Campari Tales

Campari’s story continues through the pages of the 2008 edition of the Campari Calendar : the style changes and becomes pure fantasy and fairy tales take life as never before. Campari Tales , the concept for the year 2008, is an adult, glamorous and glossy story book where Eva Mendes ’ alluring sensuality is the absolute protagonist and her enchanting beauty is captured by Marino Parisotto ’s lens. Eva stars in the 12 fairytales with distinctive flair in every photograph; aggressively and breathtakingly beautiful in the Little Match Girl , statuesque as Little Red Riding Hood taming her wolf; imperious mistress of an adoring and enslaved Pinocchio, and modern Cinderella sharing a toast with her prince past midnight.

Le Connaisseur

The latest Campari TV ad campaign stars Salma Hayek in a luscious and sexy adventure through a mysterious boutique hotel. Shot by music video and ad star director Matthew Rolston the ad is a part of an international multimedia campaign that includes 12 stunning pictures by top photographer Mario Testino. In “Le Connaisseur” passion, impersonated by Salma Hayek’s bewitching presence, roams through a hotel of desires; doors that open and close, murmured whispers in the background, and alluring glances set the tone. A haughty and determined Salma Hayek advances down the hall, ignoring temptations and intrigue at every door. What could Salma’s unfulfilled desire be? The answer comes when Salma sweeps into the room where a mysterious and unknown hand beckons her a with a glass of… Campari, of course.

The Secret

This Campari Italian TV ad campaign brings with it an atmosphere of intrigue and transgression. Shot by top director Tarsem (of the infamous Campari ads “The Scratch” and “The Duel”) and with the haunting background music of Jocelyn Pook’s original score “Masked Ball” from Stanely Kubrick’s film Eyes Wide Shut, The Secret has once again re-affirmed Campari’s position as the transgressive and passionate brand that it is. Shot in Prague’s luxurious Praha Hotel, The Secret is about a sophisticated game, transgressive and refined, the double reality of an encounter, a courtship of meaningful glances that continues until the revealing finish – a man who is a woman, and a woman who is a man. Campari Red Passion.

The Shirt

And if jealousy and conquest reigned in the last two ads, it was high time for hot sensuality."The Shirt", made in 2004 with director Luca Maroni, sees the protagonist, Tatiana Rosalino – the splendid Brazilian model, approach the bar and take a bottle of Campari and a glass directly from the barman’s hand. Sensually walking between the others she heads directly towards a very handsome man sitting in an armchair. She slowly pours the Campari directly from the bottle onto his shirt. This oddity is quickly followed by another: between the shocked stares of those around her, the girl begins to kiss the man’s Campari soaked shirt.

The Duel

Thanks to the debut's huge success, two years later Tarsem was once again behind the camera lens for the second “Red Passion” TV ad series, entitled “The Duel”. A mysterious location (fascinating India), an exciting challenge, and lots of passion: these are the ingredients of this memorable ad in which there are no winners and no losers. The glass of Campari in the woman’s hand seductively recalls the drops of blood from the duellists’ injuries.

The Scratch

In 1998 Tarsem created “The Scratch”, inaugurating the provocative and aggressive Campari communication trend known as “Red Passion”. This first chapter is filled with passion, intrigue and a backdrop of mystery: an explosive cocktail that without doubt or distinction made a profound impression on the public. An intricate plot that sees three protagonists play the patrons of a classy bar with hot and sensual tones; a look, the recognition of a common gesture (the scratch) and the scene of jealousy (a glass of Campari thrown at one of them in anger). But most unsettling to the spectator is the originality of the final frame,: the two characters who compete for the woman are a man and… another woman!

Campari Red Passion

From the 90s until today, Campari advertising and communication has been aggressive, passionate and transgressive. Campari's “Red Passion” began is brought to life in print and on TV through sensuality and ambiguity. To demonstrate the four fundamental themes of passion, internationalism, uniqueness and prestige, the Group entrusted itself to the director Tarsem, author of international TV ad campaigns, and video-clips.

Italia '90

Campari always paid particular attention to sport and in 1990, in occasion of the Soccer World Championships, the Group organised an advertising campaign signed by Pop-Art painter Ugo Nespolo. His work for Campari is summed up in the piece dedicated to soccer where the bottles are the players in a strange match where even the ball comes to life. Nespolo gave a fun image to soccer, an image that was unstressed, free and magic.

Federico Fellini and Franco Scepi for Campari

In 1984, Fellini made his Campari advertising debut with an ad for the Campari brand. The news of the first “action!” and the debut of the ad had a strong echo, which for the Group signified a twofold return of image. Fellini, in order to make the Campari ad, wanted his whole team with him: scriptwriter Bernardo Zapponi, musician Nicola Piovani, set designer Dante Ferretti, and director of photography Ennio Guarnieri. The ad presented a surreal situation that showed two main protagonists (a man and a woman) travelling on a train of red tones. The bored woman seizes a remote control and points it towards the train window and proceeds to change the outside scenery, from the desert to the moon. Yet her mood does not change. The man then takes the situation into his own hands and with the remote control makes the Tower of Pisa materialise with a bottle of Campari next to it, this makes the girl smile once again.Franco Scepi made his Campari debut in 1986 with a television ad for Campar Soda that earned the director an Oscar for advertising in the USA: the Tipps Ice Award. For Scepi the communication strategy of the Campari ad had to satisfy three objectives: an original approach, a memorable and up-beat jingle, and a large spectacle.

