For an actor, an iconic role is a blessing and a curse: The fame and fortune are nice but the benefits are undermined by being pigeonholed into specific types of parts. For actors who have portrayed gangsters in beloved films and movies, the curse is doubled: Certain people will have trouble forgetting memories of murder and mayhem carried out on screen. 

The latest campaign from Sanpellegrino, which is part of Nestlé, leans into the latter phenomenon, tapping into pop culture nostalgia and the public’s inability to shake memories of actors’ most memorable roles.

Actors Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, best known for their roles on “The Sopranos,” star in “With Love, Italy,” a campaign in support of Sanpellegrino’s new line of flavored sparkling waters, Ciao. The pair play loosely fictionalized versions of themselves in a campaign that find them struggling to give away cases of Ciao because everyone they encounter assumes they are wiseguys. 

The effort includes a series of short-form, social-first spots that track the pair’s progress, from a mysterious shipping container to a suburban neighborhood to a local pizzeria and car repair shop. A long-form spot brings together all the pieces as a complete narrative, including a blooper reel, as wary consumers flee and fear the pair, who wonder why it’s so hard to give away free sparkling water.

"You don't think it's because of that thing we did?" wonders Schirripa, who played loveable loser Bobby Baccalieri on “The Sopranos.”

"Nooo,” says Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti on the show but is also known for roles in “Goodfellas” and “The White Lotus.” “That was ages ago."

The clever reference to “that thing of theirs” nods to “The Sopranos,” but the creative is really about the story of Imperioli and Schirripa as Italian-Americans with an affinity for the Italian brand. The campaign, which includes organic and paid digital and social content, was led by Ogilvy New York and produced in partnership with Hogarth New York, Spark & Riot, Cabin and Company3.

“Nostalgia is a very powerful trigger,” said Francesca Ferracini, creative director at Ogilvy. “It [helped] create a bridge to tell our story.”

A Sicilian story

For Sanpellegrino, that story is around Ciao, an offering that combines the brand’s sparkling water with real fruit juice and a pinch of Sicilian sea salt. The beverage is an olive branch to the two-thirds of U.S. consumers who don’t drink flavored sparkling water, despite the growth in the category. It is also a chance to speak to a contrast between Americans, who are seen as living to work, versus Italians, who are seen as working to live.

“There was an interesting emotional tension there that we wanted to address,” said Thomas Conquet, senior marketing director for Sanpellegrino. “Italy is sending the best of Italy — from the land with the juice, the sea with the salt, and the air with the bubbles — but all in a can.”

The desire to deliver this gift through socially driven entertainment content informed the creation of “With Love, Italy.” What better way than to speak to the Italian-American connection than by having two famous Italian-Americans who are fans of the brand play against type.

“We didn't cast the two ‘Sopranos’ characters — they were Michael and Steve,” Ferracini said. “When they read the script the first time, it really resonated with them, because they told us, ‘This is what happens in our life, every day. Everybody, when they see us, they see the two iconic characters.’”

The fact that the two actors strengthened their relationship by co-hosting the “Talking Sopranos” rewatch podcast deepened the concept. Letting the pair act as themselves and improv beyond the script brought more authenticity to the proceedings, making the nine vignettes that were shot — out of many that were concepted by the agency — satisfy the campaign’s social-first needs.

“Today, it’s more important than ever to make it sing, to make it perfect,” Ferracini said. “The consumer today expects — rightfully so — a level of craft, storytelling and entertainment, even in social, short, small-sized bites.”