Biography
Michel is the best known Fractional CMO in Italy, is often interviewed by national media and television, has participated in the Prime Video Business series SMYL (Show me your Life) and manages marketing for some of Italy's fastest growing companies.
Michel Sainville grew up as a Jehovah's Witness - not casually, but deeply committed: 18 hours/week dedicated to faith, daily study, door-to-door preaching.
By 13 he was giving public talks to the congregation about the religion's promise, that was vivid and concrete: an earthly paradise, eternal life on earth with loved ones. But the problem was that prohibitions were endless (Christmas, birthdays, tattoos, combat sports, even having a girlfriend outside of the congregation) and this led to a rebellion in his teenage years.
At 16 years old, Michel ran away. At 21, while working as a salesman across Europe and UAE, he felt he needed writing as a therapy to process (and rebel against) his childhood, so he launched "Storie del Cazzo" - an italian erotic fiction blog. Unexpectedly, it went viral. TV producers came calling (Fox Life reality show called "A letto con il Nemico"), he turned it into a book (Veni Vidi Victor), a community, and paid events with hundreds of attendees - proof he could sell literally anything applying the same principles he learned as a child in such a controversial environment, where kids were thought how to convert others to the same religion.
"That's when I understood: copywriting alone is the most powerful form of communication available to a human being. Nothing else is needed."
In 2020, Michel was invited to co-found a Swiss advertising agency, Solutzione, as Marketing Director. First year: 150+ consultations, EUR1.3M revenue, which was great but also brutal: internal conflicts, stolen clients, failed projects.
Michel stepped back, spent a year rethinking the model, and discovered the Fractional CMO role - a part-time marketing director for select companies, delivering senior-level expertise without full-time costs.
