Every so often, a brand ad comes along that feels like it could live on your shelf just as easily as your feed. Selle Royal’s “Stracciatella Fella” is exactly that — a stop-motion delight that wraps big sustainability messaging in the soft swirl of an unexpected ice cream metaphor.
Launched this July in Milan, Stracciatella Fella is a playful short film that tells the story of a bicycle saddle made from recycled gelato coolers. Yes, you read that right. Selle Royal, a heritage Italian saddle maker, teamed up with the creative crew at Adverteam to tackle the topic of circular design. Instead of serving up a dry explainer about upcycled materials, they crafted a 90-second stop-motion fable starring a melting scoop of stracciatella gelato who discovers a new lease on life as a comfy new bike seat. It’s weird, wonderful, and unexpectedly charming.
The ad’s magic is all in the craft. Using old-school stop-motion techniques, the film fuses tactile paper sets, handmade models, and a warm, imperfect animation style that oozes that “handmade in Italy” feel. It’s a quiet rebellion against slick, overproduced ads — a reminder that good sustainability storytelling works best when it feels human. There’s no voiceover or text-heavy preaching — just our gooey protagonist making its way through Milan’s cobbled streets, swirling its way into the factory, and re-emerging on a shiny new saddle. It’s sustainability told like a bedtime story, with an extra sprinkle of gelato nostalgia.
Behind the sweetness is a serious point: Milan’s gelato shops toss out tons of polystyrene coolers every summer. Selle Royal’s new saddle design gives those foam boxes another ride, showing how thoughtful upcycling can put a dent in urban waste — and give everyday cycling culture a gentle push toward the green. By pairing this message with a short film that feels more like a whimsical art project than a corporate green pledge, Selle Royal sidesteps the pitfall of sounding self-congratulatory. Instead, Stracciatella Fella invites viewers to root for a tiny hero made of ice cream and rethink what we throw away.
It helps that the visuals are a love letter to Italian craft. The film’s sets were built by local artisans; its score leans into nostalgic whimsy; and the entire spot radiates the cozy joy of neighborhood gelato shops in summer. It’s hyperlocal, specific, and just absurd enough to stick. The campaign’s rollout doubled down on that handcrafted vibe — premiering at local sustainability events and cycling pop-ups in Milan before making its way online, where it quickly found an audience of design lovers, animation nerds, and eco-curious city cyclists.
It’s refreshing to see sustainability framed this way: not as a heavy moral lecture but as a playful invitation to look at ordinary things — an ice cream tub, a bike ride — in a new light. In a world where greenwashing runs rampant, Stracciatella Fella feels refreshingly honest because it’s not trying to solve everything. It just wants you to see how a tiny scoop of waste can spin into a good idea — and maybe inspire you to hop on your bike and ride to your favorite gelato shop while you’re at it.
Sometimes, the best way to sell sustainability is to make people smile first, then think. Stracciatella Fella does exactly that — one hand-molded frame at a time.
When your hero’s made of gelato, saving the planet tastes a little sweeter. — Julian Vega
