Who: Italpasta, with Cundari for creative, strategy and media, Maverick Public Relations for PR.
What: “Our Pasta Love Affair,” the brand’s first national ad advertising campaign in years, showing its new line of Artisan pasta products being enjoyed during slice-of-life moments.
When & Where: The ad is running nationally on TV and online from March 7 to May 10.
Why: Italpasta and Cundari opted to go back onto TV in a big way in the hopes of building on increased demand during the pandemic, and with Canadians facing sharp inflationary increases in grocery bills. “[W]hen Canadians turned to a comfort food, it was pasta,” said Laura Dal Bo, director, marketing, communications and import brands. “We felt we could connect with Canadian shoppers by really latching onto the idea that pasta is so much more than ‘just pasta’. During good times and bad, pasta has remained a constant.”
How: The ad shows a range of characters enjoying Italpasta products in a variety of evocative and familiar moments: A young baby stuffs fusilli into her mouth; a happy couple share a late snack after a night out; and two young friends enjoy some TV after successfully cooking their first meal away from home.
Company founder Joseph Vitale provides the voiceover, narrating the key moments and closing with the line: “It’s not just pasta, it’s Italpasta.” “We approached the strategy and creative with the intent to remind Canadians of the authenticity, quality, and roots of the brand, while capturing the rich emotions that pasta evokes in us all,” said Malcolm McLean, Cundari’s president and chief strategy officer, in a release.
On the decision to use Vitale: “Pasta can be a crowded category and it was important for us to not only show Canadians that there is a real person behind the brand,” said Dal Bo. “Mr. Vitale founded the company over 30 years ago, and to this day is still involved in the day-to-day operations, so it was a natural choice to have him in the commercials. He brings that human connection that we are really trying to capture with our newest campaign.”
And we quote: “We wanted to share a message with Canadians of all ages that Italpasta will always be here to help you get through life’s moments, big and small.”—Joseph Vitale, founder, Italpasta
