New 500 Commercial
- Thread starter RAGS747
- Start date
Eastep
True Classic
FAIL! What the hell are they thinking? I mean do they even want to be successful here? First the build quality/fit and finish of the cars at the LA show, now a nearly 2 minute commercial which also shows/promotes drinking (for a commercial selling cars) not very smart and the fact its nearly 2 minutes and most people (myself included) HATE commercials in the first place and defiantly don't want to watch one for 2 minutes for anything. I'm a huge Fiat fan, and this commercial certainly did not make me want to rush out and buy one. The fact that the lyrics singing "we have to much to hide", coupled with Fiats track record here and its just not smart. It maybe catchy and fine for European sales, but just a tip for Fiat: Fire your marketing director who let this commercial air.
roadbox
True Classic
I agree.
This was a pretentious “life style” commercial even before they flashed the neon sign that said “art.” After that little bit of taking themselves WAY too seriously, I knew that they don’t have a clue how to sell this thing in the American market.
John O.
Pete Whitstone
True Classic
I'm curious who you think Fiat should market to..
To me it seems obvious that the audience for the 500 is NOT a few guys on a X1/9 forum who (for the most part) are old enough to remember Fiats in the US the first time around.
Their audience is the MILLIONS of the younger generation, and specifically the tens of thousands that will buy cars based almost totally on looks. Or more accurately, some kind of statement they wish to project about themselves to the rest of the world.
The 500 falls into the same basic category that the Cube, the Scion, the Element, and to a lesser extent the Mini and the New Beetle fall into. The crowd who want to think of themselves as young, hip, artsy, politically aware and anti-establishment. In short, our kids or even grandkids.
What we know and love about our Fiats (simplicity, economy, good looks, great functionality, superb handling, enormous fun-to-drive quotient) are not the same attributes the 500 will be marketed on, and in fact it doesn't even have all of those attributes, or even most of them.
So it doesn't seem like a big mystery to me that this commercial would not appeal to us. For the most part, we're past pretentiousness in our lives.
Pete
To me it seems obvious that the audience for the 500 is NOT a few guys on a X1/9 forum who (for the most part) are old enough to remember Fiats in the US the first time around.
Their audience is the MILLIONS of the younger generation, and specifically the tens of thousands that will buy cars based almost totally on looks. Or more accurately, some kind of statement they wish to project about themselves to the rest of the world.
The 500 falls into the same basic category that the Cube, the Scion, the Element, and to a lesser extent the Mini and the New Beetle fall into. The crowd who want to think of themselves as young, hip, artsy, politically aware and anti-establishment. In short, our kids or even grandkids.
What we know and love about our Fiats (simplicity, economy, good looks, great functionality, superb handling, enormous fun-to-drive quotient) are not the same attributes the 500 will be marketed on, and in fact it doesn't even have all of those attributes, or even most of them.
So it doesn't seem like a big mystery to me that this commercial would not appeal to us. For the most part, we're past pretentiousness in our lives.
Pete
Eastep
True Classic
IMO less is more when it comes to selling cars for everything really. Just the plain facts nothing more nothing less,show the product/vehicle, the brand, communicate its features and end with the brand logo/emblem. Mercedes and BMW do excellent jobs at marketing. In fact since the objective here is to draw excitement about the 500,Fiat could really get away with just showing some well choreographed driving scene perhaps starting in the city (LA/Seattle) showing the 500 driving in the hectic down town with the streets damp from a nice drizzle, then escaping the hustle and bustle showing a nice drive with marker/headlights on through a foggy/w broken rays of sunlight scenic drive through the redwood forests in nor-cal/wa, ending with the car pulling into wrap around driveway in front of a nice stately home or perhaps a nice family home with a kid and dog playing in the front yard, then flash the Fiat logo with writing at the bottom reading "available spring 2012" Similar to a movie trailer. The key is to make people want more of the car and to feel a sense of prestige in owning one (hence the nice house) and thus making the public lust for the 500, not bore them with 2mins of crap. Think of it as a first/blind date. Would you be more attracted to a woman who is polite and mysterious showing just enough skin to make your heart race and want more or some artsy hippy chick that wont shut up about the effect of small business pollution on the chipmunk population in New Zeland??
