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Natuzzi Sponsors Tulsa Ballet
October 12,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Community/Charitable Support on October 13, 2011
Leather upholstery vendor Natuzzi Group is working with Natuzzi Italia dealer Urban Furnishings, based in Tulsa, Okla., in support of the Tulsa Ballet.
Urban Furnishings Owner Rebecca Joskey said the ballet company has been a world-class fixture in Tulsa for more than 50 years. The Tulsa Ballet is currently led by director Marcello Angelini and his wife, Daniela Buson, who serves as ballet mistress. Both Italian born, it was Buson who Joskey approached one year ago when she sought to learn Italian in preparation for a trip to the Natuzzi Group factory in Santeramo, Italy.
"I wanted to be able to converse with Pasquale Natuzzi," Joskey said.
Buson agreed to come to the store and help Joskey prepare for her trip.
"Spending time learning Italian with Daniela--who had a very distinguished career as principal dancer prior to becoming ballet mistress--we naturally talked about the ballet," Joskey said. "It wasnt long before I made the connection between the Tulsa Ballets long tradition of excellence and quality, and Natuzzi Italia's. I saw a tremendous co-branding opportunity and Natuzzi Group executives agreed."
As part of the sponsorship, Natuzzi Group donated cooperative advertising dollars directly to the ballet company in the name of Urban Furnishings. Joskey matched the funds with the cost of professionally photographing the dancers interacting with Natuzzi Italia furniture and targeted advertising in Intermissions Magazine (the official publication of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center), and Oklahoma Magazine among others.
The series of striking photographs has been utilized both in print advertising and online in Urban Furnishings' social media efforts on Facebook and Twitter. Out-size versions of the photographs are also used as part of the presentation on the store's floor (including a stunning life-size shot of dancer Alfonso Martin) and in the front windows. A video featuring the photos runs continuously inside the store as well. The photographs of dancers and furniture have also
figured in special in-store events.
Other ballet-related promotions include drawings for tickets to every one of the company's performances this season. Urban Furnishings and Natuzzi Italia also underwrote a table at the gala Sinatra Ball held this past weekend to benefit the Tulsa Ballet at the Southern Hills Country Club.
"We invited good customers to join us at the table, which was signed Urban Furnishings/Natuzzi Italia, and donated a Natuzzi Italia chair to the raffle at the Ball," Joskey said. "To further raise awareness of the brand, bottles of olive oil from Pasquale Natuzzis olive groves were presented as gifts to the Balls committee members. Later in the season, we will host parties at the store for the Barre Society, which is a group of young professionals who support the Tulsa Ballet."
Joskey says the Ballet sponsorship is helping her hone in on her target customer and deliver the Natuzzi Italia/Urban Furnishings message one-on-one.
"From a marketing standpoint, we've garnered a very high presence with affluent consumers in our marketplace," she said. "They may have been aware of our store prior to the sponsorship, but these events brought them in and really exposed them to the brand."
Joskey added: "Natuzzi Italia is very important to the economy of the area where Pasquale Natuzzi is from and he has long demonstrated a strong sense of community. By supporting the arts in this way, his generosity is building community here in Tulsa as well. That's an awesome thing, particularly in this economy."
Brad Cates, senior vice president, Natuzzi Americas, agreed with Joskey's assessment.
"Being successful in today's environment requires a great deal of creativity from a marketing standpoint," he said. "Long a leading fashion house in terms of product, the Natuzzi Group's goal is to lead the way on the marketing front as well. We were therefore extremely pleased to support Urban Furnishings' innovative, co-branding efforts which are clearly paying off with greater awareness of the Natuzzi Italia brand among luxury consumers in the Tulsa marketplace."