FIAT BRAND
What began as a 15-day gig to “help out on strategy and give creative platform options” turned out to be a 9-month-long period of insanity.
An incredibly different experience, great opportunity, intense people, no rules, perpetual do-it-yourself, lots of air travel, late nights, frustrations, tsunami of emotions and in the end, I think, a pretty interesting body of work. Or, at the very least, an awesome life experience.
We positioned the FIAT 500 as a “car for the creative class” and gave the FIAT brand, which was returning to the USA after 25 years, a platform that came from its Italian DNA. Passionate self expression.
And so began a campaign with too many executions to keep count of. The idea was to populate and encourage social conversation through different channels rather than make a few big ad-like statements.
The FIAT 500 is an iconic car and we treated it like one. We thought of it as a blank canvas, a medium, through which passionate people express themselves. The car reflects the emotion that drives such people — whom we referred to as "expressionists".
A limited run of PRINT, POSTERS and BILLBOARDS kicked off the campaign during two back-to-back events. The LA Auto Show and
Art Basel Miami. We roped in some very cool artists and illustrators around the world and asked them the question "What are you driven by?" Each picked a key emotion and expressed it in their own style. What we ended up with is a series of iconic executions for an iconic car.
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Now, one of the first things to do with a new campaign is an INTERNAL LAUNCH. Right? Test it on employees. It’s not a golden rule as much as it is a reality check. If you are able to excite your people, you have a good going. Our campaign not only did that but got 100% employee interaction. Here’s how:
Canvases with the iconic outline of the car and the line “by celebration” (as it was a big launch) were distributed to the 80-odd Chrysler NA departments. The Head of FIAT USA sent out a video clip of her encouraging employees to creatively express their passion for the brand on the ‘blank’ canvas.
Participation was extremely enthuiastic. Entries, some with employee-generated “making of” videos, were displayed in the hallways of the Chrysler HQ, Detroit. It sure looked like a much needed celebration that lifted spirits at the automotive giant’s mothership “in the D”.
Below are some of the more interesting entries. Including one with spectacular video displays and a music track scored by an employee's 10-year-old.
Fans voted the 5 FINALISTS on FIAT's Facebook page.
The WINNER was chosen by a panel of guest judges.
The WINNING CANVAS was a collage of 500 employees (including family members and friends) expressing their passion for the FIAT 500 through their own creations. Each could be viewed through a QR code embedded on the canvas. That’s 500 canvases in one single canvas.
The winning department's MAKING OF VIDEO.
How do we get the “creative class” to see, touch and feel the FIAT 500? At a series of art, music and auto EVENTS, the car was featured as a TRAVELING CANVAS for some top international artists to paint on...one section at a time. Here’s Tim Biskup at the FIAT Studio during the LA Auto Show'10 kicking off the "LIVE ART TOUR" by expressing his emotion for the car on its hood.
Christian Balzano, from Italy, at ART BASEL MIAMI’10, taking over and painting a door of the same car.
At Art Basel, it wasn't just restricted to artists painting the car. There were "music expressionists" DJ's Airtime and Nick Catchdubs spinning FIAT EMOTION INSPIRED TUNES as live art was being created on different sections of the car. There were local Miami artists as well (Jessy Nite, Gustavo Oviedo) who painted their emotion on framed car doors and hoods. All this became part of a traveling show, exhibits at the Chrysler HQ and FIAT galleries while some were auctioned for charity.
Local boy Shades' expression on the car at the DETROIT AUTO SHOW’11.
A new ‘canvas’ at the Fader Fort by FIAT, SXSW'11. Kicked off by Will Bryant...
... and supported by his stellar team of artists.
More artist expressions as the show kept rolling from city to city.
Street artist painting the "by impulse" execution LIVE ON A MURAL SITE during Art Basel.
An INSTALLATION at Fader Fort by FIAT SXSW'11.
A LIVE PERFORMANCE with FIAT PARTS.
New Yorker magazine's CAR-TOON specially created and displayed at the FIAT NYC GALLERY. It kicked off a Caption This Contest on the FIAT Facebook page.
Famous Italian artist Maurizio Galimberti's masive PORTRAIT made from a collection of POLAROIDS he took of the car around NYC...displayed at the FIAT STUDIO NYC.
MOTION-SENSING SCREEN installed at the DETROIT AUTO SHOW'11 gave attendees virtual control of the car ("by control") simply by moving their hands as if they were holding an imaginary steering wheel.
And finally a TEST DRIVE idea like no other.
