Barilla
The Best Comes in Blue

For my campaigns class we were assigned with choosing a brand and creating a multi-media ad campaign. My group and I selected Barilla, an international pasta brand. After conducting extensive secondary and primary research for this campaign, it revealed that consumers recognize the iconic blue box, but not so much the name… that was a little harder. Survey responses demonstrated that even those who claimed to know the name missed the mark, offering up variations like “Barelli, Barillo, Bastilla” and “Bertoni.”

From the research we developed a creative strategy of: “You know our box, now you know our name,” that focused on promoting brand recall by linking consumers’ familiarity with the blue box while reinforcing the brand name. With this in mind we collaborated to plan, design, and produce “The Best Comes in Blue” campaign, to make Barilla’s name just as memorable as their pasta.

My role in this campaign was to help conduct the primary research, develop our creative strategy by helping with the tagline, typography to use in the ads, and designing some of the visual aspects being used.

3 Prints Ads

We used dictionary definitions as the building blocks for our print ad series, with an urban dictionary-esque twist. These definitions would reinforce how to pronounce Barilla and emphasize the pasta’s key qualities (authentic, fulfilling, and convenient). The blue background serves as another way to tie the consumer’s familiarity with the box to the brand.

TV Commercial

For our TV ad, in order to reinforce the brand name, what’s better than saying it over and over again? We knew from our primary research that people within our target audience knew Barilla as the “pasta in the blue box” and not as much for the brand name. We chose a light-hearted, sarcastic tone for our ad in order to make viewers laugh but become informed that Barilla is pronounced “Buh-ril-uh” and not one of the variations people often use.

Social Media

We had to select two social media platforms for the brand’s social media presence, one being a popular platform and the other being one that isn’t so popular right now but is up-and-coming.

For the up-and-coming platform we chose the app called Ship. Launched in January 2019, Ship is an innovative dating app that allows users to involve their friends in the matchmaking process. Friends can pick out potential dates by swiping on your behalf, and you can even discuss profiles and matches an in-app group chat with your “Crew.” While the app does not currently offer advertising, it will likely follow the path of other prominent apps such as Tinder. We crafted copy that was humorous and centered around dating to fit our ads seamlessly into the platform.

For the popular platform we chose to do Instagram. Brands utilize Instagram because of the high rates of engagement that correlate to the content. A reason we chose Instagram is because of the ability to create sponsored ads. This means that even if the user is not directly following the brand, sponsored content can be shown on their feed. For our Instagram ads we wanted to attract consumers with three Instagram stories and one sponsored ad. The stories emphasize Barilla’s name, pronunciation, and blue box. The post portrays the product in a glamorous light to reflect our tagline The Best Comes in Blue.

Out of home

We knew that we needed to have an ad that was in placed in an environment where you would purchase Barilla. For this we chose a shopping cart in order for our target audience to immediately notice Barilla when they begin shopping. We created a space with the same dimensions as the Barilla box, for shoppers to place their Barilla in, with a call to action on where to find it in the store.

Guerrilla Marketing

For our guerrilla marketing ad we decided to create a blue carpet to reinforce our tagline, “The Best Comes in Blue.” We chose to create a carpet in order to give shoppers a similar feeling of walking on Hollywood’s superior red carpet. The location of our guerrilla marketing would be a grocery store, in order to lead shoppers to the aisle where Barilla is sold. Our goal is for shoppers to walk into the grocery store, view the Barilla logo, and then want to follow where the blue carpet takes them. 

Viral Video

In order to produce our viral video, we thought about our favorite viral videos and why we liked them. We came to the conclusion that the youtube videos of James Corden and his “Carpool Karaoke” would be relatable to our target, use humor to get our message across, while grabbing the attention of our viewers quickly. We created “Barilla Beats” to reinforce the brand name, Barilla, in every “carpool karaoke” song. With Barilla Beats, the guest has to incorporate Barilla, the blue box, or pasta in the lyrics. Viewers were also encouraged to pass it on and make their own video.

Completed with Molly Greenwald, Liza McGraw, Anna Petke, and Hannah Plantz (2019)