The origins of the company go back to 1985, when the founding associates, Giacomo Macario (Pres/CEO of the Macario firm, and today still the major partner) and his second son Giuseppe Macario were assigned by Fiat Auto a Telemarketing project involving company car parks throughout Italy. It was the pioneering phase of a new era in marketing disciplines during the 90's, that would later be the foundation for the development of several important marketing activities: direct marketing; 1-to-1 marketing; big projects aimed at creating brand loyalty among both consumers and the trade; the birth of the first projects of data transmission via Videotel; and, ten years later, the birth of Internet and Customer Relationship Management.

In 1985, there were only fourteen telemarketing firms operating in Italy , and it was only a few years later that the first advertisements using toll-free numbers appeared.

In fact, it was during those first two years of activity that Inbound data transmission services emerged; in other words, assistance over the phone, services principally dedicated to aid the consumer during the phase of choice and purchase of products (pre-sale). It is the period of proliferation of brands such as Shop-line, Trade-line and Doctor-line, firms through which many of the most dynamic companies offered buyers a new channel of contact, which was more direct, rapid, easy and free.

The new tools that Marketing and Telematica was offering the market drew little attention from businesses. The new services were used by a small, select group of companies, at a time when computer and telephone technologies were still in the development stage. This was a remarkable undertaking both by the Firm as well as its clients, bearing in mind that in those days a company's telephone bill often exceeded its staff payroll. Furthermore, telephone exchanges did not offer Call Centres the versatility that they do today, and personal computers and local networks were still not widespread.

At the same time, our first MMAS Censuses - Micro Market Analysis System - were beginning to emerge. These were with the economic support of Fiamm Batteries and other companies such as L'Oreal, Wella, Schwarzkopf and Medavita. For the first time ever, more than 50,000 car repair workshops and over 80,000 hairdressers were interviewed.

In 1987 the firm changed its name to Marketing and Telematica . At the same time, it started its collaboration with Gianpaolo Macario (the company's present managing director), and also with an international advertising agency, Young and Rubicam. This brought important know-how and new stimuli, and a further push towards projects which were more and more innovative.

Between 1987 and 1993 M&T launched new projects that, although almost entirely unnoticed at the time, would leave important prints in the history of Italian marketing.

In fact, as a consequence of this, the first big data transmission networks came into being, along with the spread of thousands of Teletel terminals, that preceded the Web era by more than 7 years. They offered services oriented principally to the Trade, for purchasing, obtaining help, verifying the status of orders, and exchanging e-mail messages. This was experience that in following years, would give birth to the data bank service firm: “The Telematic Company”.

In the late 1980's, M&T began an important partnership, which exists to this day, with the American company Micromedex, and which gave birth to our Medical business. This business unit has two directions: one principally catering to the scientific information needs of Doctor-Line; and the other, with services dedicated to the marketing needs of businesses. In those years, under the supervision of another Macario family member, Dr Gianluca Macario , DoctorLine's services achieved such a success, that they were added permanently to the services offered by the Ministry of Health in Rome (Medical Evidence).

In 1988, M&T was engaged by Ideacomo and Ideabiella, two international fairs catering to the textiles market that were held every year at the Villa d'Este in Como . M&T's brief was to carry out one of the first computerized systems of visitor reception and surveying. M&T later offered this service to other Fairs, and has done so for over 15 years at some 300 events. This experience resulted in the emergence of many systems used today by Italian fairs for managing the admissions of visitors.

Between 1989 and 1994 M&T, continuously introducing American know-how, was the first Italian company to implement a project of Supermarket Loyalty Cards. M&T developed in-house all the software necessary for gathering both the statistics as well as processing the

receipts for the purchases of over half a million customers of Pam, Silos, Panorama, Standa, Euromercato, and Supermercati Brianzoli.

Over time, the diverse natures of businesses launched by M&T, and the different areas of expertise of its business partners, prompted the firm to establish new companies, each with its own specific mission.

In 1992 the partners of the original Marketing and Telematica Italia Srl decided to reorganise the business, and established the present Marketing and Telematica Service - Amitel Srl . The new company acquired from the old, all of its core activities, and most importantly, its drive and its “genetic heritage”.