George Clooney is a popular actor, with a broad film career. In the 90s he was one of those regular names on the men’s most wanted lists, which made him even more famous. Now, it is a recurring presence in the lists of aware actors. Be that as it may, and no matter how many movies he links up, it is possible that for many people the first thing that comes to mind when the actor is mentioned is an advertisement, that of Nespresso coffee machines. Clooney has been the face of the brand for years, with a catchy phrase (What else?)
That closes the ads. The list of campaigns is very long, because it has been their image since 2006. The relationship works for both brands: Clooney’s does not suffer because Nespresso is a product that is sold as something sophisticated and Nespresso’s not because Clooney does not advertise nothing more than that. Can the model be replicated?
Can a brand war be created between coffee maker models with another headliner that leads to taking sides? Perhaps that is what De’Longhi is looking for, who has just signed Brad Pitt for his campaigns related to his coffee makers and who is now presenting the movement to the media. The campaign has been online for a couple of days, but it has already allowed them to become a topic of conversation, media headlines and, above all, material for a certain virality on social networks.
The story begins with an exclusive in the American People magazine (later, looking at the type of coverage, it seems quite acceptable that the classic public relations and communication machinery has been launched to reach all possible media). With this, De’Longhi already scores a great goal: they have managed to make an advertisement, an advertising campaign, not only become news, but also position itself as a subject worthy of exclusiveness.
People interviews Brad Pitt, who of course gives the usual statements about why he is delighted to collaborate with this brand and not another. The campaign is international, directed by Damien Chazelle (the Oscar winner for LaLaLand) and Pitt is the new brand ambassador. It is because, according to the expected statements, the brand takes care of its tradition, detail and design.
A war between coffee ambassadors
Obviously, everything revolves around De’Longhi and nobody says anything about Nespresso, but that is already done by everyone else. The story has already become the basis for headlines about how he dethrons Clooney or how he is the new king of coffee. “They are friends and now also advertising rivals”, you get to read in one of these articles.
That is the narrative that circulates on the network and the one that makes, in the end, that the De’Longhi campaign has not been simply an advertisement for a coffee shop and has had a news echo. The advertising campaign has managed, to a certain degree, to create a kind of cultural ‘war’ based on something that consumers already had very internalized, no matter how much that something was what their competition has been doing for decades.