Most well-known advertising campaigns that I have worked on as a creative or creative director

Ariston Margherita. La lavatrice con un nome di donna. 1986
Bahlsen biscuits. Le scuse per mangiarli. 2009
(Has anyone by chance noticed a "vague" similarity between this campaign, broadcast on Mediaset and RAI channels in 2009-10-11, and much more substantial in magazines, newspapers, Grandi Stazioni circuit (here on PRINT) with the one broadcast on TV in 2023-24 by Domori? Here you are. But what coincidences.)
Barilla Pasta. Dove c'è Barilla c'è casa. 1985
Boario water. Se la bevi si vede. 1989
Coca-Cola "Collina" Italian version. 1977
(Over time, I have seen and heard many creatives who have passed through McCann claiming to be the authors of this Italian version of the famous campaign created in New York in the 1960s, shot at night, and produced again in 1971 but shot during the day. Even Gerry Scotti, hired at McCann by Alberto Cremona as a "copywriter with great musical skills" to replace me and who immediately took possession of my "music room" put together by me to give support on the sound track to all my colleagues in the creative department (I was already bothering everyone with Vangelis), he says he is convinced that he did it. However, I believe without hesitation in Gerry's good faith, he certainly received information that made him believe it. We later met, we have always remained friends, we even did something nice together, there has always been great courtesy and respect. I can say very little about the others. For me it was one of the very first works that Alberto Cremona entrusted to me in 1977. I worked for this version, where the customer Coca-Cola Italia claimed to have an almost perfect "lip sync" such as not to betray the fact that it was the version Italian version of an American commercial, acted by girls and boys of all colors and origins. I worked with Circle by Fabio Ritter, many tests and a lot of effort to obtain the same "full and deep" sounds of the American musical productions, certainly the reference for everyone at the time. I have never denied the intense involvement and help received from Daniela Frasca Polara, stupendous voice and magnificent singer, wife of Fabio is also an excellent copywriter accustomed to thinking in metrics, as well as the intervention, introduced by Circle, of a "certain" Pasquale Barbella to lend a hand to this 23-year-old rookie catapulted by a courageousCremona to work with Franco Moretti already great and covered with honors, with clients like Coca- Cola and projects put in hand without much ceremony.)
Colgate anti-tartar with Umberto Orsini. 1987
Coop. La Coop sei tu. 1998
D+ Libertà digitale. 1998
D+ Paolo Rossi 1998
(D+ had a competitor, Stream, which was part of Telecom. For D+, a thorn in the side, because they were much more powerful than us, they spent money on planning advertising campaigns 40-50% more than us. It was a real trade war. They also had a testimonial, the Milanese actor Paolo Rossi. Nonetheless, D+ received 20-30% more subscriptions than its competitor. Paolo Rossi was an Inter fan, but Inter's matches were broadcast by D+, Stream had an agreement with Milan. Sonia Cotti, marketing and communications director of D+ kept telling me that Paolo Rossi, who she met at the stadium, always asked her for a free season ticket and an antenna with decoder on loan at his home, and that in the end, out of courtesy, she had made him install it... He was our competitor's spokesperson! And He used our product! It was a wonderful opportunity for us, Sonia was right, but I reluctantly had to explain to her that for privacy reasons we couldn't use that news. Meanwhile Michel Toulouze, CEO of Tele+/D+, told me that he wanted to beat his competitors at any cost. I learn that Stream has broken off the relationship with Paolo Rossi. I'm going to visit him. I ask him if Stream and the agency had foreseen a non-compete period at the end of the contract. He told me no. I asked him if he saw Stream at home. He told me no. I asked him if Stream had ever provided him with a subscription and antenna/decoder. He told me no. So I called Michel Toulouze and I asked him how much I could go to convince Paolo Rossi to declare that he was advertising for Stream, but at his home he watched D+ programs because it offered a better product, and the matches of Inter e that all this had never happened in the history of world advertising. Michel decided to gamble. The campaign appeared on TV, newspapers and posters. This is the maxi billboard, 24 by 12 metres it towered over a building on Corso Matteotti at the end of Via Montenapoleone. You couldn't help but see it . Someone criticized the turncoat, Aldo Grasso bullied him in the Corriere. I was very calm, we had only told the truth. The public made their choice. That month we set the record for subscriptions, and for many months to come. Giovanni Minoli, CEO of Stream, leaves. Their agency, D'Adda, Lorenzini, Vigorelli, stopped working for them. Stream withdrew from the market after a couple of years. After 4 years Tele+/D+ sold a rich market to Murdoch's Sky. )
Fiat Panda. Questo incredibile mondo Panda. 1985
Fiat Uno. Lancio. Uno come noi. 1983
Fiat Uno Car of the Year. Molti partecipano. uno vince. 1984
Jagermeister. BevoJägermeister perchè. 1972 - 1973
Nissan Micra. Tweety & Sylvester. Wilcoyote & Beep Beep. 2000
Opel Safety. Global launch. 1993
Opel Vectra. Global launch. Insist on more. 1994
Peugeot 106. Thelma & Louise. 1996
Premium Saiwa. Ninetto Davoli. 1979
Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Napoli, bella ieri, bella oggi, bella domani. 2011
Pubblicità Progresso. Accidents at work. 2007
Pubblicità Progresso. Organ donation. 2012
Repower. La tua azienda è un organismo perfetto. 2015
Scottex toilet paper. Labrador puppies. 1989
SIP. Il telefono, la tua voce. 1978
Soflan with Linus, Lucy and Charlie Brown. 1984
Tele+. Il tempo è la cosa più preziosa che abbiamo. 1998
Telefono Azzurro. Sempre libero, molto occupato.2008
Toshiba Portable Computers. Pensiero libero. 1991
(This campaign was created in TBWA in 1989 by Fabrizio Granata and Pietro Maestri, with my creative direction, who simply, after the usual reasoning phase, of purpose, of topic, of necessity, of defining a raison d'être of the product category (portable computers) dominated and represented by Toshiba at the time, I limited myself to enthusiastic approval with compliments as soon as I saw it for the first time. The Toshiba Italia client was in TBWA because it was chosen directly by James S. Segre, general manager and my lifelong friend, who trusted me, and originally responsible for my early acquaintance, among 5/6 in Italy, of the wonderful music of Vangelis which I used in McCann for Martini Racing and Seterie Ratti in 1979 and in Young & Rubicam for Pasta Barilla in 1985. The campaign briefing came directly from him. Many have noted that the title Pensiero Libero is very similar to Apple's Think Different in its meaning. Many noted that the choice of characters that in their own field went beyond the cornerstones of conventions and achieved enormous results for this reason, it was the exact same choice. We chose Mozart, Louis Armstrong, Marie Curie, the Wright Brothers, Eisenstein, Sigmund Freud, Jessie Owens. Very few noticed that none of the Apple characters were on our list. There are two facts. Think Different by Apple was born 8 years after our campaign. At the time TBWA was merged with Chiat Day, each other's campaigns circulated. Ours certainly ended up on Lee Clow's table. It was for a personal laptop. I'll leave any deductions to the reader. Why didn't any of us protest at the time? Because the campaign was over, James S. Segre was no longer at Toshiba. Because Toshiba in the meantime had exited that market. Because each of the three of us was already doing other things, because in those few years Apple had become a myth and we didn't dare challenging them. Because the agency was at the time the same. And I add, because I had become very good friends with Jay Chiat, when I went to New York, and it happened several times a year, I went to his house to have endless conversations, because he was one of the men I had admired most in my life, because he had married Donatella, sister of one of mine dear friend of all my life.)