Milan's Lowe Lintas Pirella Gottsche & Partners continues to push creative boundaries, even in challenging times (see Q&A below) and even in such challenging categories as retail and insurance.

The agency counts Braun, Axa Insurance, Volvo, Unilever, British Telecommunications and Johnson & Johnson among its many clients. A recent campaign for Coop stores breaks from retail advertising status quo with depictions of cows, pigs, chickens and even fish flying face-first into airbags to demonstrate the store's commitment to animal welfare practices in its buying policy. A spot for Axa Insurance portrays a world of duplicity - presenting life's everyday scenes and then literally turning those scenes around, showing the often unpleasant flip side to ostensible reality. In the spot, directed by Dario Piana, a shot of a cat gently napping on a lush leather chair is flipped to reveal the destructive handiwork of the seemingly innocent kitty; an office worker slaving over his computer is flipped and revealed to be a game-playing lollygagger.

LLPG creative director Aldo Cernuto addresses the Italian market behind the scenes:

How is the Italian ad market faring in today's economic slump?

The Italian market, not differently from most other European countries (an effect of globalization), is drifting more each day towards a twilight area between recession and the hope for imminent recovery. In regards to the advertising industry, the most relevant effect is a strong decrease in media investment, above all, by the major companies in the ICT area (mobile operators first), a decrease that has been concentrated in the last quarter of the year, and that will surely contribute to a drop in the country's global spending by as much as 3 per cent when compared with the year 2000. A clearly negative signal after seven years of continued increase.

What about creative shifts?

There were some temporary changes immediately after Sept. 11. Changes that certainly weren't due to creative trends, but were instead dictated by the distressing sense of disorientation brought about by the tragedy that had just occurred, and by that which was very likely going to happen next. Since that moment, some of the creative people's favorite devices (some cynicism, a little violence, a touch of healthy malice) has suddenly disappeared from the screens, replaced by a good old all-positive approach, creativity had instantly been deprived of some of its sharpest and most relevant weapons. From the side of most clients, the password was "light heartedness." This doesn't at all mean that it is no longer possible to produce good creativity, but, in a way, we have all been forced to take a step backwards in our creative thoughts.