"Tecnica", training and talent: how to build an international career
Interview with Arianna Colombari
Arianna Colombari is Group Communication and Sustainability Director of Tecnica Group, a world leader in outdoor footwear and ski equipment, which has in its portfolio iconic brands such as Tecnica, Nordica, Moon Boot, LOWA, Blizzard and Rollerblade.
But how do you reach the top of one of the main global players in the sector? The first stake of this long climb – also a symbol of her determination – Arianna drives it in when, at the end of the Nineties, she chooses a course of study that, in fact, did not exist. “I graduated in oriental languages with an economic specialization that at the time was not envisaged. I asked the rector to be allowed to integrate economics exams into a totally humanities-based course: it was my good fortune,” she says. She was guided by her father, an entrepreneur convinced that the Global East would be the future. “He sent me to study Chinese and my sister Russian: an investment for tomorrow.”
It is precisely during university that the first turning point arrives: thanks to her excellent grades, Arianna is recommended for an internship in the communication office of the sports brands at Benetton. “At the first call I refused because I had not finished university. At the second I realized that that train would not pass again.” She thus begins to work in a vibrant environment, rich in stimuli, cross-contaminations and pure creativity. “At the time Benetton was one of the most sought-after places to work, a real sports multinational. We worked with legends like Oliviero Toscani and people like Michael Schumacher and Marco Melandri would pass through the office: for a young woman it was a dream.” Arianna works in the marketing of Rollerblade, of which she soon becomes manager, and when in 2003 the brand is acquired by Tecnica Group she chooses to accept the new challenge. It is a change of paradigm and the beginning of a chapter full of opportunities. “It was a phase of great change and a unique opportunity to see up close an entrepreneurial model that was dynamic and very close to the product and to people,” she recalls.
Initially she is responsible only for the Rollerblade brand, but in 2004 she is appointed marketing manager of the Nordica and Rollerblade brands, entering the strategic heart of the Group. “Nordica was coming from difficult years: skis with the brand had been born only in 2000 and the brand identity had to be rebuilt. It was a huge challenge.” The following years are ones of great ferment: Nordica returns to grow, Rollerblade is repositioned, Blizzard is acquired and integrated, and the Group starts a process of consolidating the brand portfolio. “Every project had to be built piece by piece: the product, communication, the relationship with athletes and with the market. It was a period that allowed me to see how a brand is really born when you rebuild it from the foundations.”
Despite the intense work, Arianna invests in her own training – something she will never stop doing – and between 2006 and 2008 she earns an MBA from the University of Kansas. In 2008 another key step arrives: Tecnica Group decides to bring activities together within the building in Giavera, today the Group’s headquarters. “I remember the move as the beginning of a new cycle. For the first time all the brands, all the competences, all the know-how were in the same house. It was a crucial step that created a very strong sense of identity.” The new structure requires coordination and a vision capable of enhancing the specific nature of each brand within a common Group perimeter.
In the following years Arianna witnesses the transformation of the Group, which moves from an entrepreneurial structure to managerial management. Another fundamental step takes place in 2017, when Italmobiliare joins as a minority shareholder alongside the Zanatta family: “it was a key moment: new perspectives, new levels of dialogue, new responsibilities opened. We began to structure corporate communication, the financial side, sustainability… functions that today are central.”
It is in this phase that Arianna’s current role takes shape, which brings together communication, sustainability, brand strategy and global coordination. In parallel, a team is structured that Arianna considers one of her most significant legacies. “We have a very young average age and an excellent gender balance: we are about 50% women. In a world that is still very male, it is a strong signal.” Her leadership is oriented towards people’s growth: “I have always believed in giving opportunities, many of my collaborators joined as interns and today lead important brands. One of my greatest joys is precisely seeing those who grow from within.”
Today Tecnica Group is an international company, and Arianna is one of the people who have accompanied this evolution from within. “Our strength has always been the ability to change, anticipate, build. And to do it together.” Among the reasons for pride there is also having built a career without giving up motherhood. “I confess that I was afraid of motherhood, but in the company they always trusted me, and I was able to organize myself to reconcile private life and work in the best possible way.”
Having recently obtained UNI/PdR 109 certification as a Sustainability Manager, achieved in order to deepen her knowledge in an area increasingly at the center of Tecnica Group’s business model, among her strengths Arianna emphasizes precisely the desire to learn: “the only constant in work is change, and communication is one of the functions that changes the fastest. That is why I always study: I know that the day I stop learning I will also stop growing.” A principle that sums up her path well and perhaps also her view of work: to move, to grow, to learn. Always.
