Barilla asked us to involve Federer, its historical testimonial, in a post lockdown campaign, to have good visibility and give a positive message to Italy and to the world.

In April 2020, the viral video of two young Italian girls (Carola and Vittoria) playing tennis from their rooftops during Covid-19 lockdown became a universal symbol of passion and resilience. Carola and Vittoria are also major fans of Barilla’s brand ambassador Roger Federer.

Making Barilla's brand ambassador Roger Federer surprise his die-hard fans Carola and Vittoria on the same rooftops in Finale Ligure (Italy) that celebrated the passion for tennis during Lockdown.

By having Roger play a new rooftop match with them and sharing lunch afterwards, Barilla told the emotional and concrete story of the “New Togetherness” after Covid-19 people were looking for, making this rooftop match famous all around the world.

The brand message “Pasta brings people together” took root in a global audience, with Barilla emerging as a brand able to create bonds both across and off the table.

Togetherness has always been a keyword for Barilla communication. But after Covid-19 togetherness isn't anymore something normal we can give for granted.

After lockdown in Italy was lifted, Barilla bought Roger Federe to surprise young fans Carola and Vittoria. By playing a new rooftop match with them and sharing lunch afterwards, the brand message “Pasta brings people together” took root in a global audience, with Barilla emerging as a brand able to create bonds both across and off the table.

The candid camera was organized in Finale Ligure, right on the same rooftops on which the girls had played during the lockdown. Thanks to the complicity of their parents, the surprise was kept until the end, and their genuine reactions went famous all around the world.

The full version of the video was published on July 31st on all Barilla channels, on Roger Federer channels and other ambassadors (Coco Gauff, ATP). On August 3rd the ADV campaign on YT with retargeting started. The next day we also posted a “Behind the scenes” on Instagram. The newspapers and news broadcasts around the world picked up the news in the following two months.

Total Reach: 1.6 Billion (1.612.335.840).

Total Readership (print): 1.3 Million (1.361.905).

Total Video Views: 35 Millions on all channels.

138k interactions.

The campaign was extremely viral and well received worldwide, being perceived as a huge communication success and “the best commercial of 2020 so far”.

The Rooftop Match campaign recorded a reach of ~65 Mln on social media, of which 45 Mln earned and a potential audience of 573 Mln, mostly driven by the great audience reception of the video, which was widely shared and commented on. In addition, the campaign generated a total 35 Mln video.

The vast majority of comments had a positive sentiment (87%) with the campaign eliciting an emotional reaction in the audience. People praised the beautiful story shared by Barilla and the brand’s ability to make dreams come true. Main international news outlets explicitly mentioning the brand: 290.