With warmer days around the corner, Cornetto’s latest iteration of the ‘Unwrap the Summer’ platform sees photographer Sam Youkilis capture the essence of the summer season through a series of candid beachside shots.

The campaign, developed by Lola Madrid, brings the concept of unwrapping for summer to familiar holiday scenes, depicting the moment that people shed their layers and embrace the sun. 

The campaign sees photographer and storyteller Sam Youkilis, known for making Mediterranean lifestyle moments go viral, capture the universal summer ritual of taking off layers. A series of intimate vignettes shot by Youkilis show clothes left on chairs by the sea, beach towels on the sand and jackets and bags hung up on rocks. 

The shots are intended to feel discovered rather than staged, with the documentary style approach capturing the essence of summer, allowing audiences to imagine the fun happening out of shot. The shedded layers turn a shared ritual into a visual story capturing the joy of the Italian coastline and celebrating the summer season. 

“Summer is a feeling, not just a season,” said Hazal Kantman, Global Cornetto Brand Lead. “This collaboration with Sam captures the small rituals that go unnoticed but define summer. Unwrapping – whether a Cornetto or a personal moment of summer – became the thread connecting it all.”

The campaign will run across digital, social and outdoor, supported by film and stills assets, in Italy, Spain, the UK, Turkey and the Netherlands, turning the act of unwrapping into a shared cultural moment.

Tapping into a shared seasonal moment, the simplistic campaign conjures up memories of summer.