Al Pacino's First Brand Endorsement

We're not sure if Al Pacino was inspired by his old friends Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, but the Oscar winner has lent his name to his first product endorsement.

Similar in look and feel to De Niro's black-and-white American Express spot (which you can see after the jump), the spot features a chatty Pacino extolling coffee for Vittoria, a family-owned brand billed as "Australia's No.1 pure coffee brand." It wasn't shot down under, however—even in Australia's home of caffeine connoisseurs, Melbourne—but in Manhattan's Soho area, including shots of the historic (and now City Bakery-owned) Vesuvio Bakery.

Aussie ad blog Campaign Brief says the commercial was directed at Pacino's insistence by another Oscar winner, Barry Levinson, while the print campaign was shot by celeb photographer Brigitte Lacombe. (Update: Brandchannel's Abe Sauer points out that this is technically Pacino's second brand endorsement, although the first one ended up in a legal dispute. So let's say first official brand endorsement.)