The Thread of Continuity

Thanks to its previous experiences, the Campari Group did not get swept away by the intoxication of television. In fact in 1984 the Group commissioned some advertising posters to G&R Associati and to artists Giorgio Fioravanti and Davide Bolzonella, who carried out a graphic reform parallel to the television ads. With the intention of not excluding tradition but maintaining a continuity between the past and the present, the graphic covering of the past decades and reorganisation of the creative establishment was re-vamped.

The ad break and Campari Advertising

The arrival of colour television programmes contributed greatly to the vivid representation of the new social reality of that time. At this time Campari chose to direct its energies on quality, original language and expression, and aim at a new target market: young adults. In 1983 a radical restructuring of the internal advertising section brought about a subdivision: the Artistic Division of the Advertising Office. The first looked after the image of the Group and creative direction, whilst the second was transformed into an internal advertising agency, Campari Electa, which soon became re-baptised simply as Campari Advertising.

Sponsorship

During these years a new trend was developed to which all companies, both large and small, depended upon: sponsorship. Campari sponsorship started with the exhibition “Milano di Ludovico il Moro”, followed by a long series of shows dedicated to the city of Milan. Contrary to other companies that sponsored everything and anything, Campari chose to follow a precise line: events had to be tied to the Campari atmosphere, geographic roots and Milan - all charming themes from the times of Davide Campari.

'60s and '70s: Between Barmen and Sport

Campari posters had in the past extolled the perfect formula for how to best serve the products. However with the economic revival of the ‘60s and ‘70s serving a Campari turned into a ritual of white-jacketed barmen that illustrated Campari’s innate style and elegance. It therefore became necessary to impress upon the barmen a targeted and direct communication campaign, showing them a flattering and winning image of themselves. Another key-point of those years was the relationship between the Group and sport. An association was already born in the nineteenth century with upper-class sports: golf, horse riding and tennis it now became a reality for the masses like soccer and cycling. A shining example of how close the group was to sports is seen by the sponsorship of the 1960 Olympic games in Rome.

Two artists for Campari

Art continued to play an important role in Campari’s communication, there wasn’t just television. In those years two important artists tested themselves with the production of Campari posters: Franz Marangolo and Bruno Munari. In 1960 Marangolo created a piece for CampariSoda, which immediately became a meaningful expression of the company’s communication. In the advertisement the product took on the shape of a body with two long female legs running and an inviting eye. The tile: “For Your Thirst” Another example of Marangolo’s art for Campari is the advertisement for Campari that portrays female beauty in its “femme fatale” form, of mystery to reveal, of charm to appreciate. For Munari the “brand” of the company returned to its ancient magnificence and took back the position of lead role. The 1964 advertisement “Declinazione grafica del nome Campari” (Graphic declention of the Campari name) is a clear example of how the Campari lettering made a huge comeback with new perspective, dynamism and depth.

The 50's boom and the Carosello

One invention in particular dramatically changed Italian daily life: the television. Through the television, Italian advertising developed a phenomenon that became a unique event: the Carosello. Beginning the evening of the 3rd of February 1957, the Carosello revolutionised the advertising world, a 2-3 minute break every evening at 20:50 was dedicated purely to advertisements. the product appeared with the slogan “Campari. Questo è l’aperitivo” (Campari. This is the aperitif). Among the first companies to understand the importance of television, Campari's Carosello season had its creative boom in '62 and the Campari Carosello is remembered in Italy to this day.

Fascism and the changing of society

The fascist period, from a cultural point of view, is full of contradictions: the activity of many artists to keep the tradition of the billboard alive and the increase of photography in advertising. Communications, transformed into propaganda, went into a crisis, completely adapting itself to the Duce’s will. The post-war period marked a trend reversal in the company’s communication: the brand’s image dominated, attracting the observer with the hyper-realism of the bottles or the size of the glasses. The most important example of the linguistic change is seen in Carlo Fisanotti’s work of 1948, where the undisputed subject is the bottle.

Futurism and Depero

During the Futurism years Fortunato Depero was the bond that joined the company to the artistic movement. Taking inspiration from Cappiello’s subjects, Depero created his own subjects using flat dyes. This allowed for less time in the printer and a longer duration of the colours in outdoor environments. Together, Fortunato and Campari worked on many projects but the most memorable remains the original bottle for a new product that would mark the history of the production of spirits: CampariSoda. It was thanks to an idea of the artist’s that the famous conical shape was brought about, developed and realised by glassworks Bordoni. Still today CampariSoda’s bottle remains unchanged and has become the symbol of Italian design in every day items.

A New Advertising Language

The first Campari advertisement took the product’s quality for granted highly recognisable by the public thanks to its three main elements: the logo, the attractive colour and the product itself. Art made its entry into Campari's communications whilst the art itself was being influenced. Sacchetti, Cappiello, Dudovich, Mora, Metlicovitz and Nizzoli were just some of the artists who tested themselves with the red of Campari or the yellow of Cordial Campari. For the observer, the “Spiritello”, the double Pierrot of Cappiello or the women of Dudovich were enough to remind them of Campari.

Davide Campari and the advertising debut

Campari’s advertising history debuted in 1899 with a concise price list amongst other ads placed in the main Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. No slogans or images: just prices, an address and the Campari signature. In just a short time, the Campari newspaper ad became directly proportional to the growth of the company, which from a simple spirits store become increasingly industrialised. But the road to success was still a long one.