Dream and believe right up to the Stars. On world dream day, Pan Di Stelle with Armando Testa is launching a new large-scale communication project.

“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and sees the dawn before the rest of the world”.  So said Oscar Wilde, and this quote is a good starting point to introduce much more than a new campaign, but a wide-ranging, important project, strongly encouraged by the Pan di Stelle team and the Armando Testa agency, to reiterate the need to dream particularly at such a difficult historical and cultural moment.

The older we get, the smaller our dreams become. It all started off from a research study, conducted by Armando Testa in collaboration with Toluna on a representative sample of Italian parents. The ability to dream big, to feel free to dream big and to believe in our dreams is getting weaker and weaker. And this trend, well consolidated among adults, has started to “contaminate” even those dreamers “par excellence”, kids and young people. This is sound cultural insight is very important and it was further investigated more deeply in a series of meetings with Matteo Lancini, Psychologist and Psychotherapist, specialist in adolescents, and who has worked with the Barilla Group for some time.

The project was launched with a Manifesto film on World Dream day, 25 September 2024. On a bright night, illuminated with a great star-moon that dominates the dreamy territory of the brand, a group of kids and teens get together in an epic march of dreamers. “Wanna come with us? We’re the ones who believe in dreams.”

 “Today Pan di Stelle is more than a love brand, it’s a cult brand. This allows it, and in some way also obliges it, to speak up when it’s even more urgent to do so – says Chiara Pisano, Marketing Director of Pan di Stelle. And the mission of the brand – to feed the ability to dream every day – should resonate stronger than ever today. That’s why, we worked together with Armando Testa on the evolution of the campaign “Sogna, è buonissimo” (Dream, it’s delicious), to realise a large-scale project that we’re very happy about, which will start off in September and will develop over this year and next”.

“It was very important for us – says the Armando Testa team- to be able to talk about dreams while being firmly anchored in reality. To be even more relevant and inspiring, and be able to repeat in a powerful way that dreaming is not only something romantic but has a concrete impact on our lives, making us stronger, better prepared to face each day, and even able to imagine and build the future. That’s why we decided, for the first time in the history of Pan di Stelle films, and for the entire project, not to use actors to lend their faces to a dream, but to look for authentic personalities with real dreams”.

Aurora Abdalian, 12 years old, dreams of becoming an astronaut, her passion started off with books. She knows that before reaching space ships she has to qualify as a jet pilot…and she can’t wait! Filippo Giannotti, 12 years old, is a guitarist, passionate about rock music, his dream is to form a group along with his friends, with his electric guitar he won the 2023 edition of Garfagnana’s Got Talent. Mattia Murroni, 10 years old, skater since the age of 3, he has already travelled the world to take part in a range of competitions. The casting took a couple of months and schools, sports centres, conservatories and theatre schools throughout Italy were involved.  

 “The energy on set – continues the creative director of Armando Testa– these kids and all the other protagonists brought, was something enormous, palpable and different. With every glance, every movement they were truly telling us an authentic, precious and super important story”. 

Shot with the Led wall virtual production technique, which is at the forefront of film production, the film was directed by Federico Brugia, produced by BRW Filmland with post-production by Band. Aurora’s voice and words tells of their desire to dream and to believe, because “Dreams let you see where your eyes don’t see, and where you can’t reach if you keep your feet on the ground”. Pan di Stelle’s great star-moon leads them to the highest point in the city, where it seems that their journey must inevitably come to an end. Instead, the power of their dreams lets them and us, as we watch them, discover, that if you believe right up to the stars you can truly reach where you never imaged you’d get to. 

Even the soundtrack dreams big: the iconic Disney track A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, reinterpreted in contemporary style thanks to an arrangement by Operà Music, accompanies the images in the Manifesto film, the product film and the digital and social contents. 

After the launch of the 30” Manifesto a 15” product will also be released dedicated to Pan di Stelle biscuits. In addition, to add value to the theme of reality and the authenticity of dreams a branded content project, created in collaboration with Freeda will air on Meta channels, YouTube and Pan di Stelle TikTok: three interviews dedicated to the main characters in the film, where we discover and take a deep dive into their stories, their dreams and their great wish to believe in them. 

Feeding the desire and the ability to dream has always been the purpose of Pan di Stelle. The project starting in September represents a new step forward to do so in an even more impactful and relevant way, helping and inspiring new generations to believe in what they dream about, to dare to dream big, and to feed and nurture the brightest part of themselves.  

Credits

Agency: Armando Testa

Creative Direction: Monica Pirocca and Michela Sartorio

Creative Team: Gaetano Corvino and Chiara Demichelis 

Head of Strategy: Guglielmo Pezzino

Head of Research & Consumer Insights: Emanuela Calderoni

Client Director: Benedetta Buzzoni

Account Team: Francesca Toschi and Biagio Carrella

Production Company: BRW Filmland

Executive Producer: Simona Ferraro

Director: Federico Brugia

Live Action DOP: Pancho Alcaine

Off line post-production: Tex 

Post Producer: Caterina Falvo 

Editor: Vilma Conte 

Post production/ Vfx: Band 

Vfx Supervisor: Alberto Mantini

Unreal Environment Artist: Mattia Bruno

Colourist: Adriano Maestroni 

Location: TEN DOTS Virtual Production Studio Sofia

Music: “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”

Written by MACK DAVID, AL HOFFMAN, JERRY LIVINGSTON

© Walt Disney Music Company

Publisher in Italy: UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING RICORDI SRL

Media relations

INC – PR Agency