully automatic coffee machine.