illy launches its new communication campaign, “Welcome on the Road to Happiness”: a circular path focussing on quality, inclusion, and respect

6 July 2021 –This week, the new illycaffè integrated communication campaign has launched in the UK and abroad, with different formats adapted for digital channels.

The campaign claim is “Welcome on the Road to Happiness”, highlighting the inclusive, shared and social value of the quest for happiness as a common heritage, in particular for all those contributing to the making of a little wonder in a cup of coffee. Going through the evocative atmosphere of the long journey from farming to consumption, the campaign will convey the essence of illy brand in its three components: product quality (Good), social and environmental sustainability (Goodness) and the relation with art and aesthetics (Beauty).

“Welcome on the Road to Happiness” explores a place where the skilful hands of growers, supported by our green coffee experts, produce their best coffee beans in the most sustainable way; where illy coffee experts select different varieties of Arabica coffee, enhancing them in a perfect balance, and achieving the unique illy blend; where baristas not only make coffee, but they also offer an extraordinary experience, and where artists contribute with beauty, giving their finishing touch, providing universal access to their art, every day.

Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the greatest living artists - who has been working with illy for over 20 years - is also contributing to the campaign to point out the inseparable relation between illy coffee quality and art, completing and enhancing it.

Happiness is represented in a circular path, both in the filming techniques and, especially, in its true meaning: a daily quest bringing people together, which comes to its fruition in social life, inclusion and mutual support; this is the greatest lesson from the difficult time the world is going through. We can be happy - and this is the actual cultural message - if others are happy too, not at the expense of other people. Therefore, happiness is conceived as a “circular path focussing on people”, as described in one of the copies of the campaign, where each one of us can contribute to a world based on care and respect for people and the environment. The new campaign is also a tribute to Trieste, where the Company was founded, as it also includes clips of its sea and its amazing main square, Piazza Unità d’Italia. 

“The campaign aims, first and foremost, to communicate what has been driving illy for more than three generations: the mission to offer the best coffee in the world and make people smile” said Massimiliano Pogliani, illycaffè CEO. “But there’s also a deeper meaning to this: implementing the great values of our time, as conceived by a company based on ethics, promoting shared wellbeing and looking at the future with optimism and hope.  There’s a common drive to build, also in daily life, a better world based on sustainability, transparency and enhancing people value. These are the same values that have enabled us to become the first Italian coffee company to obtain the B Corp certification. Welcome on the Road to Happiness is a journey from the bean to the cup, but also it is also the path of the authentic human spirit”.

The eclectic American director, writer and artist, André Stringer, was selected for the filming. He has masterly built an image-based narrative providing a powerful message of illy brand campaign and identity.

“Coffee is associated with creativity, it’s an extraordinary ally in the creative effort, conveying a sense of energy and vitality, excitement and euphoria”, said director André Stringer. “Coffee is also a powerful symbol of social life, an incredible opportunity to connect”.

The new communication campaign has been conceived with IPG Coffee Table, the strategic-creative think tank of Interpublic Group, designed with its proprietary process, “Open Architecture”, based on the international selection of the best talents of the holding company to provide a customized response to the needs of global customers depending on their regions and markets.

The campaign includes different formats: the digital format on asset display and the video formats of 60", 30", 15".

 

CREDITS:

 

Director - André Stringer

DP - John Lynch

 

Executive Producer - Debora Magnavacca

Production Manager - Antonio Radice Fossati

Producer - Guglielmo Fava

Junior Producer - Francesca Bellone

Post Producer - Roberta Caimi

 

Art Department - Andrea Rosso

Styling - Daniela Verdenelli

 

Editor - Vilma Conte

Social Content Editor - Romina Bagatin

Post-Produzione - EDI

 

KV Photographers - FM Photographers

Director Social Content - Danae Mauro

 

illycaffè is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933. Its mission has always been to offer the best coffee to the world. Illycaffè produces a unique 100% Arabica blend, combining 9 of the best varieties in the world, selected by illycaffè: every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafés, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafés and shops, at home. As a result of its innovations, illycaffè contributes to the coffee technology progress at global level. In 1991, the “Premio Ernesto Illy de qualidade sustentavel do cafè para espresso” was launched in Brazil for quality espresso coffee. Illycaffè has contributed to the sharing of the know-how, paying growers a premium price for the best quality selected by illycaffè. Since 2016, with the “Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award”, the company has celebrated coffee growers all over the world that, according to illy, have produced the best sustainable coffee. Since 2013, the company has been in the list of the World Most Ethical Companies. In 2019, it enhanced its commitment to pursue a sustainable business model integrating the interest of people with the environment, adopting the status of Società Benefit (Benefit Company) and adding this commitment into its own bylaws. In 2021, illycaffè was the first Italian company in the coffee sector to obtain the international certification as B Corp as a result of its commitment to comply with the highest standards of social and environmental performance. The company also founded the University of Coffee, which has the objective of sharing culture at all levels, offering a comprehensive and practical training to growers, baristas and coffee lovers. Everything that is “made in illy” is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 100 international artists. In 2020 the company employed 1291 people and posted consolidated revenues of € 446.5 million. There are 261 illy single-brand shops in over 40 countries all over the world. In 2021, Rhone Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffè with the aim of contributing to the company’s international growth plans.