Fiat 500 Kicks Off Multi-City Film Events

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FIAT 500

• Kicks Off Multi-City Film Events

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• Taking a page from its current TV advertising
  Drive-in, Fiat kicks off the first of its
  multi-city outdoor cinema showings this weekend.
• The Italian auto brand, being reintroduced into
  the U.S. market by Chrysler, is taking over New
  York's Times Square Aug. 13 and 14 for an
  all-afternoon promotion that culminates in a
  double feature that viewers can watch while
  sitting in 36 2012 Fiat 500 and 500 Cabrio models.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• Events, rather than mass media, are central to
  the relaunch of Fiat in the U.S. after an absence
  of a quarter century. In bringing Europes
  popular "Cinquecento" to the States, Fiat chose
  Southfield, Mich., Impatto as its marketing
  partner, an experiential agency that Laura Soave,
  head of Fiat brand North America, had worked with
  on the Lincoln marque while at Ford. Getting
  consumers up close to a Fiat is critical to a
  brand that earned a bad reputation for quality to
  Americans in the 1970s and '80s.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• Its very important for any new brand to get its
  name out there and the best way to do that is at
  a grassroots level. Americans have a lot of
  misperceptions about small cars, thinking theyre
  cheaply made they dont have enough space they
  dont have a lot of features,
• Soave told Adweek. The best way to show people
  is to 'show people.' Theyre surprised to find
  theres a lot of space and to see the quality of
  finishes like leather and all the other content
  in the vehicle.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• Its very important for any new brand to get its
  name out there and the best way to do that is at
  a grassroots level. Americans have a lot of
  misperceptions about small cars, thinking theyre
  cheaply made they dont have enough space they
  dont have a lot of features,
• Soave told Adweek. The best way to show people
  is to 'show people.' Theyre surprised to find
  theres a lot of space and to see the quality of
  finishes like leather and all the other content
  in the vehicle.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• Beginning at 2 p.m. in Times Square, Fiat will
  serve espresso and gelato, host rounds of bocce
  ball and play music from local DJs and bands amid
  cars on display. At dusk, the carmaker is showing
  remakes of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummers
  Night Dream on the Jumbotron, an allusion to the
  500s updated design of the classic car first
  introduced in 1957. Fiat will expand the scale of
  the event as it moves to other cities Chicago,
  Aug. 19-21 Miami, Aug. 26-28 and Los Angeles,
  Sept. 3-5.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• Beginning at 2 p.m. in Times Square, Fiat will
  serve espresso and gelato, host rounds of bocce
  ball and play music from local DJs and bands amid
  cars on display. At dusk, the carmaker is showing
  remakes of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummers
  Night Dream on the Jumbotron, an allusion to the
  500s updated design of the classic car first
  introduced in 1957. Fiat will expand the scale of
  the event as it moves to other cities Chicago,
  Aug. 19-21 Miami, Aug. 26-28 and Los Angeles,
  Sept. 3-5.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• U.S. availability of the Fiat 500, with a
  starting price of 15,500, has been delayed as it
  took longer than expected for franchise holders
  to get necessary government permits.
• Rather than sell through existing Chrysler
  showrooms, Fiat has set up separate studios,
  which now number 99. (The plan is to have 130 by
  the end of the year.) Soave said the Fiat 500 has
  been available in the U.S. since March and has
  sold about 8,000 cars so far in July, Fiat sold
  3,038 vehicles, an increase of 68 percent from
  the previous month.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• She downplays the notion of the 500 as targeting
  a particular consumer, describing the model as an
  option for the creative class.
• The car is a more of a lifestyle choice than an
  age or demographic, she explained. We have a
  lot of very young buyers a lot of buyers over
  the age of 60. Its a very design-driven choice
  by people who appreciate culture and like the
  simplicity and uniqueness of Italian design.

http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
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• As reported on
• http//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fi
  at-500-kicks-multi-city-film-events-134107
• By Noreen O'Leary