Testimonials

 
"Looking for...a dark haired kid!". The announcement of the competition open to all the sons and daughters of Pirelli's employees was published in the 6th edition of "Fatti e Notizie" in June 1952.

It was to celebrate thirty five years of an advert that - already in  the fifties- had made history: A kid dashing on his bike, dressed in colours of the Italian flag, a bow flying in the air, drawn by Duccio Codognato for Pneus Pirelli.

Looking into the history of that dark haired kid, the story of a person comes to light, he who in 1917 was probably the first testimonial for a Pirelli advert: Carluccio.

"Around about 35 years ago, with the excuse of going down to the stationary shop for a pen, Carluccio jumped onto the bike he had received for Christmas and pedalling furiously reached the descent that led to the mill.

Since the concept of the "spring wheel" was not yet in circulation, the "fixed wheel" was normally used, Carluccio wanted to feel the thrill of flight, wanting to feel the earth give away beneath his feet.

He raised his feet from the pedals and rushed downhill like mad. Right then the Painter Codognato was walking past the spot.

The inspiration led to immediate results and hence, the first really successful Pirelli poster for cycle tyres was born.

This year we positioned ourselves at the end of the slope, close to the mill, but Carluccio does not fly past anymore. He is the head accountant of a Bank!"

Just for the record, Carluccio in 1952 was done by little Umberto Messaggio, who naturally won a bike.

But it is also true that the "first" Carluccio in 1917 had his fair share of fame. In this case the meaning of the testimonial is contrary to the rule: a common kid saw fame thanks to advertising.

Just like the testimonial of one's own self: the painter/photographer Ermanno Scopinich, who in 1948 created the famous poster "Camminate Pirelli". The man with moustaches shot from below the glass was him.

Astonishing Fangio

Talking about "real" testimonials, in other words famous faces that certify the brand. The history of Pirelli advertising for many years saw the use of "technical" testimonials from various different product lines: race drivers, biking champions, popular cyclists, tennis players.

Two above all : Ascari and the Ferrari 500 F2 World Champion in 1952 and 1953 with the Pirelli Stelvios, Manuel Fangio World Champion with the Maserati 250F in 1954 and 1957.

In particular, the Argentinean driver chose to associate his image with that of Pirelli tyres for quite a long time: the "Extraordinario" by Pino Tovaglia for the Cinturato as well as the beautiful and thoughtful snapshots of Fangio are the work of the Forster / Mulas duo and they are from the mid-sixties.

It took many years to see the return of a driver on the scene, in 2001: this time the German ex-multiple rally champion Walter Rohrl was summoned to face a cold store where cod and Pirelli winter tyres were placed together as "they love cold weather" and then again he was put to drive a sledge pulled by a pack of howling winter tyres.

But …. in order to find a " non competitive" testimonial, we managed just by chance, by looking at the cover page of the Pirelli magazine dated November 1950: a very young Lucia Bosé with a leatherette suitcase produced by Pirelli Sapsa ( one of the many companies of the Group dedicated to so-called "diversified products").

As the years went by once again it was a Sapsa product that summoned a famous testimonial and above all was able to make a video: in 1980 the "Supermolleggiati (super easy)Pirelli" mattresses lulled the dreams of Italy's  "super easy" and most popular icon, Adriano Celentano.

Or rather his cartoon version. A sixty second advert- done by Odg- in which the immensely popular Adriano was caricatured as he sang "the right mattress for me" based on the notes of Azzurro.

Sharon, the goddess of driving instincts

And then came 1993: after years of adverts with solid, round black tyres, this was a turning point.

The whole world was dazzled by the beauty of the thirty five year old Sharon Stone, who had suddenly achieved fame thanks to her leg crossing in basic instinct.
And Sharon crossed her legs again, this time with flawless cream coloured net stockings for the Pirelli TV advert:


""If you're going to drive, drive " .".

The story is already in the advertising Hall of Fame.

Sharon, dressed in white, gets off a private jet in the middle of the desert. There is  a car with a driver waiting for her. She gets closer and as she does she notices that the Mercedes has Pirelli tyres. She gets into the back. Crosses her legs. He does not lose a glimpse of her through the rear mirror. That is enough. He stops. He gets off. Gets into the back.
But she also gets off. Gets into the driving seat, pulls on the safety belt. Laughs at the foolish driver through the rear mirror and Drives off , leaving a cloud of dust.


The director was the Dutch ,Willi van der Vlugt, The advert was well received and its backstage film "burning wheels" shot on the set in California was awarded thanks to the consensus the advert generated.

In other words, it's a milestone.

