Case Study

Old Wild West Milazzo

Micro & Niche Influencer Marketing for Promoting Gluten Free Offerings.

Client Presentation

The objectives defined together with Factory Communication were on three main levels:

Brand awareness and local positioning
Strengthen the perception of Old Wild West Milazzo as a reference point for celiacs, gluten intolerant people and families concerned about food inclusion in the Milazzo, Messina and eastern Sicily area.
Drive to store and awareness of the offering Stimulate interest in the Gluten Free menu by emphasizing the completeness and quality of the offering and inviting the community to visit the restaurant to discover it for themselves.
Construction of a progressive narrative Structuring a funnel communication path (pre, during, post) that would accompany the user from discovery of the offer to participation in the experience, to remembering and sharing through recap content.

Old Wild West Milazzo

Problem and initial challenge

Milazzo’s Old Wild West restaurant faced a twofold challenge:

To make the Gluten Free offering visible and recognizable, distinguishing it from the common perception of Old Wild West as simply a steakhouse by emphasizing the breadth and completeness of the dedicated menu.
To intercept and engage the target audience – adults and young people between 25 and 55 years of age residing in Milazzo, Messina and surrounding areas who are celiac or sensitive to the issue of food inclusion – generating drive to store and curiosity around the proposal.

In a context of strong local competition and low public awareness regarding the existence of structured gluten-free menus in commercial catering, there was a need to build an authentic, territorially rooted narrative capable of communicating inclusivity and quality of supply.

Marketing goals

The objectives defined together with Factory Communication were on three main levels:

Brand awareness and local positioning Strengthen the perception of Old Wild West Milazzo as a reference point for celiacs, gluten intolerant people and families concerned about food inclusion in the area of Milazzo, Messina and eastern Sicily.
Drive to store and awareness of the offering Stimulate interest in the Gluten Free menu by emphasizing the completeness and quality of the offering and inviting the community to visit the restaurant to discover it for themselves.
Construction of a progressive narrative Structuring a funnel communication path (pre, during, post) that would accompany the user from discovery of the offer to participation in the experience, to remembering and sharing through recap content.

Influencer Local and Niche

Factory Communication designed an influencer marketing project focused on a local creator strongly rooted in the Sicilian territory, with the intention of establishing a genuine link between the brand, the Gluten Free offering and the target audience. The pillars of the strategy:

Choosing the creator The content creator @gioviziana (Giovanna), a micro influencer specializing in authentic storytelling about Sicily – Messina and surrounding areas – with a focus on experiences, lifestyle, food and moments of daily life, was selected. Her audience consists mainly of local adults who are curious and passionate about discovering the area, perfectly consistent with the target audience of the initiative.
Verticality and proximity The creator originates from or resides in and around the Messina area, with content focused on food, lifestyle, and food discovery, thus ensuring geographic proximity, relevance, and reliability of the message to the target audience.
Editorial Consistency Content was developed to fit organically into the creator’s narrative flow, maintaining its direct, dynamic and engaging tone of voice, but adapting it to the client’s objectives: to enhance the Gluten Free offering as a comprehensive, accessible and quality proposition.
Multichannel Amplification The promotion on Instagram was reinforced by re-shares on the creator’s secondary channels – @tiraccontomessina, Facebook and TikTok – to reach wider audience segments that were diverse in age and platform.

Old Wild West Milazzo

Project implementation

Target audience

The primary target audience defined for the campaign consisted of:

Women and men between the ages of 25 and 55, residing in Milazzo, Messina and surrounding areas of eastern Sicily.
People with celiac disease, gluten intolerance or food inclusion awareness interested in discovering restaurants with dedicated, comprehensive and safe offerings.
Groups of friends, couples, and families used to having to forgo or limit outings due to lack of suitable options, so Old Wild West provides an unexpected and valuable solution.

Storytelling and narrative structure

The narrative was constructed using a funnel-oriented approach consisting of three phases:

Pre-experience – Discovery and Anticipation

Posting Instagram Stories teasers in the hours leading up to the visit to announce the upcoming Gluten Free experience at Old Wild West Milazzo and generate curiosity in the community.
Objective: to create expectation, intercept the attention of the celiac public and invite discovery of the offerings.

During the experience – Real-time storytelling

Real-time coverage via Stories during the visit, with immersive content created inside the restaurant: Far West-style atmosphere, presentation of Gluten Free offerings, quality and variety of food items.
Focus on: food proposition (Chicken Nuggets, Bacon Cheddar Burger and other gluten-free menu options), scenic setting, inclusiveness of the experience.
Objective: to communicate the authenticity of the proposal, stimulate positive FOMO, and strengthen the perception of Old Wild West as a welcoming place even for those with special dietary needs.

Post-experiencer – Recap and reminder

Realization of an Instagram Reel published 1-2 days after the experience, designed as a short content summary of brand, atmosphere, dishes and gluten free proposal, with call to action oriented to visit and booking.
The Reel represents the main content of the campaign, optimized for organic reach and structured to intercept non-follower users through the Explore section and peer-to-peer shares.

