A collection of 800 images to retrace the history of Pirelli advertising from the 1872s to the 1972s and the evolution of its strategies, techniques and languages. Thus was born "Advertising with a capital P", the new book published by Corraini Edizioni and edited by the Pirelli Foundation. The volume is the sequel to “A Muse among the wheels. Pirelli: a century of art at the service of the product”, the story of which concerned the company's first century of life (XNUMX-XNUMX).
The book - available in Italian and English - was presented on Tuesday 4 July during an event at the Teatro Franco Parenti in the presence of Marco Tronchetti Provera, executive vice president and CEO of Pirelli, Carlo Bonomi, president of Assolombarda, Paola Dubini , professor at the Bocconi University of Milan, Vicky Gitto, Chief Creative Officer of Young & Rubicam, Aldo Grasso, professor at the Catholic University of Milan and television critic, and Antonio Calabrò, managing director and director of the Pirelli Foundation.
For the occasion, a selection of materials published in the volume was exhibited in the foyer of the Teatro Franco Parenti. In 448 pages, the volume photographs the evolution of advertising from the analogue to the digital age and Pirelli's leading role thanks to commercials that are still etched in memory today. The TV spot Tires with a capital P” (1978), which inspired the title of the book, in which 85 cars that make up the famous long P are filmed from a height of 140 metres, is an extraordinary feat of the pre-digital era.
Or again the "Pirellibility" commercial (1981), one of the first advertising experiments made entirely in digital. The history of the seventies and eighties, in particular, is retraced through the works carried out by the Centro agency of the Pirelli group, an example of an Italian "house agency", which "ferries" Pirelli communication from the tradition of graphic design - with big names national and international level such as Pino Tovaglia, Salvatore Gregorietti, Derek Forsyth, Gerhard Forster and François Robert – to marketing oriented strategies.
The Nineties are those of the great international agencies that carry out global campaigns with testimonials from cinema and sport: from Sharon Stone to Carl Lewis to Ronaldo. The image of Carl Lewis in stiletto heels, photographed by Annie Leibovitz – several times also the author of the Pirelli Calendar – and the 1994 slogan “Power is Nothing without Control” remain a milestone in the history of advertising.
Obviously there could be photos of the Pirelli commercials with the great Marie José Perec alias the Goddess of Speed.