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Pete Whitstone
True Classic
Again, wrong crowd
Indeed they do. The Fiat 500 is not going to make any appreciable dent in the Mercedes/BMW market, and was never intended to do so.
That would be a very cool commercial. Totally inapplicable to this vehicle however. This is not a "drivers machine", as that type of commercial would imply.
Again, the point is not which woman I would rather have, as I am not their target audience. My kid is. And I can tell you which woman he would rather have, and it's not the one I would want.
Pete
Indeed they do. The Fiat 500 is not going to make any appreciable dent in the Mercedes/BMW market, and was never intended to do so.
That would be a very cool commercial. Totally inapplicable to this vehicle however. This is not a "drivers machine", as that type of commercial would imply.
Again, the point is not which woman I would rather have, as I am not their target audience. My kid is. And I can tell you which woman he would rather have, and it's not the one I would want.
Pete
Eastep
True Classic
Fact is it is supposed to be a drivers car and an economic urban minded buyers car. It is not targeted at Benz or BMW I only used them as a reference for good marketing practices. The 500 is supposed to be everything to everyone, if this is in fact not Fiat/Chrysler's objective, then they have already failed. We are not talking about trying to capture the novel " I'm cute look at me " segment that for instance the Mini has. People will grow tired of the mini in the next few years and it will fade but parent company BMW will still live on here in the US. Fiat has an entirely larger fight on its hands, it has to break through to the US buying public and establish itself as a quality car company, not simply a marketing ploy for Chrysler, that is if they ever plan to sell more models then just the 500 and for more then just a year or 3. Think of it similar to when Hyundai when they first arrived. They faced some very serious hurdles to over come. Like Fiat they were very well known/established elsewhere in the world and Hyundai is a HUGE company, but not here,not then. Now look at them. Fiat has 1 last chance and one only or it will NEVER be sold in the US again.
Pete Whitstone
True Classic
Fiat is doomed!!!!
Hyundais were unmitigated pieces of crap. My sister had an 87 Excel, what a joke. A bad joke. On her.
There were 2 cars available in the US for under $5000 in the US in the mid-80s, the Excel was one of them. Anyone remember the other? Hint, they bought the rights to the mechanicals from a larger company and manufactured them in an eastern bloc country.
Hyundai only managed to get where they are for 2 reasons. 1, they realized they had QC problems, bad ones. 2, they put the money and time into the problem to correct it. They did not start out offering quality products in the US. They started out as a price point product, with all the great (lack of) quality that entails. But they stuck it out and reinvented themselves, and became what they are today.
Let's hope Fiat is not going to go through that cycle.
Pete
Hyundais were unmitigated pieces of crap. My sister had an 87 Excel, what a joke. A bad joke. On her.
There were 2 cars available in the US for under $5000 in the US in the mid-80s, the Excel was one of them. Anyone remember the other? Hint, they bought the rights to the mechanicals from a larger company and manufactured them in an eastern bloc country.
Hyundai only managed to get where they are for 2 reasons. 1, they realized they had QC problems, bad ones. 2, they put the money and time into the problem to correct it. They did not start out offering quality products in the US. They started out as a price point product, with all the great (lack of) quality that entails. But they stuck it out and reinvented themselves, and became what they are today.
Let's hope Fiat is not going to go through that cycle.
Pete
Denise Burchette
True Classic
Link won't work
But I saw it before they labeled it a private video. The commercial my kids liked more was this one:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hCsm6qWxE"]YouTube - Fiat 500 commercial[/ame]
But I saw it before they labeled it a private video. The commercial my kids liked more was this one:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hCsm6qWxE"]YouTube - Fiat 500 commercial[/ame]
Jim W
Luckless Pedestrian
Lafayette Bruce
Daily Driver
Concerned about the 500
I too have been concerned about Fiat returning to the US. I was at FLU and witnessed their presentation. When talking to the sales and marketing people 1) they couldn't tell you what dealers were going to sell or service the car 2) they couldn't tell you how much it would cost 3) we couldn't sit in it or drive it 4) they didn't know when it would be available but yet we had a "special offer" to sign up for one (get in line to give them money). I was not real impressed. A friend that was with me did sign up and went for months before he heard anything. He got a phone call confirming his name and some details, they promised to call him back and never did for several months now.