Measurable outcomes

The results of the influencer marketing activity for Old Wild West Ancona’s anniversary event show relevant performance both in terms of visibility and target audience engagement.

Key creator campaign data

The analysis shows a good ability to distribute the message on the target audience, both in geographical and socio-demographic terms, with a prevalence of users interested in the food proposal and experiences related to the gluten free world. Interactions focus mainly on active interest actions, such as clicks to geolocation and content saves, a sign of an audience that is engaged and genuinely interested in the proposed experience.

The activity was developed around a single Creator, @gioviziana, whose editorial plan, articulated in 4 promotional moments between Stories and Reel, generated an excellent level of performance, with several tens of thousands of impressions and with an average of 43% and peaks of up to 97% and 65%, confirming the ability to expand beyond the established base, good virality and ability of the content to reach new people through peer-to-peer sharing dynamics.

Giovanna has a presence on all major social networks and has also re-shared content on @tiraccontomessina_– her proprietary local promotion channel, on Facebook to intercept the age target audience @gioviziana, and on TikTok @gioviziana.

Finally,the tone of the comments is strongly positive, with widespread enthusiasm and genuine appreciation for the venue. The gluten-free offering emerges as a distinctive element and strength of communication, generating particularly heartfelt reactions.

Notable comments include, “I’m glad there are more dishes for celiacs,” “Great, I have a friend who would be happy to try this gluten free menu: as soon as I get back to Sicily, stop in Milazzo!”, “Wow, interesting! I didn’t know this chain had a gluten-free menu.”

Audience demographic profile

The audience tapped fully reflects the target audience defined at the initial stage:

Female prevalence, with about 61% women in the total, and a high incidence in the 25-54 age group.
The most represented ages are 25-34 years (31.3%) and 35-54 years (39.3%), in line with the segment of active and food-conscious adults.
The geographic distribution shows a high concentration in the area of Messina, Milazzo and eastern Sicily, consistent with the drive-to-store objective for the Milazzo restaurant.

Social evidence

In addition to quantitative data, the activity generated relevant qualitative evidence in terms of social proof:

@gioviziana’s authentic and natural tone of voice fostered genuine audience engagement, with comments geared toward appreciating the offerings, sharing the experience, and expressing positive surprise at the presence of a full Gluten Free menu at Old Wild West.
The integration of real-time Stories and Reel of recap allowed for the construction of a positive memory of the experience, reinforcing Old Wild West Milazzo’s reputation as an inclusive and diverse food-conscious place.
The relevant presence of non-follower users-reached through peer-to-peer shares and visibility in the Explore section, with an average of 43% and peaks as high as 97% and 65%-has extended the pool of awareness far beyond the initial creator community.

Some of the most significant comments received on the content include:

“I’m glad there are more dishes for people with celiac disease.”
“I have a friend who would be happy to try this gluten free menu: as soon as I get back to Sicily, stop in Milazzo!”
“Wow, interesting! I didn’t know this chain had a gluten-free menu.”

Comments

Analysis of the results reveals some key factors that explain the effectiveness of the project:

Total alignment between creator and brand: the strong territorial verticality and reliability of @gioviziana on the topic of “what to do and live in Sicily” made the message extremely spontaneous and not perceived as invasive advertising communication, generating authentic reactions from the audience.
Funnel-structured storytelling and three-moment storytelling: the pre-during-post approach allowed the audience to be accompanied along the entire awareness journey, from the first contact with the Gluten Free offering to the memorization of the experience and the stimulus to visit.
Ability to intercept new audiences: the average figure of 43% of non-followers reached-with peaks of up to 97%-confirms the ability of content to expand beyond the creator’s established community, reaching new potential customers through dynamics of interest and thematic affinity.
Target audience fully consistent with the objective: demographic and geographic data highlight the campaign’s ability to accurately intercept the segment of adults with celiac disease and concerned about dietary inclusion who reside in the store’s target area.

Old Wild West Milazzo

Conclusions and lessons learned

Influencer marketing activity to promote Old Wild West Milazzo’s Gluten Free menu highlights that:

The use of local micro influencers with strong territorial roots is an extremely effective strategic lever for brands wishing to work on local awareness and conversion in the restaurant industry, especially when the message concerns a niche offering such as Gluten Free.
A phased approach (teaser, live coverage, recap) allows for optimizing both awareness and engagement, generating content that not only informs, but inspires and drives the audience toward a store visit.
The theme of food inclusion stimulates particularly participatory and heartfelt reactions from the audience, especially when it is communicated in an authentic way: this element amplified the organic resonance of the content, fostering spontaneous dissemination beyond the creator’s follower base.

This case study demonstrates how the collaboration between Old Wild West Milazzo and Factory Communication can be a replicable model for other brand locations and, more generally, for catering realities that wish to use influencer marketing not only as a visibility lever, but as a concrete positioning tool on relevant and high-involvement issues such as food inclusion.