Marketing
Francois: Fiat has ‘awareness problem’
Olivier Francois, left, Fiat’s chief creative officer, and Fiat North America CEO Laura Soave. Says Francois of Fiat’s U.S. launch: “I respect what she did so far. But when you are working with limited resources, you have to invent some out-of-the-box stuff.”
Bradford Wernle
Automotive News -- September 26, 2011 - 12:01 am ET
DETROIT -- After splitting with two of its ad agencies just weeks into the launch of its first national TV campaign, Fiat is struggling to build U.S. awareness for the brand.
Last week, Fiat acknowledged it is parting ways with its main advertising agency, Impatto Custom Marketing of suburban Detroit, and its digital agency, 72andsunny of Santa Monica, Calif. The departures are not related, the company says.
Fiat’s split with Impatto comes as the brand airs its first national TV commercials. Dealers had been clamoring for national advertising since the Fiat 500 began arriving in dealerships in volume last March. The company responded that it needed to wait until its number of stores reached a critical mass. But the opening of dealerships went slower than Fiat expected.
“I don’t think we have a car problem; people love the car,” said Olivier Francois, chief creative officer for all of Fiat Auto brand and Chrysler brands worldwide, in an interview with <i>Advertising Age</i>, a sister publication of <i>Automotive News</i>. “I think we have an awareness problem.”
That awareness is growing now that Fiat has a pair of commercials running, including one featuring performer Jennifer Lopez. In August, the first full month of the commercials, Fiat’s U.S. sales matched U.S. sales of Mini, the standard for premium small European cars here. And cutting through the auto ad clutter in the United States is difficult for even established brands, much less a brand such as Fiat that was last sold here a quarter century ago.
The TV campaign features two commercials. One, created by Impatto, shows a Fiat 500 entering a drive-in movie theater. The other, a music video featuring the Fiat 500 and Lopez, was not created by Impatto.
Gualberto Ranieri, a spokesman for Chrysler, confirmed that the Fiat brand unit is “winding down” its relationship with Impatto, but he declined to elaborate on the reasons.
Impatto CEO Michael D’Antonio did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Chrysler spokeswoman Dianna Gutierrez said the company ended the 72andsunny contract “due to our operating procedures and in no way related to the agency and the way it works.”
The marketing turmoil comes on the heels of another delay in the U.S. relaunch of the Alfa Romeo brand, which would give Fiat dealers a one-two punch to compete with European imports such as Mini and Audi. Alfa Romeo had been scheduled to launch its first cars in late 2012. Now they won’t come until the second half of 2013, with two crucial volume cars delayed until 2014.
The two agencies had been at the core of Fiat Brand North America CEO Laura Soave’s plan to employ unconventional techniques, such as events and Internet marketing, with a limited budget to launch Fiat, a brand geared to young, tech-savvy customers.
Francois said of Soave: “I respect what she did so far. But when you are working with limited resources, you have to invent some out-of-the- box stuff.”
Impatto, which means “impact” in Italian, helped create the first TV spot, “Drive In,” which showed a Fiat 500 arriving at a drive-in theater with the tag line “Simply More.” The spot first appeared on national programs Aug. 1.
Fiat’s principal tag line, “Life is Best When Driven,” will remain and will be used in upcoming commercials that feature Lopez.
Impatto was not involved in the creation of a music video spot featuring Lopez, which first aired Sept. 12 to mixed reviews. Some critics liked the video. Others said Lopez overshadowed the car. More Lopez spots will be introduced later, when Fiat launches a special Gucci edition of the Fiat 500, due in early 2012.
Francois defended the music video spot and the decision to air it during football games, even though the spot is geared toward women.
“America is aware that there is a car. We needed this kind of spark,” he said.
Replacing Impatto will be Fiat’s next task.
“The Fiat account will be open for all roster agencies,” said Francois, who has a tendency to mix up his agency rosters.
SapientNitro, which handles digital marketing for all Chrysler brands, has assumed digital marketing for Fiat, Chrysler spokeswoman Gutierrez said.
Fiat took a go-slow approach to its marketing launch. CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the company underestimated the time needed for dealers to get building plans approved by local zoning authorities.
As of last week, 102 of the planned 130 stores were open, and Chrysler says the rest will be open by year end.
Sales of the 500 started slowly but started to pick up in August once the commercials started rolling. Fiat sold 3,106 500s in August, the highest monthly total since sales were first recorded in March. Fiat has sold 11,088 units through August. The total is well below the goal of 40,000 Soave had set as a target.
Soave, an Italian American from the Detroit area and a former Volkswagen experiential marketing executive, has been a high-energy presence at the heart of the Fiat launch.
Hired last November, she reported directly to Marchionne, who took a direct interest in Fiat’s U.S. relaunch. Unlike other brand heads, Soave controlled her own marketing decisions and did not report to Francois, who oversaw advertising for all other brands.
That reporting relationship changed Sept. 1 as part of a global Fiat reorganization that divided the world into four regions. Soave now reports to Francois, who assumed the role of Fiat brand globally and chief creative officer on Sept. 1, and to Marchionne, who added the title of North American COO to his list of responsibilities.
Some dealers had complained that the Fiat organization seemed understaffed and was slow to respond to their questions.
Fiat responded this summer by beefing up its marketing and dealership teams with a couple of veteran Chrysler managers. Tim Kuniskis, head of Chrysler brand product marketing, joined Fiat to oversee product marketing and help Fiat build its product plan. He retained his Chrysler brand job.
Meanwhile, Pat Dougherty, head of fleet for Chrysler, joined Fiat to help
dealer network development. Dougherty also will keep his Chrysler job.
Instead of allowing existing Chrysler Group dealers to open Fiat sections in their showrooms, the carmaker required the dealers to open separate franchises.
Qualche tempo fa Fiat usa aveva ammesso che il lancio della 500 negli usa stava andando male e in questo articolo vengono chiariti alcuni aspetti. Le cause sono diverse
1) il lancio produttivo e' partito in ritardo rispetto ai piani
2) chrysler ha impiegato molto piu' tempo a cercare i dealers adatti rispetto al previsto.
3) le risorse del merketing erano molte ridotte e il ceo di Fiat usa Laura Soave non ha sfornato nessun'idea "out of the box" come dice Francois.
4) Fiat usa ha appena rotto il contratto con un'agenzia pubblicitaria che sta curando il lancio della prima campagna nazionale della 500, rompere i ponti proprio adesso non e' esattamente d'aiuto.
In definitiva Fiat e' riuscita a a vendere 11.088 500 fino alla fine di agosto ed e' impossibile che raggiunga il target di 40.000 per fine anno.
Francois parla soprattutto di problemi di marketing, io ho un opinione un po' diversa. La 500 si posiziona come una piccola premium in un mercato dove solo la mini ha avuto un ottimo successo. I prezzi sono indubbiamente cari, nonostante la produzione in Messico, e le critiche non sono state tutte positive. Secondo me la 500 non era l'auto adatta per rilanciare il marchio Fiat negli usa. Hanno pesato troppo aspetti di marketing gimmicks ( acrobazie del marketing) piu' che una vera valutazione del mercato usa. D'altronde Francois sta facendo un carrierone mentre il nuovo capo di chrysler/lancia e' un uomo del marketing.
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