By Claire Reilly
SYDNEY, NSW: Following on from involvement in last year’s Crave Sydney International Food Festival, cooking appliance manufacturer Ilve has announced that it will be sponsoring the event again in 2011.
Ilve marketing manager Daniel Bertuccio said the event represented an opportunity to appeal to a key demographic of potential customers.
“We’re sponsoring the world chef showcase, which is a big event where they get chefs from all around the world to come in and give a crash course on the wonderful world of food,” said Bertuccio.
“Our appliances will be used in the auditoriums,” he added. “10 or 12 of the best chefs from around the world, including chefs from Australia, are using our products. So we supply all the appliances that get used over the weekend at the world chef showcase.
“These auditorium sessions are not cheap, they’re about $200 a head. And the kind of people that go to these events are definitely foodies, people that are passionate about cooking and food.
“That’s exactly what we define our target audience to be. So it’s a chance for us to get right in the face of these people and to have them looking at our brand getting used by the best of the best. It’s about being in the face of the right people in such a large scale.”
The Crave Sydney International Food Festival will be coming to Sydney for the month of October, with key events in the program including the World Chef Showcase and the Night Noodle Markets.
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In addition to sponsorship of Crave, Ilve will also be taking part in the new Grand Designs Live expo in Sydney, which will feature exhibits from leading design and home renovation brands as well as an appearance by the host of the popular Grand Designs television program, Kevin McCloud.
“We’re excited about Grand Designs Live which is at the end of October,” said Bertuccio. “We’re going to have a display centre, similar to DesignEx. That’s what we’re looking forward to at the moment – it’s something a little bit different. It’s a new show so I’m excited to see how it pans out.”
Weighing in on the recent high-end induction war that saw releases from cooking brands Gaggenau and De Dietrich, Bertuccio hinted that there may be a new product in the pipeline from Ilve.
“We’re looking at bringing out a teppanyaki plate that works on an induction cooktop surface, which is something which we’ll probably have available by Grand Designs Live,” Bertuccio said.
“It’s a stainless steel hotplate and what we’ve done is we’ve adapted it so it can sit on top of the induction surface. And because it’s all magnetic, the heat transfers. You will also be able to take off the teppanyaki plate and use the induction surface underneath as a normal induction cooktop.”