Cheese Brand Grana Padano and Servicepan Italy Embrace Italian Values with International Campaign

'Un’emozione italiana' ('An Italian Emotion') is the title of the new international communication platform of Grana Padano.

Serviceplan Italy developed the global multi-platform campaign, with the aim of evolving the positioning of Grana Padano to a global brand, associating it with the distinctive values of ‘Made in Italy’.

The campaign features a commercial directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, one of the most important interpreters of contemporary Italian cinematography who won a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award in for ‘Cinema Paradiso’ (1988). 

The spot is soundtracked by "Gabriel's Oboe", which was composed by the late Ennio Morricone, the Italian music maestro who won 2 Academy Awards during an illustrious career, and was also awarded by BAFTA and the Golden Globes, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The involvement of two of Italy’s most esteemed cultural icons in Gran Padano’s new campaign fits perfectly with the theme of ‘An Italian Emotion’.

The famous notes of the score and the exciting and timeless cinematographic art of Giuseppe Tornatore have made it possible to realise an unprecedented homage to the Italian values of Grana Padano: the places where it was born, the skill of the cheese-makers, the traditions, the joy experienced at the table, the love of culture, well-being, passion, generosity and the patient wait for the maturing process of the cheese.

Central to the creative idea is the theme of the embrace: one of the most powerful and emotional human gestures. Thanks to a visual mechanism centred on reiteration, each of the values of which Grana Padano is the bearer is literally embraced: whoever recognises themselves in this embrace, recognises themselves in a philosophy of consumption that privileges the unique Italian taste that the world has fallen in love with. 

This project possesses such authenticity for it has touched, among others, places of extraordinary historical importance, such as the Cistercian abbey of Chiaravalle where the monks perfected the original recipe of Grana Padano, as well as the dairies and farms of the Lodi area.

The campaign will made its debut in Italy on Sunday 2nd October and will launch a week later in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland. TV spots of 60, 45, 30-seconds will be aired on the main national broadcasting stations, radio and press, as well as digital activities in all countries.

Renato Zaghini, president of the Grana Padano Protection Consortium  comments: “To participate to the making of the new communication campaign was a huge task and very demanding for all the people working for the promotion and development of the value of Grana Padano cheese. At the same time it has been a marvelous experience. I like to think that, also thanks to the great professionalism of all the people involved in the development of the campaign, the main actor, Grana Padano, has communicated to everyone, once again, the emotion that make it a symbol of the agro-alimentary eccellences Made in Italy.”

Stefania Siani, CEO and CCO Serviceplan Italy adds: "Working on this project has been a journey of discovery that has rekindled in us the pride for the excellence that Italy is able to express and export. Through the gesture of an embrace, we created a simple and powerful message: choosing Grana Padano means embracing the values that have made it the most consumed Italian PDO in the world. Oscar winner Giuseppe Tornatore's performance allowed us to look at these emotions from the memorable and iconic point of view of an undisputed Master of Italian cinematography. Accompanying this narrative with the immortal music of Ennio Morricone meant we could avail ourselves of a timeless testimonial, capable of moving all generations at all latitudes: music."