When a Bottomline Isn’t What You Thought: The Art of Writing Around the Unspeakable
A Brief That Needs No Introduction
Some briefs walk through the door quietly. Others arrive with a wink, a nudge, and a shape that needs no introduction. The Culomba project was firmly in the second camp, and I am here to tell you exactly why I loved every minute of it.
For Easter 2026, MySecretCase, the Italian brand that has built an entire identity on sensual irony, partnered with artisan bakery La Forneria to launch a colomba pasquale with an unmistakable silhouette. The pun writes itself: colomba becomes Culomba, and the product becomes the most talked-about Easter sweet in the country. Packaging was handled through Packly’s platform, and I was brought in to do what a good copywriter does: make the whole thing land with grace, wit, and zero vulgarity.
Holding Two Things at Once
The task was layered. On one side, a technical and commercial brief with real substance: production challenges, platform features, e-commerce logistics. On the other, a brand voice rooted in playfulness, double entendres, and a very specific kind of confidence. My job was to hold both without dropping either.
La Forneria described the moment they received the brief with the kind of honesty I appreciate in an interview subject: “one of those briefs that don’t come along every day, impossible to stay indifferent.” They laughed, they sat down, and then they immediately got to work. That energy is exactly what I tried to carry into the writing. When a project has that quality of inevitability about it, when everyone involved knows they are onto something, the copy has to match the room.
The Part Where Packaging Gets Serious
The technical challenges were real and worth telling. As La Forneria explained, the core difficulty was “finding the balance between functionality and personality,” protecting a delicate artisan product shipped via e-commerce while keeping the packaging bold enough to hold its own against the concept it was serving. Their words for it were precise: “translating such a provocative concept into effective packaging, without compromising quality and protection, is not something that gets resolved on the first attempt.” That kind of candour makes for good content and also makes the Packly platform’s role genuinely meaningful in the story, since the ability to preview real-time renders and iterate quickly before going to print was, in their words, “fundamental.”
Where Machines Fall Short
I wrote the interview questions, shaped the answers in collaboration with the two companies, and assembled a piece that had to work simultaneously as a business case study and as content that would feel at home in MySecretCase’s universe. That balance is where most AI tools stumble, and where experienced copywriting earns its keep. Machines can generate sentences. They cannot feel the difference between a line that lands and one that overshoots. They do not know when to wink and when to straighten their tie.
MySecretCase, for their part, were characteristically unapologetic. Their stated ambition? “To revolutionise our culinary tradition, in the most literal sense.” When asked whether they would change anything about the project in hindsight, the answer was a straight: “Nothing. We put our soul into it, and above all, our body.” The launch video hit two million views. Their advice to other brands considering a similarly bold move was perhaps the best line in the whole piece: “Remember that sometimes changing position can make things even more stimulating.” I left that one exactly as they said it.
A Collaboration Worth Mentioning
This project also marks another chapter in a collaboration I genuinely value. I have been working with Packly for several years now, and watching their international growth has been one of the more gratifying things I get to witness from the sidelines of my desk. What started as a promising Italian tech-meets-packaging platform has expanded into a robust presence across European markets and beyond, with a product offer and a customer base that keep growing with impressive consistency. The fact that they trust me with their brand voice, both for the blog and for institutional pages, is something I take seriously and feel grateful for. Every brief they send me is an opportunity to do justice to a company that has genuinely earned its place in the market, and the Culomba post was, in its own irreverent way, a perfect example of that.
The Craft Has No Ceiling
This is what I mean when I say that copywriting has no domain ceiling. The craft is not about knowing a sector inside out before you write a word. It is about knowing how to read a brand, respect an audience, and find the angle that transforms information into something people actually want to read. Whether the product is a financial instrument, a piece of software, or a bottom-shaped Easter cake, the process remains the same. I wrote about that process in detail here: [link to my copywriting process in 10 steps].
The Culomba project reminded me, with considerable charm, that the best briefs are the ones that dare you to be brilliant. I accepted the challenge.
P.S. The featured image is a cartoon portrait of the very lucky recipient of a Culomba this Easter: the husband of a dear friend, you know who you are, who turned 42 and was apparently gifted with excellent taste, in every sense. Thank you for the support and for letting me use the picture. You are, as always, the best.
Related sources and further reading
- Packly – custom packaging platform used for the Culomba project, offering real-time 3D render previews and on-demand production
- MySecretCase – the Italian brand behind the Culomba, known for combining sensuality and irony in its product and communication strategy
- La Forneria – artisan bakery responsible for the production of the Culomba lievitato
- The Culomba launch video – the campaign that reached two million views and split Italy in the most entertaining way possible
- [My copywriting process in 10 steps – how I approach any brief, from the unconventional to the technically demanding
- The final post on the Packly blog.
