La Famiglia Rana Bravo Brian x BMB HERO still image

La Famiglia Rana unveils its biggest UK campaign to date

The campaign is the brand's first cross-channel TV and OOH campaign since appointing creative agency BMB

By creative salon

06 October 2023

Italian pasta brand, La Famiglia Rana, has unveiled a new campaign building on the brand line 'Italy’s Best Kept Secret'. As its biggest UK launch to date, it features Rana’s first cross-channel TV and OOH campaign since appointing creative agency BMB in 2021.

The film 'Bravo Brian' is set in Verona, the home of La Famiglia Rana. Humorously challenging a romantic perception many Brits have of Italians; that they make their own fresh pasta from scratch for every meal - when in reality, La Famiglia Rana pasta is the number one fresh pasta brand in Italy, where over 60 per cent of households enjoy it regularly.

Featuring a young couple, Rosa and Brian, the film shows Brian (a Brit) desperate to impress his new Italian girlfriend’s family.

At the dining table, Brian tries to pass off delicious La Famiglia Rana Tortelloni as his own "family recipe", until a surprised Rosa states that his pasta tastes "just like Mamma’s", while her father agrees, adding that it "even looks like Mamma’s".

As Rosa and her father describe the similarities between Brian and the Italian matriarch’s “homemade” pasta, a series of intense and knowing looks pass between Brian and Rosa’s mamma.

When Brian leaves the table to refill a water carafe, Mamma corners him in the kitchen – and we realise that both Brian and Mamma have been cooking La Famiglia Rana’s fresh filled pasta and passing it off as their own creation - before we see the two of them make a sneaky pact to keep it a secret from the rest of the family, with Mamma saying to Brian “let’s keep this between us”. A title appears that reads 'Italy’s best kept secret' before revealing the range of La Famiglia Rana fresh filled pastas.

It was shot by Bafta-winning director, David Kerr with Oscar-nominated Seamus McGarvey acting as Cinematographer. Media planning and buying was handled by Bountiful Cow.

Gian Luca Rana, CEO Rana Group, said: "Our family has always had a special bond with the UK: for us it is a deep honor that Shakespeare chose our Verona to bring to life Romeo and Juliet’s love. This masterpiece is only one of the reasons that make Brits dream of the beauties of our country, from art to nature, from food to wine. With this film we’re not only sharing our heritage, but also an important piece of our history, the place where our family roots originated. I am very proud that Verona become the perfect landscape of this romantic and tasty story, and we are sure that British consumers will fall in love with Italy's best kept secret: our fresh pasta”.

Matt Lever, Chief Creative Officer, BMB added: “It was a pleasure to work so closely with the Rana family to create this heartwarming TV ad that brings to life the La Famiglia Rana brand values so beautifully. By revealing “Italy’s Best Kept Secret”, we’re hoping that people across the UK will start to enjoy this absolutely delicious fresh filled pasta as regularly as the people of Italy do”.

Gian Luca Rana, CEO Rana Group commented: “I am grateful that this film expresses so many different talents: ours as master pasta maker, the visionary one of the Bafta-winning director David Kerr, the genius of Oscar-nominated Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and the great creativity of BMB agency.”