Roger Federer Presents: The Promise
Zizou
During the 2017 US Open press conference, Roger Federer was challenged by a fan and tennis player, known to his fans as Zizou. He asked if Roger could keep playing until he’d be old enough to play against him when the time came. Federer gave him his word, and the video went viral.
Five years later, Barilla made Federer’s promise a dream come true and gifted Zizou “the best day of his life”, as they made him believe he was travelling to Zurich for training purposes, when in fact he was about to meet his hero on court. It wasn’t an easy task to fly Zizou all the way from the US to Zurich, Switzerland without the knowledge of what would await him, in fact it was only with the help of Zizou’s family and his coach that his dream was made possible. There was no margin for error as the aim of the film was to show a candid moment between a top athlete and an excited fan. Zizou did not know he’d be meeting Federer until the special and sincere moment itself.
Pasta Dinner
On that special day, Federer and Zizou bond over a friendly match and a well-deserved Barilla pasta dinner, chatting for hours about their ambitions and passion for tennis. This human and honest aspect of sharing love for sport and the values that come with it portray Barilla’s way of doing business and developing products so loved by people all over the world.
"Everything Roger Federer does in his relationship with others comes very natural and effortless and that continues to surprise everyone he meets. This video is another beautiful example of what “A sign of love” means for Barilla. And we’re so happy and grateful to Roger because he embodied it so incredibly well" says Gianluca Di Tondo, CMO to Barilla.
