Pirelli recently celebrated 150 years in business and is reaffirming its commitment to growth during a series of events that will take place this year. It started with a countdown that began in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and continued in other key markets for Pirelli – including Shanghai and New York City – and ended in Milan on Jan. 28, where a ceremony at the Piccolo Teatro of Milan officially kicked off the milestone. During the ceremony, speakers honoured the legacy of the company in a series of performances that paid homage to its industry, culture, tradition, technology and passion that began in 1872, Pirelli says.
While the celebration marked the start of Pirelli’s 150th-anniversary celebration, the company is also commemorating its sesquicentennial with a new ad campaign launched across a variety of platforms, new digital projects, the issuance of a stamp and commemorative coins as it reflects on the technology it has produced and where it plans to go in the future.
“Anticipating change is what Pirelli has done for 150 years thanks to the solidity of its entrepreneurial culture and ability to be a protagonist of the present,” said Marco Tronchetti Provera, executive vice chairman and CEO of Pirelli. “These things have allowed us to reach this milestone with a brand established around the world. We felt it important to share this story with our city, our country and all the international groups and communities that we work with every day. A thank you to all the 30,000 people who every day at Pirelli build our history.”
International Celebration
In preparation for its 150th celebration, the company unveiled a new logo last November at the launch of the 2022 Pirelli Calendar by Bryan Adams. The logo was featured recently at the Montecarlo Rally, where it decorated the car that completed the inaugural lap of the track. This year, the logo will continue to be seen via Pirelli sponsorships throughout the whole year.
As part of the countdown to its 150th, the company displayed its new logo internationally, from projecting it with its new advertising campaign across 600 feet of the CITI Tower in Shanghai to a 3D animation on the Times Square Nasdaq Tower in New York as well as showcasing the logo on the Palazzo Venezia in Milan.
At Milan’s Piccolo Teatro for Pirelli’s anniversary kickoff, four actors told the story of Pirelli with images, videos and photographs of the past and present with speakers who revisited the company’s milestones. The speakers included: Ferruccio De Bortoli, a well-known Italian journalist; Paolo Mieli, Italian journalist and editor of Italy’s leading newspaper, Corriere della Sera; Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the Formula 1 Group; Renzo Piano, famous Italian architect; Ferruccio Resta, Ferruccio Resta, chairman of the governing board of the Polytechnic University of Milan; and Annamaria Testa, Italian creative communications strategist. Speakers were joined by Tronchetti Provera.
