Italian pasta giant Barilla shaped pasta into ‘8’ and ‘7’ to leverage its partnership with the greatest skier of all time – Mikaela Shiffrin – to raise money for charity and to celebrate the US skier’s 11 March win which saw her break Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark long-held 86 victory world record.
It was back in 1989 that the Swedish ski legend set the mark and 34 years later US Olympic gold medallist Shiffrin finally broke it to earn the ‘greatest skier of all time’ moniker with her 87th International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) title in the slalom event at the Åre World Cup.
To celebrate the achievement, long-time brand partner Barilla teamed up with agency Publicis Italy/Le Pub for an activation that included a special edition product and a parallel ad campaign.
To bring to life the brand’s ‘greatness starts with a great recipe’ tagline, BluRhapsody by Barilla designed a special, limited-edition pack in honour of Mikaela Shiffrin with pasta in the shapes of ‘8’ and ‘7’s to honour her achievement. The first pack will be gifted to the skier and then 86 other packs were auctioned/sold via the Charity Stars platform.
All proceeds from the sale go to support ‘Food For Soul’: a non-profit charity founded by chef Massimo Bottura to raise awareness on the topics of food wastage and hunger.
The ‘A Sign Of Love In 87 Seconds’ marketing campaign began on 10 March with pre-race teaser and was then spearheaded by a hero film dropping on 11 March called ‘Greatness Starts With A Great Recipe With Mikaela Shiffrin’: an emotional video portrait of Shiffrin’s rise to success through a positive attitude and relentless effort.
The central ad was backed by additional social support and the creative ran across Barilla’s social channels (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube) and focused on developing community engagement and linking the brand to the athlete’s fan base and then working with the supporters as amplifiers and driving viewers online to find out more about the achievement, the partnership, the limited edition product and the charity auction on the campaign’s web page.
The team at creative agency Publicis Italy which worked on the project included Chief Creative Officers Bruno Bertelli, Cristiana Boccassini and Mihnea Gheorghiu, Executive Creative Directors Selim Unlusoy, Domenico Manno and Tim Cantow, Art Director Rimma Krasavina, PR Director Isabella Cecconi, PR Eleonora Botta, Head Of Client Services Simona Coletta, Account Director Alberto Pinto, Account Manager Federica Rossi, Strategy Director Ricardo Coen, Strategic Planner Elisa Fiorentini, Head Of Social Media Valentina Salaro, Social Managers Saraluna Micciche, Elisa Petrone and Alessia Cornali.
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Shiffrin won her 87th FIS (the governing body for international skiing and snowboarding) World Cup victory after starting on the circuit back in 2011.
Barilla has been a brand partner with Shiffrin for 12 years in a tie-up built around shared values (sincerity, dedication and passion) and a commitment to excellence and to important causes. As leaders in their respective fields, Barilla and Mikaela have built a partnership over the years based around (as the brand itself states) ‘love, respect, and gratitude’.
This skiing activation followed in the footsteps of some of Barilla’s other recent notable sports marketing initiatives such as its Roger Federer fronted campaigns like ‘The Promise’ and ‘The Rooftop Match’, as well as ‘Masters Of Pasta’.
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