Fiat 500: In Search of Relevance

After trying “heritage” and “simply more” and “story”, in this second –and even more pitiful—spot for the oddly shaped Fiat 500, Fiat finally succumbs to the truism of “if you have nothing to say, sing it”

Or rather… it lets JLO do the singing.

One lesson that the industry learned –way back during the launch of the Infinity Q—was that people really want to see the car. This lesson was evidently either never learned or quickly forgotten in this spot.

From the quick edits to the frenetic pace of dozens of bystanders running and jumping, the spot steadfastly refuses to let us see the car, learn about the car or fall in love with the car.

I guess there’s not much to say about the car. It’s small (139 inches), underpowered (101 hp), slow (0-60 10.2”) and has very very nerdy wheels (15 inches).

Worse, unlike the Mini, the Civic or the Mazda 3, I guess there’s also not much fun about the car: JLO looks positively scared and uncomofortable driving it.

I would too, if I had guys climbing on my windshield and BMX’ers jumping out from nowhere. But the net effect is that she doesn’t look like she even wants to be there.

In the final scene, an oddly matronly-dressed JLO even sings right in front of the car, absolutely obscuring it.

The small/economy car segment has lots of great cars and is fiercely competitive. 

• The Mini won us on quirkiness and wit… but managed to weave the car’s attributes in every piece
• The Civic won us on reliability… and the fact that it was a favorite of tuners at every SEMA show
• The Corolla won us on reliability and quality
• The Mazda 3 won us with their genius campaign: zoom-zoom-zoom… and the fact that it could take on a BMW 325 and not be embarassed

The Fiat 500 comes across as being absolutely embarassed to be seen, reluctant to be known, with nothing to say. Not a good way to invade our garages.

About me:

I have been involved in car advertising since I was recruited in the middle of class (in the University) to work on the launch of the Renault 5 TS. I then worked on Renault, launched LADA automobiles in the Dominican Republic, worked on General Motors in Venezuela, General Motors in Mexico, Daimler-Chrysler in Latin America, launched GM in Argentina after their decades-long absence and, when I had my own agency, handled a bunch of car dealers (e.g., Gus Machado Ford and Gus Machado Buick) and dealers associations (Honda and Oldsmobile).