I am fearful Fiat has too many people who have a bad taste and remember it. They have GOT to make points out of the shoot or they will set their fate for a long, long time here in the US.
There, I feel better now getting that off my chest.
Lafayette Bruce
I too have been concerned about Fiat returning to the US. I was at FLU and witnessed their presentation. When talking to the sales and marketing people 1) they couldn't tell you what dealers were going to sell or service the car 2) they couldn't tell you how much it would cost 3) we couldn't sit in it or drive it 4) they didn't know when it would be available but yet we had a "special offer" to sign up for one (get in line to give them money). I was not real impressed. A friend that was with me did sign up and went for months before he heard anything. He got a phone call confirming his name and some details, they promised to call him back and never did for several months now.
I am fearful Fiat has too many people who have a bad taste and remember it. They have GOT to make points out of the shoot or they will set their fate for a long, long time here in the US.
There, I feel better now getting that off my chest.
Lafayette Bruce
ryan
True Classic
Well, to be fair, at FLU I don't think they had finalized the dealerships, pricing, or specific release date. They should have let people sit in the car at least. Again, to be fair, I doubt those Euro-spec cars had papers or insurance that allowed them to be driven around as test cars.
How Chrysler Group handled the Prima Edizione cars does leave a lot to be desired though. Overall I think a lot of people were really excited/intrigued by the 500 at the LA autoshow, so have some hope. I'm more hoping they fix a few details on the car before final production. A 500 Sport or 500 Abarth would be a blast in this city.
Lafayette Bruce
Daily Driver
True
I understand FFO may have been earlier than they wished it would be but they seemed terribly un-prepared. Also they have done a poor job of follow up since FFO in my opinion.
Lafayette Bruce
I understand FFO may have been earlier than they wished it would be but they seemed terribly un-prepared. Also they have done a poor job of follow up since FFO in my opinion.
Lafayette Bruce
Denise Burchette
True Classic
Prima owner here
I have my own concerns about Fiat marketing and the Prima Edizione. I wasn't too enthused about the small amount of choices we had with color and options, and I was very disappointed the 6 speed manual transmission wasn't available to the US market...and for some reason, not being able to have the model with the chrome strips on the bumpers really bummed me out. When I saw the price of my new Prima Edizione #19 Sport 500, I was a little anxious, hoping I wasn't being taken advantage of because of my loyalty to Fiat. The price seems to be $1600 more than a comparably equipped Sport....but there are a few differences I hope will help close the price gap and make it a buy I am proud of. The car will be unique, with a gloss painted roof and mirrors, the graphite instrument panel, the accent interior stitching, automatic climate control, security alarm, Sirius Satellite radio and the Prima Edizione badging. The price also includes destination charges. The Canadian version is a bit more descriptive and makes me feel a little more at ease:
I have my own concerns about Fiat marketing and the Prima Edizione. I wasn't too enthused about the small amount of choices we had with color and options, and I was very disappointed the 6 speed manual transmission wasn't available to the US market...and for some reason, not being able to have the model with the chrome strips on the bumpers really bummed me out. When I saw the price of my new Prima Edizione #19 Sport 500, I was a little anxious, hoping I wasn't being taken advantage of because of my loyalty to Fiat. The price seems to be $1600 more than a comparably equipped Sport....but there are a few differences I hope will help close the price gap and make it a buy I am proud of. The car will be unique, with a gloss painted roof and mirrors, the graphite instrument panel, the accent interior stitching, automatic climate control, security alarm, Sirius Satellite radio and the Prima Edizione badging. The price also includes destination charges. The Canadian version is a bit more descriptive and makes me feel a little more at ease:
Denise Burchette
True Classic
Everything on the build list is included in the price. Guess the Canadians don't have an option on the sunroof.
ryan
True Classic
Ok, so not a bad price, a lot of the extra Prima Edizone features are pretty nice. I'm sure those cars will especially maintain their value.
Was just checking out https://www.fiatcanada.com
Their website seems a lot cooler than ours! Silly little flash intro; more information on the models, even a little contest from Baci Perugina.
http://www.baciperugina.ca/contest.html