Fiat 500 - The Triumph of the Empty Platitude over Common Sense?

So 15% of Americans are living below the poverty line and unemployment is at a record 9.1%. And you’re launching a car, an $18,000 car. What would you do?

Whatever you would do… Fiat is not. The launch of their new 500 is a classic example of creatives talking to other creatives and forgetting the car buyer altogether. It is the triumph of the empty platitude over common sense.

Take the initial spot “Drive In”:

Begin with an instrumental riff of “Jailhouse Rock”. Very iconic. Except, it’s our icon, not Italy’s.

“Everyone once in a while” the voice-over intones “something comes along, so powerful in concept, so revolutionary in design”… then you see this rounded econobox that looks like 50% of all the rounded econoboxes you see at the Tokyo or Seoul Auto Shows.

“Cultural Icon” the voice throws at us. “Defines a generation”. “The simple things in life”. Can we please have one more cliché? One? “Simply more”! We’ve got it! And some copywriter is simply cringing somewhere.

If you are a car enthusiast, as I am, you already know the basics: 1.4 liter 4 cyl engine producing 101 HP, 15” wheels, 11 feet long, 9.5 cubic feet cargo space, 4 year warranty and the important 0-60 benchmark in a lackadaisical 10.2 seconds (not exactly highway merging speed).

For $18,350 price as tested as per Road & Track.

“Simply More”

Let’s look at it from the point of view of the new car buyer.

Having bought 3 new cars in 12 months: a BMW, a Mini and a Jetta, what can I get for $18,500 more or less?

• Chevy Aveo - $12 - $16k msrp
• Chevy Sonic - $15 - $19k msrp
• Ford Fiesta - $14 - $18k msrp
• Ford Foscus - $14 - $18k msrp
• Hyundai Accent - $10 - $17k msrp
• Kia Forte - $14 - $19k msrp
• Kia Rio - $13 - $17k msrp
• Kia Soul - $14 - $19k msrp
• Kia Spectra - $14 - $18k msrp
• Mazda 2 - $15 - $17k msrp
• Nissan Versa - $11 - $17k msrp
• Scion IQ - $16k msrp
• Scion XB - $17 - $18k msrp
• Scion XD - $15 - $18k msrp
• Toyota Corolla - $16 - $19k msrp
• Toyota Yaris - $14 - $15k msrp
• VW Jetta - $17k msrp

Note: All of these cars and prices are taken from the Road & Track Buyer’s Guide at (http://buyersguide.roadandtrack.com/) which I hope is accurate.

Three major points:

1. Empty creative: the use of cliches is teeth-grittingly bad. Lots and lots and lots of platitudes that don’t mean squat

2. Completely ignores the buyer at that price-point. Buyers of $15-$18k cars want value, features, reliability and they really compare prices from the get go

3. Completely ignores the super-tough competitive environment. I am sure some “strategist” told Fiat: “By ignoring the competition we position ourselves as a unique and therefore attractive alternative, we need to take the high road”.

Fail! That “strategist” is not in the market for an econobox and real buyers out there are not going to ignore the competition.

Bottom line: a wasted opportunity to try to destroy the bad taste and worse word of mouth surrounding Fiat in the U.S.

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).