The 1970s, Personality Promotion
In the early 1970s, a new figure burst onto the scene in Pirelli tyre advertisements: the specialist dealer, the point of contact between manufacturer and consumer. The person who can guide the buyer’s choices. By the early 1960s, Pirelli had already created a communication campaign for the winter BS tyres, in a move linked to the opening of tyre shops at the Autogrill service-station chain on the recently built Autostrada del Sole. In 1973, a campaign was launched called La parola al gommista [“A word from the tyre specialist”], which included a series of television commercials produced by DN Sound and a range of promotional materials: “An expert, the only person whose skills and experience means they can advise the motorist on proper use and maintenance and on the best choice of tyres to buy for their vehicle.” In this case, the tyre to buy was the Cinturato CN54.
Full recognition of the importance of the Pirelli-specialist-motorist chain came in 1974 with the campaign called Ti cerco, ti filmo, ti premio (I’ll find you, film you, reward you”). The formula adopted a personality promotion technique, in which a fictional character is used to involve potential consumers on an emotional level in order to guide their decisions. Here, the character was an articulated man designed by Alan Fletcher, who was the frontman of the British Pentagram agency at the time. The silver-coloured figure appeared on a sticker that the tyre dealer gave to customers who chose Pirelli when changing their tyres. Film crews travelled across Italy in off-road vehicles fitted out as film sets, in search of cars bearing the Pirelli sticker, and then filming the motorists and rewarding them. Customers with “Pirelliman” would then take part in the extraction of a 50,000 lire prize in gold tokens. All together, they formed a series of seven Carosello television commercials, produced by RPA and directed by Enrico Sannia. The protagonists – an engaged couple, a sales representative, a family, a mother and son, a husband and wife, and a hostess – were “spied on” in their everyday lives and were then followed and rewarded with their “fifteen minutes of fame” on television. New forms of advertising, and new consumers, were ready for the future.
In the early 1970s, a new figure burst onto the scene in Pirelli tyre advertisements: the specialist dealer, the point of contact between manufacturer and consumer. The person who can guide the buyer’s choices. By the early 1960s, Pirelli had already created a communication campaign for the winter BS tyres, in a move linked to the opening of tyre shops at the Autogrill service-station chain on the recently built Autostrada del Sole. In 1973, a campaign was launched called La parola al gommista [“A word from the tyre specialist”], which included a series of television commercials produced by DN Sound and a range of promotional materials: “An expert, the only person whose skills and experience means they can advise the motorist on proper use and maintenance and on the best choice of tyres to buy for their vehicle.” In this case, the tyre to buy was the Cinturato CN54.
Full recognition of the importance of the Pirelli-specialist-motorist chain came in 1974 with the campaign called Ti cerco, ti filmo, ti premio (I’ll find you, film you, reward you”). The formula adopted a personality promotion technique, in which a fictional character is used to involve potential consumers on an emotional level in order to guide their decisions. Here, the character was an articulated man designed by Alan Fletcher, who was the frontman of the British Pentagram agency at the time. The silver-coloured figure appeared on a sticker that the tyre dealer gave to customers who chose Pirelli when changing their tyres. Film crews travelled across Italy in off-road vehicles fitted out as film sets, in search of cars bearing the Pirelli sticker, and then filming the motorists and rewarding them. Customers with “Pirelliman” would then take part in the extraction of a 50,000 lire prize in gold tokens. All together, they formed a series of seven Carosello television commercials, produced by RPA and directed by Enrico Sannia. The protagonists – an engaged couple, a sales representative, a family, a mother and son, a husband and wife, and a hostess – were “spied on” in their everyday lives and were then followed and rewarded with their “fifteen minutes of fame” on television. New forms of advertising, and new consumers, were ready for the future.
