The Past

Gènoio hòios éi

Become what you are

Pindaro

Deciding to come into the world in this historical period is a rash, or bold, idea; we like to think that the past has taught us to follow the latter track. Taking the difficult path of courage means to get into the game in spite of everything, betting on the saving power of change, always aware that we must not stop to suffer it, but we must learn to be its accomplices, or even to anticipate it. To act in this direction, you need the right skills: you can’t improvise being courageous, just as you cannot decide point blank to acquire a quality without having the talent for it, or without have striven to gain it. This is why we haven’t decided to forget who we were for decades, we have decided to surpass our awareness of the fact that we are children of a full and intense path.

It’s hard to describe thirty years in a few lines; the best way to do this is probably to start from the beginning. Valter Casini, founder first of Next Consulting, then of Valter Casini & Partners and, finally of Morris, Casini & Partners, has always believed that a single point of view is not enough to understand the market even before intellectual versatility became a need to make one’s way in the work world. “Ecosopher”, i.e. economist and philosopher, Valter has inside two different approaches to life, work and business: one looks at things from the point of view of the object, the product, the market and one who looks through the eyes of the user, the human being, of the thought focusing on them. A company born from a similar awareness can’t be anything but out of the ordinary. Being different from the other companies of similar fields has always been our strength. An unusual work approach scares the cowards and conservatives, but certainly attracts those who are not afraid to be supporters of the advancement of the “magnificent and progressive fate” of mankind: we have always liked the latter best.

Throughout thirty years our areas of action have ranged in the most disparate fields. We have worked on applied economics, ranging from business development, project management, and strategy, also working as political advisers, management control, start-up companies and much more. The essence of this business factory has always been hidden behind our thoughts and actions. This “eminence grise” was born with us thirty years ago, it has grown in our stomachs as in a thriving cocoon and, after being incubated for thirty years, it is finally ready to fly. This sentient core of our being in the world was present, alive and active when, behind the economist in action, we let the philosopher work. We like talking of “philosophy for the company”, because we find it both beautiful and even just fair and honourable to let philosophy talk profitably towards the corporate world, without renouncing anything of its own nature. Philosophy is not only content, but also a method: in this sense it is possible to avail oneself of the philosopher’s person and of the philosophical method, to effectively approach business problems. This way of doing things, for us, has always been a pleasant part of everyday life, resulting in our ability, in a period of crisis such as this, to reconsider, rather than abandoning the Italian market, poorer and less stimulating than many others. We like to think of ourselves in command of a ship in a stormy sea. The Captain, that would be us, together, according to our opinion, should be the last to abandon the ship, not because he should go down with it, but because he is the only one able to take care of it, allowing it to take sea again, however hostile it may be. We have kept in contact with the market, never forgetting the necessary analytical gaze, which is always fixed on it. Being in contact with the market means being able to communicate with it, within it and with who takes part in it. Communicating with the market and with the customer and understanding their needs means, in simple terms, dealing with marketing and communication, which have always been our daily bread. We are not islands, but entities relating with one another: you can’t expect to build businesses if you are not able to communicate properly, grasping the language of others. From strategic marketing to digital marketing: for us the economy has never been detached from this aspect of its essence; how could it be otherwise?

Over the last thirty years we have directly overseen many different things. The film industry has always had many of our customers. This is because, as “communicators”, we are interested in every sort of language and we like to be able to translate and interpret it in the best possible way. To be precise, are most effective market analysis were focused on multimedia products, allowing us to develop, among other things, Genomedia, a revolutionary tool able to analyse the DNA of a multimedia product, measuring it against the “genetic structure” of the market to assess the degree of compatibility, and therefore providing the ability to intervene on it. A similar tool, designed, among others from our Valter Casini, could be used on films, books, ads, magazines, leaflets, applications, and even on music. This is not simply about anticipating the market, but it’s almost as if we are acting on it. From the multimedia field we have ranged up to the world of luxury goods, passing through the food & beverage field, banks, ministries, municipalities, television and training institutions. Our professional interest has even come in contact with the fashion industry; the method processed within that extent, in our former company is worthy of note: Sofia. This beautiful woman’s name (“Sofia” stands for Semantic Open Interpretive Framework Analysis) indicates an intangible place where philosophy of language and linguistic analysis meet to practice on the communication modes that the various brands adopt to communicate with their audience. Also in this case we have acted as communicators, treating fashion for what it really is: a true and proper language that needs to be known, to be understood. Step after step, Morris, Casini & Partners have blown on the thirtieth candle of our cake with lungs full of experience but needing new fresh air. After so long we have decided to take a further step toward the future, becoming what we have always been, but needed a lifetime to realize: a business factory.