Ads I like: if it's black and white... it's probably Italian

Al Pacino and Vittoria coffee. Leggo's stir through sauces and hot young things desperate for a feed. Levante hosiery and a leggy model astride a Vespa. All three brands have used bianco e nero to help sell their wares. And it works. The results are striking and - for me - the brand awareness sticks.

For Vittoria Coffee, securing Al Pacino was an incredible coup.

Sharon Krum, writer for The Australian, tells the story.

Here is a little sip, from her piece titled, "An offer he didn't refuse", first published July 2, 2010:

THE day before Rolando Schirato met Al Pacino, he was looking for the right word to describe how he anticipated the experience. He threw out "excited" and "nervous" but finally settled on "surreal".

Schirato is the 27-year-old sales and marketing manager for Vittoria coffee, one of the largest pure coffee companies in Australia. “I was a massive fan of Al Pacino when I was growing up,” he says. “In my old bedroom at home, there are still a lot of posters of him and I have all his movies. This was something you dreamed of doing one day but now we’re shooting it, meeting him, it’s a bit surreal.”