Two main strands emerged from the initial strategy: the podcast ‘Gemme – Storie di sviluppo rurale in Piemonte’ (Gems – Stories of rural development in Piedmont), in 10 episodes dedicated to 10 different agricultural realities in the area, and a social media plan with educational columns designed to raise awareness of the link between agriculture and food and promote more conscious consumption.
From the need to communicate a complex programme to an accessible narrative
Rural Development is by nature a technical and complex programme: it deals with interventions, calls for proposals, supply chains and innovation, but it has a direct impact on the daily lives of citizens and agricultural businesses. The communication strategy therefore worked on a guiding principle: to transform institutional complexity into a relatable narrative, capable of showing real benefits through familiar faces and situations.
The chosen perspective is that of the territory and its people. Rural Piedmont is portrayed as a diverse and surprising ecosystem, where sustainability, tradition and contemporary entrepreneurship coexist and collaborate to generate widespread value.
‘Gemme’: a podcast giving voice to Piedmont’s roots
The first output of the strategy is ‘Gemme – Storie di sviluppo rurale in Piemonte’ (Gems – Stories of rural development in Piedmont), a 10-episode podcast produced in collaboration with Bonfire and published on Spotify and through the channels of the Piedmont Region. Each episode recounts a Piedmontese agricultural reality through the direct voices of entrepreneurs, focusing on work, innovation and the connection with the land.
The title refers to the double meaning of “gem”: something precious and rare, but also the bud from which life springs. It is a perfect synthesis of the narrative concept: starting from the roots and the land to bring forth new ideas, sustainable businesses and growing communities.
The stories span the diversity of the Piedmontese rural world – from wine entrepreneurship to dairy farming, from educational farms to vegetable gardens and innovative agricultural models – showing how rural development is not abstract, but a living process that changes landscapes, economies and quality of life.
Each episode is preceded by a reel presenting the protagonist and the context, which prepares the listener and creates continuity with social media communication, expanding the reach and facilitating the entry of new audiences into the story.
Social media columns: food education and everyday sustainability
Alongside the podcast, the strategy included the creation of two social media columns designed to bring rural development issues into everyday life, with an informative and practical approach, created thanks to the valuable collaboration of the RAM – Radici a Moncalieri farm.
‘Orto a casa’ (Home vegetable garden) explains how to grow crops in a simple and sustainable way, even at home. The column translates the values of rural life into accessible actions, reactivating the link between people, seasonality and manual skills.
‘Seasonal shopping’ focuses on educating consumers about conscious consumption: it encourages people to choose local products at the best time of year, promoting short supply chains, biodiversity and Piedmontese agri-food quality.
Both columns reinforce a sustainable food culture and show how the practices promoted by the regional programme generate widespread and tangible environmental and social benefits.
A coherent and modular content ecosystem
Podcasts and social media columns are designed as parts of the same ecosystem: the long, in-depth stories of ‘Gemme’ build identity and content, while the short, recurring content of the columns keeps the dialogue with the audience alive and transforms the programme’s values into concrete behaviour.
The result is institutional communication capable of evolving into contemporary language: less focused on mechanisms, more on people; less abstract, more experiential. A system that is complex in its direction but simple in its access, designed to increase awareness, participation and closeness to Sviluppo Rurale Piemonte.
