The Advertising of Armando Testa

After World War II “graphic designers reinvented the communicative image to express the machine age and advanced visual ideas” (Meggs, 436). The conceptual age was after World War II, which developed design for graphic designers since they thought illustration would be dead due to the emergence and growing popularity of photography. However, the conceptual age changed this. The poster began to contain ideas and concepts rather than just narrative information. This made the designer more concerned with the space of the words and the images. Inspiration came from surrealism, cubism, expressionism, and pop art. The conceptual age expanded self-expression for artists to create more personal images, styles and techniques. This age became popular in Poland, the United States, Germany, and Cuba.

            Armando Testa, who lived from 1917 to 1992, was an Italian graphic designer. He used metaphysical blends to describe the fundamental truths about the matter. Testa started out as an abstract painter, and then moved to graphic design after World War II. In Turin, he created his graphic design studio where he used surrealism language to combine the images and symbols. For example, in the Pirelli tires add, he used their recognizable symbols and words to create a poster that had an international effect on graphic designers (Meggs, 436).

Pirelli Tires Advertisement, 1954,
Armando Testa

           Testa began to create logos, packaging, posters, and labels. As his name began to become better known, he grew from his smaller clients to larger ones such as Borsalino hats. He created the Armando Testa group, which is still an advertising agency today. One of his most famous designs is the mysterious Caballero, a Mexican gunslinger. He designed many advertisements including the beer Peroni, Punt e Mes, and Pirelli tires as mentioned before (mandmglobal.com). In my opinion, these posters are attractive to look at with spatial qualities that are eye catching.

Punt E Mes, 1960,
Armando Testa

           This agency began to flourish with his wife, Lidia, and his associate, Franco de Barberis in 1956. The Studio Testa began providing specific marketing strategies, media planning and research (adbrands.net). In 1959, Armando Testa visited the United States to begin to understand the advertising.  During the 1960s, the advertising agency began to grow rapidly gaining more and more larger clients (adage.com).

           Furthermore, television adverting started to become popular. Armando Testa embarked on promoting Lavazza’s Paulista, which was the first Italian coffee distributed nationally. “Carosello” was a block of advertising in Italy, in 1957, that featured comic sketches. Testa created Caballera and Carmencita, comic characters, who were created to promote Lavazza’s Paulista (Armando-testa.eu). To me, these advertisements really seemed to catch my attention. They are very unique and get the point across.

Caballera and Carmencita, 1973,
Armando Testa

          The “Carosello” was soon replaced by the message-intensive spots we have today. Testa still promoted Lavazza’s Paulista, but he reinvented his campaign. They hired an Italian actor in 1977 and this was one of the longest-running and most successful Italian campaigns. Since their advertising became so popular, the company began to expand and moved a branch to Rome in 1980 and then Milan in 1992 (Armando-testa.eu). Testa’s company won its first Lions award at the Cannes International Advertising Festival for Lavazza, Sole Bianco Detergent and Bistfani biscuit campaigns. When Armando Testa retired, in 1985, his son, Marco, took over (adge.com).

Citations:

"Armando Testa." Advertising Age AdAge Encyclopedia RSS. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. <http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/armando-testa/98902/>.

"Armando Testa Brussels Group." Armando Testa. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. <http://www.armando-testa.eu/>.

"Global Accounts Centre Tracking Brands, Agencies and Business Wins." Armando Testa Group. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. <http://www.mandmglobal.com/global-accounts/agency-profiles/armando-testa-group.aspx>.

"Armando Testa : Marketing and Advertising Profile at Adbrands.net." Web. 06 Apr. 2014. <http://www.adbrands.net/it/testa_it.htm>.