His grandfather, the Olivetti adman
Marketing was in Raffaele's DNA before he picked it as a career. He never met his grandfather, but he heard stories that ultimately shaped his career.
"They told me I was very similar to him in many ways. He worked for Olivetti (Italian typewriter company), and they had these classic flyers, really beautiful, kind of old school retro. From there, I got inspired... I wanted to work for Ogilvy. When you look at marketing, David Ogilvy is basically one of the founding fathers."
Before moving to London without a plan B, we bought a small book of David Ogilvy's quotes. By the time he started at Greenwich, he was set on becoming a copywriter.
"If I think about it now, it makes me smile. I love copywriters; I’ve worked with them, but it's very challenging, especially with AI and the current market. Marketing is such a big word, too. It can mean so many different things, and at the start, I was still figuring out which version of it was for me."
The Airbnb lecture
One Greenwich lecture from his Marketing and Advertising master's stands out for him more than any other. It was about Airbnb's rebrand at the time, the new logo and the strategy behind it.
"As soon as the lecture finished, I went to the library, opened my laptop, and looked up internship opportunities at Airbnb. Seriously, the timeline is exactly like that. After the lecture, library, cover letter, email, sent."
The role was based in France, and the interview process ran across six stages, but he got it.
"It was a very technical role, which isn't really how my brain works. I wasn’t ready, but when are you ever?! I just gave it my all and learned really important lessons."
Getting into Ogilvy
Ogilvy had been the goal since before he came to the UK. Their graduate programme, The Pipe, was hard to get into, and he applied more than once to land a place.
"They said no. Then I reapplied as an account executive about 2 times... Still got a no. It's that consistency and determination. You'll get no’s, everyone does. It’s about how you react to the no. It’s important to deal with rejection; it actually makes you stronger! If you're really committed to something, then no amount of no's will push you away from it."
So he worked on what was missing, gained experience and got a Yes. When the final interview came around, he went in heavily prepared. He designed his presentation to match the look of Ogilvy's own work at the time, and worked David Ogilvy quotes into the slides and put in hours and hours of prep.
"It's the attention to detail that makes the difference. And then you need to be confident. You also need to bring something to the table. Whatever the role is, intern, executive, manager, director, there's giving, and there's getting. Why you? You need to tell them and convince them that there isn’t anyone better"
Where Raffaele is now
Raffaele recently moved to BDB, which was named Global Influencer Agency of the Year 2026, among other awards. He leads a team of seven, runs IKEA and Adidas campaigns across countries. Speaking Italian, French, Spanish and English helps when you're working across that many markets.
"BDB has a really strong identity, interesting clients, and a clear growth plan I believed in."
One project he's particularly proud of was for IKEA. The campaign was a mix of seeding and paid of a new and exciting product across 27 markets. A total of 300+ influencers and many hours of hard work.
Lectures vs Reality
"At a lecture, when you're learning marketing, it's very often, this is the funnel, this is the budget, this is how you split it. All of that is genuinely good to know and useful. But the politics within a work environment, knowing when to have your allies, when to take a hit so you can get a win later, those nuances aren't something a lecture can teach you. That's life teaching you, usually the hard way, especially if you don't have parents who came from that environment to walk you through it."
What he'd tell his Greenwich self
Two things, looking back.
"First, spend less on red wine." :)
"Second, network a bit more. I've always found networking a bit unnecessary when I was younger, going up to someone and saying, “Hey, I'm Raf, what do you do?” It just wasn't in my DNA. Honestly, looking back, I think a lot of that was insecurity. I was still figuring out where I wanted to be, but you've got to crack out of your shell if you want to grow."
One pointer on networking was
"Don't network for the sake of it. Be precise about where you network and how you network. Remember to protect your time"
Other than that, he's extremely happy with how it all played out.
"I did what I wanted to do. That’s the truth. I made mistakes and learned from them, but I’m proud of what I achieved, and I still want to learn much more"
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that course timetables, the availability of modules and opportunities offered to, and services for, students can change over time - i.e. things may not be available from one year to the next - and that some things may also not be available to you if you are joining Greenwich as a direct entry student. In the case of modules, please always check the 'What will you study' section of the course webpage for the course and entry year you are interested in. You can find an index of all our subject areas, within which you will find the individual course pages, at: https://www.gre.ac.uk/subjects
