Pasquale Diaferia is a river full of ideas and stimuli. An interview with him is equivalent to a trip far and wide for the country's talents. “I smell the air - he explains to me - a creative does not imagine what has happened, but what will happen ". His mantra is in the cover photo “It doesn't matter how many ideas you have, but how many you realize”.
Pasquale Diaferia is the author of advertisements that we all know and are part of our imagination, do you know commercials that have entered our homes, in everyday life? Campaigns such as those for Breil, Barilla, Clear, Moschino, Olivetti, Peroni, Panorama, Vespa, Bic, Agip just to name a few. Furthermore, Diaferia is a journalist, has written books and completely re-founded a certain way of communicating. Two words come to mind, Brand and poetry, the desire to combine the poetry of promotion with the big brands.
The creative Pasquale Diaferia, a successful Boomer
From food, to businesses, to industries, fashion, music, the made in Italy dream, based on know-how. In Diaferia you recognize a look that enhances beauty, intuition and passion. This is the material to draw on to find fantastic and practical solutions at the same time.
Talking to him pacifies and thrills you. It spurs you on, it's a life lesson, full of humor and positive energy.
Pasquale Diaferia, was born in Varese, from a family of parents who emigrated from the South. They came from Campobasso, he considers himself a boomer "who made it". Making it happen is a complex concept, built from subtle balances, so much so that on the occasion of a special birthday, the 80th birthday of his mother, Diaferia signs an editorial on the Province of Varese, entitled exactly like this: My name is Pasquale and in Varese I have it done: ... and if I have won awards, worked for the most important companies in the world, received certificates of esteem as economic satisfactions, well, I also owe it to the fact that I grew up in a city that, when I was a teenager, was more challenging and international than Milan ... I breathed, together with the warmth of the Motta bonfire, also the intensity of the different cultures of people who spoke other languages, and thought in ways different from mine, from ours ... , we read at one point.
Pasquale Diaferia: competence, study and commitment
For entire generations Pasquale Diaferia is the number one creative, capable of intercepting emotions and desires, of anticipating sentimental commercials, which hook the soul, when neuromarketing did not yet exist. Which used technology applied to art. "Art makes the difference - tells me - the media do damage. I'm not the message. You cannot mistake the tool for the content". A reflection that does not question McLuhan, but reiterates: "that communication makes a difference, robots are creatives' best friends. Together with computer engineers, creatives are needed". Reading the data, analyzing, sticking to predictive algorithms, otherwise, it becomes like “Predict what has already happened. Instead, everything is made up of tensions. From two opposite poles, the voltage is useful, positive ". Practically "predictivity tells you that things can happen, but in reality the conditions change, they constantly change ".
But how is a creative mind formed? "Cborn in Varese in the 70s. The city then had a higher GDP than Milan, and the strength of the company, the Di Varese shoe factory, had joined the agricultural tradition. But above all, a study center, the Ispra CCR, has been added to international industrial production. Varese was therefore a destination for scientists from all over the world, who needed services, a European school. When there was still no talk of Europe we put it into practice, we knew it was true. I went to that school and had classmates from every country. When the industry suddenly closes, because it is no longer convenient, culture and training, and above all that vocation of international exchange, remain ".
Entrepreneurship in Italy
Diaferia explains that where civilizations meet there is an enrichment, beyond the material terms
"Entrepreneurship is currently run by immigrants. You can do it, you know that study competence and commitment can be the social lift. They can change your fate.
The push is the need, sometimes hunger, which are the driving force. To communicate is to create human relationships. The soul is not immaterial, it is driven by our neuronal connections.
After the pandemic, there is a return to the need for reports that go beyond the smartphone screen.
There is a return to small towns, especially after the blow that Covid has given us. In France - he continues - I saw a commercial for a supermarket. Before moving to Paris was a myth, here we see a man who has obtained the transfer, after the farewell dinner, he begins his journey to the capital, but then, assailed by nostalgia, he turns around and goes back. A two-minute film that is a social cross-section ”.
Pasquale Diaferia, the courage to change
Pasquale Diaferia has received many awards. A truly impressive number. We name among all, two Bronze Lions and five short lists al Cannes Festival. But how do you "make it", which mechanisms regulate communication?
"The bravery. The strength to change and evolve. Don't be afraid of the white sheet, the white sheet must be afraid of you. I always say: do you want to make things happen or do you want things to make them happen? We must not be influenced by those who say 'we have always done this'. There is always another way to do it. Do not mimic the greats but challenge the market with your own means.
For example, last year we worked for a small retail, supplier of big brands, such as Puma, Adidas and Nike. In January 2020, unfortunately the basketball champion, Kobi Briant, dies. For our campaign we had, in advance, from Nike, the most beautiful celebratory photo of Kobi. The same one that on Monday the following published Time on the cover. This is to underline the relationship of trust that is established if you work well, if you aim for beautiful things. If you keep a good reputation. It takes time to measure these actions, but they pay off in the end. Quality always pays off. Even large structures recognize this and give you opportunities."
Above all, says Diaferia, you have to value what you like. “Italy has grown thanks to design and beauty. In these we are unique, making yourself unique is a winner.
Everyone does the same things because they are inspired by the same images, by the same impulses. It draws from the same sources. We must vary, detach ourselves. Valuing what you like, what you know how to do. We are the country of fashion, because our grandparents were tailors, for example. And then you have to work and surround yourself with the right people. I often take Celentano as an example. One singer who wasn't afraid to evolve talked about environmentalism before it was a known emergency. He was able to recognize the collaborators. This is how we enter history ”.
