“We have been working in the shadows for 50 years: no one must know…”. At least until a few days ago, when Dario Ferrari, 78, has been driving "his own" since 72 Intercos, crossed the threshold of Piazza Affari, overcoming that cone of shadow that protected the extraordinary growth of the Agrate Brianza multinational: 11 research centers and a commercial presence in 15 countries where 5.200 employees work at the service of 550 customers, large and small , respecting a strict rule: no one, starting from the competitors, must know what comes out of the factory in Agrate Brianza, where the bulk is processed, the raw material that in Dovera, in the Po valley heart of the "Lipstick Valley" (definition of Economist) will be transformed into lipsticks, eye shadows, powders and everything else that will fill the shelves of department stores under the most diverse and exclusive brands, but also the most popular ones. All for a turnover that, at the end of 2019, had reached 712 million euros, which fell to 606,5 million last year in the midst of the pandemic (lockdowns weighed on the make-up division), but in full recovery as demonstrated by the figure for the first half (+13,4% to 314 million) which closed with a profit of 17,5 million.
Such reserve, worthy of NASA laboratories, has not prevented the Ferrari family from double-digit growth on average for 50 years, attracting shareholders of the caliber of the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund or other big international companies while maintaining solid control of the capital and voting rights. But so much charm, until a few days ago, hadn't bewitched the operators of Business Square. Already in 2014, in fact, Intercos had knocked on the door of the Italian market but in the end had renounced the IPO: "The company - reads a press release - has considered that the conditions of the financial markets do not allow to obtain a valuation that faithfully reflects the real value intrinsic and the potential of society”.
And so, discarding the Stock Exchange, the American private fund was chosen as a partner Catterton then joined by the pension fund Ontario teachers. To raise the white flag on that occasion was also the Tip by Gianni Tamburi which also had already invested in Intercos in view of the listing process. A second attempt, announced at the end of 2019, failed due to the outbreak of the pandemic. And even on that occasion the failed IPO was compensated for by the arrival of a major investor, the Gic of Singapore. But, you know, there is no two without three. The triumphal landing in Piazza Affari at the beginning of the week thus represents the final point of a tormented engagement that lasted seven years. But also the start of a new chapter, under the banner of two bets: Piazza Affari will be able to act as a starting point springboard for a former paperback multinational, leading the way for other Italian companies so far reluctant to go public? The company, for its part, will be able to live up to the reputation acquired by great contractor of the global beauty industry?
To answer the last question it may be useful go back to the originsthe. Dario Ferrari is a son of art because his family produced body creams in Switzerland. But, he says, he wants to make his way alone. He goes to London where he works as assistant to an advertising account from which, we read in one of his rare interviews, "I learned how to understand positioning, communication, weaknesses and strengths of companies". It is a know-how that he applied back to Italy, placing the family products but with the flair for knowing how to interpret the trends which, at the beginning of the 78s, were starting to change patterns and behaviours. In 'XNUMX, six years after the birth of Intercos, the first real success: a brighter and easier to apply eyeshadow, made with the same technology used by Hag coffee to extract the caffeine from the beans. It is the business card that will open the doors of Estée Lauder to him, the US maison which, among other things, owes a large part of its fortune to the choice of Italian managers such as Franco Freda, today one of Wall's most paid and appreciated CEOs. street. For Ferrari it is an investiture which, contract after contract, will make him a key figure behind the scenes of cosmetics, what Foxconn is to the greats of technology like Apple, so to speak. Its secret lies in a very flexible production system, capable of meeting the needs of a customer who asks for millions of pieces but also of the influencer who wants to start a small line from scratch. In short, a system that serves both a Volkswagen and a Formula 1 prototype.
But it's not a simple organizational issue: the important thing is knowing how to use the antennas. Here's what CEO Renato Semerari said. “We have developed a sophisticated marketing intelligence system to identify future trends. We are present with fifteen commercial and marketing offices in significant cities: from Sao Paulo to Los Angeles, from New York to Milan, Paris, London, Seoul, Shanghai. This gives us the ability to have antennas to see what happens in local art, fashion and lifestyle”. In short, a network unfolds from Brianza that covers from Los Angeles to Seoul, at the service of the sex appeal of the housewife of Voghera or the employee of Shanghai. “We work – he added – with the greatest professionals in the sector: not only with companies multinationals, but also with the make-up artist of Hollywood, the celebrity american or theinfluencers asian. Then we put together a puzzle of information that we integrate with social listening and Google Analytics analysis, and so we have the complete picture”.
My eyes, one might say. But the other fundamental aspect should not be overlooked: the mix science plus technology because "without engineers certain ideas risk remaining such". Arabella Ferrari, the vice president, talks about it in a meeting with WWD, the Bible of US fashion. After years of studies and research, you reveal, the Intercos technicians have developed natural substances that guarantee the exact flexibility of use of microplastics, without however toxic effects. It is continuous research because “the market changes rapidly. But the demand for clean ingredients is growing even more rapidly”.
In short. behind a lipstick you need intuition, marketing, artificial intelligence skills, research on materials. But the most difficult thing is to combine the different needs of 550 customers who, in turn, address millions of possible consumers. No, it won't be easy to imitate the activity of the award-winning Ferrari company, the noble fruit of the "Beauty Valley", one of the liveliest industrial districts of Made in Italy.
