Celebrity Chef Simone Rugiati, an Ambassador for Irish Beef in Italy

1st March 2021

Francesca Perfetto, Milan Office, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

With the beginning of the New Year, Bord Bia has announced a partnership with the well-known Italian Chef and TV Personality Simone Rugiati, to make him an Ambassador for Irish beef for Italy.

Simone Rugiati is not only a Chef, he is an artist and a professional in continuous evolution: TV presenter, author and producer loved by the Italian public, he has collaborated with television, radio and editorial networks of primary importance at a national level. His media versatility has led him over time to establish himself as an online influencer, active on the most popular social networks, through which he has developed a large following, with good results in views, impressions and a growing level of engagement.

After the great success of last year Influencers campaign, combined with on-line and in-store promotional campaigns with some Italian retailers, and the collaboration with Key Opinion Leaders (such as well-known Chefs and experts in food, nutrition, sustainability…), Bord Bia decided to follow a similar approach this year, choosing to have an Ambassador who could endorse Irish beef, from a professional perspective, but also widely deliver our messages to consumers.

This important collaboration will further enhance the qualities of Irish meat, thanks to Chef Rugiati's extraordinary talent, creativity and innovation, and will allow us to reach out to a wider audience, well in line with our target focus of Chefs and professionals, foodies and meat lovers.

The collaboration will mainly involve activation on the Chef's social media profiles (Instagram and Facebook) reaching and engaging with his large follower-base (520K on IG and over 752K followers on FB), and his active participation in media relations activities for 6 months, from January to June 2021.

The focus will remain on the key messages of our campaigns in the Italian market, by aligning this activity with other consumer marketing campaigns throughout 2021 and making use of specific hashtags and claims like #Buonapernatura (“Good by nature”) and #GrassFed.

Chef Rugiati has publicly expressed his appreciation of being an Ambassador for Irish beef in Italy, commenting: “The raw material comes first, this is my claim: as a Chef it is a pleasure to work with such quality. What I like the most is the story behind the product: small farmers with an incredible dedication, a place that looks so much like paradise, with a great ethical focus. We are what we eat and the same goes for the cattle we raise. Animal welfare, proximity to the sea and natural and rich nutrition make the quality of Irish meat incredible, as well as sustainable. As a lover of meat, I try to respect the raw material as much as possible when creating my dishes, by enhancing its natural flavours”.