Lewis and Pérec: The power and the control

Second milestone: Carl Lewis.

It was 1994 when the first pages of the newspapers all across the world displayed the photo shot by Annie Leibowitz showing the Son of wind as he awaited the start of the hundred meter race in Santa Monica, California.
 

That would be normal, had it not been that, in that case, Lewis was wearing a pair of flirty red stilettos.

The claim made by Young & Rubicam was authoritative: "power is nothing without control". Six words that were to become a trademark for all the Pirelli Group. And they still are.


Tyre Man.

The following year King Carl moved to TV: considering the impact he had made by just standing "still", his appearance whilst "on the run" had to be equally great and genial

The director Gerard de Thame saw to the invention of  "Tyre Man", - dressed in a black track suit looking like the tread of a wheel -King Carl jumped and ran across the New York skyline from the Empire State Building to the Giovanni da Verrazzano Bridge and along the edge of the Statue of liberty.

A masterpiece of safety, stability and stamina, explained at the end of the advert: the sole of Carl's feet was designed like the tread of the new P6000 tyre.

When Carl stopped competing, in 1997, his position as testimonial of Pirelli passed onto his female alter-ego: the divine Marie-José Pérec.

Once again Gerard de Thame, with the same rubber tracksuit, once  again a race with feet like tyres: she was the queen of speed- after two Olympic medals in Atlanta, here she was again,  running from some monstrous special effects.

The water man, the snow man and the lava man push on the French athlete in what is a triumph of special effects that required two months of work in the hangars at the English airport in Swindon- where Pérec simulated the running- and the natural scenarios that were needed to mount the electronic effect: the Totem pole column of rock in the monument valley, a glacier in anchorage, the Buffalo Bill lake in Wayoming…

And this time Marie-José's light foot had the tread of the Pirelli P5000 Drago.


Marie-José Pérec.

The miracles of the phenomenon

In the meantime Pirelli had entered into the capital of F.C.Internazionale.

In 1997 the black and blue t-shirt ended up on the back of a young twenty one year old Brazilian. Coming From Rio, via Barcelona, the name was Ronaldo.

Already a part of the Inter Campus project -the training ground for footballers against violence in the streets- born thanks to the collaboration between Pirelli and the team.

Ronaldo was already a "Phenomenon."
 

Third milestone of the modern era: The huge poster- that at around one o' clock on a mid march day in 1998-was shown to hundreds of journalists gathered at the Propaganda club in Milan, in order to get a first glimpse of Pirelli's new advertising campaign.

The visual showed the view from the Corcovado. The sea of Rio de Janeiro in the front. The Phenomenon was perched on the top of the Corcovado, with his number 10 t-shirt, hands spread out in his well known goal celebration gesture.
 

Just like the statue, but not excatly, like those who came before him, his left leg was lifted.

The sole of his foot was designed like the Pirelli P 3000 Energy. Beyond the foreseen problems with the church , the campaign created by Young & Rubicam was a triumph: Ronaldo's / the saviour's gesture entered the mind of the public.
With innumerable imitations and emulations. Paolo Bonolis tried to copy the spirit and Don Mazzi would have liked to resist the temptation…

But 1998 was also the year of the World cup in France: with that thought in mind, a Brazilian press campaign was released in which the "phenomenon", with his number 9 golden t-shirt was shown scoring a goal into the arch of the Eiffel tower (it must be stated frankly that after the final match in Paris the campaign was conservatively suspended)

The shadow cast over Ronaldo in the post-world cup period did not prevent the creation of some local campaigns in 1999: to promote Pirelli winter Snowsport, for the German press he was shown scoring a goal on a frozen field, after having dribbled through a defence line made up of five snowmen, just like his winning shot through the P600 tyre, meant for the Japanese media.

For the record, graphic requirements always showed a left-footed Ronaldo…

Inter's emotional disaster on the 5th of May put an end to relations with Ronaldo, as he moved to Real Madrid. Once again the tyres took on the leading role. In the beginning they were seen as they set out on a wild cavalcade , whilst today they are shown in the form of the well known, "fist".

But that is another story…
 

Is that the end of Pirelli testimonials? No. In the meantime the P Zero project has been launched: shoes, clothing/apparel, accessories, watches.

Today's story is Naomi Campbell.

Nearly twenty years from her first calendar, Naomi is back at Pirelli to endorse the Pirelli P Zero line, by wearing its clothing items, the shoes or even by wearing the unmistakable red-strapped watch

In 2005 the black Venus decided to wear just the shoes and the watch along with Tyson Beckford.

What remains is still to be written…