Fifteen Years of MiRò: What We Learn Together

There’s a phone call, at the very beginning. Not a meeting. Not a business plan. Not a slide with a mission statement written in italics. A phone call, which arrived one ordinary day, in which I told Michele Losito that we had an agency. I didn’t ask him. I told him. He, with the patience that defines him – and that I have never had – said yes. Fifteen years later, MiRò Comunicazione still exists. And if I told you that the main reason is precisely that patience, I probably wouldn’t be exaggerating.

Two characters, one agency

Michele is reflective. I act while I’m still analysing. He picks up the pieces. I create new ones, in the meantime. In a communications agency, this combination could be explosive in the wrong sense. Instead – and it took us years to understand why – it became a load-bearing structure. The tension between the one who brakes and the one who accelerates doesn’t produce paralysis: it produces calibration. I’m not saying this out of nostalgia or to mark the anniversary with catchy phrases, but because it is the most useful thing I can pass on to anyone thinking of starting something with another person: find someone who doesn’t work like you. Complementary, not identical. And then learn to tell each other things to your face, as soon as possible.

The market, then and now

When we opened, the world of communications was going through its first major digital transition. Social networks were a promise yet to be deciphered, the creator economy didn’t yet have a name, and most agencies were still debating whether press releases should be sent by fax or email. Being different was not our goal. We wanted to be consistent. Humanity and humanism at the centre – not as a slogan, but as a working method. Fifteen years later, that choice seems even more right to us. The market has changed at least three times, and each time technology has made it clearer how much people need those who can sit with uncertainty without reaching for the most likely answer. AI optimises. We interpret. And as long as this difference has value – and it always will – the work of boutique agencies that know how to do both will remain irreplaceable.

“Ethics” is not a word for sustainability reports

We obtained gender equality certification under UNI/PdR 125:2022. Not for external positioning. For a far more uncomfortable question we asked ourselves internally: are we truly consistent with what we say we believe in? The honest answer was: partly yes, but we could do better. Those who separate values from their business vision, from our perspective, can hardly present themselves credibly. It is professional coherence, without moralising. And clients notice.

The measurement problem (the one nobody wants to tackle)

One of our goals for the coming years – for MiRò, but above all for the industry – is to build a more mature way of measuring the value of strategic communications. Not clicks. Not reach. Not AVE. The value of communications is measured in decisions changed, perceptions shifted, relationships built over time. It’s a cultural shift. It will take time. But someone has to start – and, preferably, someone who has spent fifteen years observing what happens when communication truly works, and what remains when it stops doing so.

What to look for in a communications partner (and what to be wary of)

If I were to summarise in a few lines what fifteen years of real work have taught us about what distinguishes a good partner from a supplier, I would say this: Look for someone who asks you uncomfortable questions before proposing solutions. If the first meeting is a deck of case studies and a quote, you’re talking to a supplier. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s a different choice. Be wary of anyone who promises guaranteed results, accepts any budget without negotiating the scope, and never tells you that you’re wrong. A good communications partner is sometimes the first to tell you that the problem isn’t how you’re communicating. It’s what you’re communicating – or worse, what you’re actually doing versus what you say.

Fifteen years later: a starting point

MiRò celebrates its first fifteen years looking ahead, to the next fifteen. It marks the occasion at a moment when we have consciously chosen to relaunch – on every front. The boutique dimension has nothing to do with nostalgia. It is a deliberate strategic position: the quality of the relationship and the consultancy is better preserved this way. And that phone call fifteen years ago? It is still our working model. Decide first, calibrate after. With someone alongside who picks up the pieces when needed – and who knows when to hit the brakes.

MiRò Comunicazione is a PR and strategic communications agency founded in 2010 by Rossella Rosciano and Michele Losito. Certified under UNI/PdR 125:2022 for gender equality, it is part of the MORE Agencies international network.