Y&R Italia teamed up with French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, best known for his 2001 film Amélie, for a 60-second spot promoting coffee brand Lavazza.
The spot tells (invents?) the origin story of the brand and its founder Luigi Lavazza. “This is more than a cup of coffee,” a man tells his friends as they each enjoy a cup, “it is the story of a passion that began long ago with a father’s advice.” The scene shifts to Italy in 1895, as Luigi’s father whispers something in his ear. Lavazza decides to travel the world to “invent a truly remarkable taste experience” which he achieved through a blend of coffees from “lands far and wide.” While its premise is a bit over-the-top and a tad on the goofy side, the spot (unsurprisingly) is full of its director’s signature cinematic style. It also is structured to keep viewers watching, waiting to find out what exactly Lavazza’s father told him, which isn’t revealed until the very end.
“The goal is to support a growth strategy [in North America],” Lavazza U.S. CEO Ennio Ranaboldo told Adweek. “In order to do that we need also to establish with this first episode some strong statement. We wanted it to be seminal, to be the beginning of a story. The specialty coffee market is growing…We expect this to become the second-most important market outside of Italy in the next three to five years and during that same timeline to reasonably expect to double the size of our business.”