Former Illva Saronno executive Paolo Dalla Mora spent almost eight years with the brand owner before breaking out on his own. Global Drinks Intel caught up with the entrepreneur to hear about his “third baby”, the Italian gin brand Engine.
Global Drinks Intel: What’s the back-story for Engine?
Paolo Dalla Mora, founder Engine Italian gin: I previously worked in marketing for Unilever and McDonald’s, then spent seven years with Illva Saronno, building my knowledge as a marketing and communication executive. I married in 2016, but I was still travelling around the world, taking 250 flights per year. A year later, I decided to retire from Illva and moved from Milan to Barbaresco [in north-west Italy].
My passion is to write projects and in 2017, I wrote a project on a spirit in a can. The working title was ‘Garage’ – I’ve long had a passion for motorbikes and motor racing. My philosophy was for everything to be made in Italy; the recipe is a journey from north to south, including water from the Alps, sage from Piedmont, juniper from Tuscany and lemons from Sicily. Everything is certified organic. My idea was to use a rhetorical device – ‘dirty’ packaging that contains a product that’s respectful of tradition.
I have two daughters – Engine is my third baby.
GDI: When did you launch Engine and where?
PDM: The first time we launched Engine was in Italy in 2019 although, because of the pandemic, we launched about five times! The price is around EUR39 [US$43]. We’re a premium brand and in pricing terms, we try to tell the same story as Hendrick’s.
GDI: Which countries is the brand available in today?
PDM: We’re in 15 markets, including Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, the UK, Greece, Japan, the US and Canada. We’re also in Hungary and Czech in the east of Europe. By the end of the year, we’re moving to Australia, New Zealand and Germany.
GDI: Is Italy still the largest market for Engine?
PDM: Yes, along with the UK and the US right now. The UK is growing really fast and, surprisingly, France is doing really well.
GDI: How does the packaging help to promote Engine’s premium cues?
PDM: It’s the rhetorical device again. There’s a phrase in Italian, ‘falso grasso’, which translates as ‘fake chubby’! This year, we won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Design Competition. The perception of our packaging has changed a lot over the last couple of years.
For consumers, the packaging is the ‘why’. Then, the liquid becomes the reason to believe.
GDI: How has the packaging been received by retailers?
PDM: It depends on the age of the buyer! If the buyers are old, they say ‘Oh my God’. If the buyers are young, they want to list it straight away. To some, the can reminds them of motor oil, to others it reminds them of olive oil. It’s at least 30 years since we last saw motor oil in a can.
When you place the product in front of consumers, they want to buy it. In the UK, we launched in [multiple retailer] Tesco around a year ago and the results have been incredible. The same’s happened in SAQ [Societe d’Alcool du Quebec] in Montreal and in Total Wine & More in California – the rotation of Engine is really high and the packaging is helping a lot to sell the product.
With bartenders, it’s different because they’re not judging the consumer reaction to the packaging, they’re judging the liquid.
The packaging is a marketing tool, but there’s quality content inside it.
GDI: You don’t reference the packaging’s environmental credentials.
PDM: In our communications, we have several steps; the first step is that Engine is an organic product, the next is that it’s in different packaging. We have steps to build the branding and then to communicate. The first is to convince people about the good quality of the liquid inside. And that’s what makes me really proud.
GDI: Do you have an exit strategy in mind?
PDM: No. Every time I think about something like that, something goes wrong! I have a product that I’m proud of and I want to see it grow. Besides, I’m not working for a big executive. Salary is like to wash your face every morning. When you’re okay with your salary, everything goes.
