Andrea Ziella

 is an Italian businessman who is the head of Marketing and Digital at the Italian branch of Mattel, based in Milan, Lombardy.

Education
Ziella was educated at tetiary level primarily at the local Università Commerciale 'Luigi Bocconi' (simply Bocconi University in English) where he studied subjects including Finance, Business Administration, Management, Law, Digital Marketing Strategy from 2004 to 2007 and Stategization and Communication of Operational, experiential and Trade marketing from 2008 to 2010. For the former, he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and for the latter, he graduated with a Masters of Sciences degree in Marketing Management.

He left his home country for the U.S. in in 2010 where he studied Direct Marketing, Sales Strategy, Digital Marketing and graduated with an Exchange Program in Marketing from the San Diego State University in California. He returned to Italy in 2016 to attend the Scuola di Direzione Aziendale (SDA: "Business Management School" in English) at Bocconi University to study digital marketing, strategy and analysis and graduate with a Masters degree in Internet, Social Media and Mobile for Corporate Marketing and Communication, from which he also recived a month-long certification in March.

Pre-Mattel
Zaiella began his career in September 2007 as Junior Product Manager of the Italian branch of French luxury fashion design house Chanel where he acted on market and competitor analysis, product management, launch and warehousing. In March 2011, he moved to the Italian branch of French multinational retail corporation Carrefour first as Marketing Hyper/Marketing Head and then Junior Buyer Head for Toys. For the first role he defined and implemented the branch's commercial plan and launch, relation management with its suppliers for the implementation of the plans, oversaw budget analysis of the branch's launch and the following variations, when needed. He also realized leaflet and development of company’s communications and its integration dynamics for every single store connected/affiliated to Carrefour Italy as well as managing a marketing plan of the then-new ”Carrefour Planet Italia” format. For the latter role in the buyer toys category, he supported and implementated the permanent and seasonal assortment for the Italian chain.

Mattel
Exactly a month after leaving Carrefour Italy, he joined Mattel's Italian branch as a customer marketing representative where he manages the relationship with acclaimed licensors (Disney, Warner Bros., DreamWorks, WWE and Microsoft in the U.S and Rainbow S.p.A. in Italy) and and conglomerate licencees (Ferrero, Perfetti van Melle, Nestlé, Benetton Group, Sammontana and McDonald's), all at local level. He coordinated the marketing effort and budget for the whole brand portfolio, strategized and implemented a promotional plan and initiatives for the most important banners in Italy.

In March, 2013, his role changed to senior consumer marketing analyst for Channel Development, Modern Trade & Digital, where he was responsible for the development and marketing strategies of the new Digital platform (on-line and APP) Mattel Italy ”La Scatola dei Giocattoli”. He defined the Italy line architecture by season for specific channels, coordinate 12 Merchandiser to implement the activities in store, deliver relevant local Channel Insights from POS / NPD data and shopper researches, develop local retailer promotional plans, propose efficient and innovative promotions on local level including a return on investment tracking, coordinated strategic account planninng together with specific Key Account Managers, track and measure execution and provide regular feedback to Key Account & Field Force Management. He was also responsible for retail specific execution and presence.

In June 2014, he became Associate Manager for Digital Marketing for Mattel in the South-Eastern European region where he oversaw the operations in Greece and Turkey – in addtition to his native country's division. In the role, he translated global and regional brand strategies into actionable local marketing plans. He was directly responsible of the digital marketing transformation and execution with a focus on search Marketing, social media and brand positioning, managing local team and partner agencies. Key achievements within the role include Superman Space Travel Branding project in collaboration with RS components, Superman owner Warner Bros. and Panasonic.

In September 2015, he became the senior business unit manager (Infant/Pre-School/Building Set) and digital strategy. With this role, he defined the roadmap for brand, trade and digital marketing of key Mattel brands including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, Mega Brands (then Mega Bloks), HIT and the whole intellectual property brand portfolio for the Italian Market. He was responsible of the business plan and forecasting procedures alongside the digital headquarters for the EMEA region. Key Achievements with the role included the opening of a 'Thomas & Friends' amusement park in Leolandia, the major Italian amusement park. The year 2016 was closed with positive return to growth on Fisher-Price, Thomas & Friends and Mega Brands.

In February 2017, he left for South Africa to became the head of marketing, trade marketing & digital for its Mattel branch in the Johannesburg Area. There, he was responsible of the integral marketing effort at Mattel, driving growth, optimisation and business development across the whole Mattel brand portfolio. He was responsible of forecasting procedures alongside the headquarters of Mattel Asia-Pacific. Key Achievements within the role included the successful opening of Mattel's South African branch, the launch of the Mattel Collaboration Center, a consumer insight interactive hub collecting insights, news and innovations for the South African market, the launch of the “Thomas Land Train” and “Big World Big Adventure” film/movie launch with local celebrity Bobby Van Jaarsveld and Local Song, the Barbie x Maybelline collaboration and double-digit growth in 2017 and during the first half of 2018.

In July, 2018, he returned to his native country to assume his current role of Head of Marketing and Digital of his native country's branch of Mattel. With the role, he is responsible of defining the course of Mattel Italy’s integral marketing strategy (Brand, Trade and Digital) with the creation of business development processes and synergic communication efforts across a portfolio of owned and licensed brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, UNO, Scrabble, Thomas & Friends, Disney, Warner Bros, among others. Key Responsibilities within his role include: leading marketing strategy development across the whole brand portfolio, leading long-range planning activities for strategic communications, overseeing investment planning, defining the business model with responsibility on the Full P&L and team management in setting a vision for the team; enabling every member to work to their full capacity, set objectives and grow within the company. Key Achievement so far in his current role include: a “You Can Be An Astronaut” initiative in collaboration with Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, Role Model Barbie Bebe Vio in collaboration with Beatrice Adelaide Marzia Vio, former Italian paralympic fencing champion, Fisher-Price initiative with a hashtag, #Torniamobambini, to celebrate the year's Grandparents Day, Role Model Barbie Alberta Ferretti under the Dream Gap Project in collaboration with Vogue, a “You Can Be Anything” initiative in collaboration with Gino Sorbillo, the most important Pizza maker in Italy, and his daughter Ludovica and the strategy and execution of a Barbie–Fiat 500 Guerrilla Marketing initiative.