Sharon Stone fronts Simply Italian for ITA Airways. US and Brazil start today

Simply Italian started at home on 16 September, and the airline is taking it to two more markets today. POPE Creative Studio made the work after winning the account in May.

Sharon Stone carries the campaign in short single-scene films

The films are built as short segments, each around one scene. Stone plays out what the airline calls Italian hospitality: small gestures, care and attention. She told Il Sole 24 Ore that “Italy is one of the places that has always been most enchanting to me”. Chief executive Joerg Eberhart described the work as “opening a new chapter in the evolution of the ITA Airways brand”. Neither the airline nor the agency has given a budget.

POPE Creative Studio won the ITA Airways account in May

The studio took the business four months before the first films ran. ITA Airways says the media plan is integrated and runs across several channels, though it has not listed them. A face-led campaign is a familiar move in travel and sport, and On signed Kylian Mbappé for its move into football earlier this month.

Italy went first on 16 September, the US and Brazil follow

American and Brazilian audiences see the work from 22 September. Both are long-haul markets where the airline sells premium seats against larger rivals. Getting found matters more than it used to, because Google has pulled flight prices out of EU search results. Brand spend has to do work that a price box used to do for free.

Sonos dropped its spec sheet, ITA Airways picked a face

Campaigns built on one performer are cheap to explain and expensive to make. They also travel well, which matters when the same film has to run in three countries at once. The alternative is the route Sonos took when it dropped the spec sheet and sold a feeling instead of a product list.

Stone gains a new lane in travel advertising. POPE Creative Studio gains a global account five months after it won the tender. The risk sits with ITA Airways, because a campaign built on one famous face works only for as long as viewers accept the pairing.