Over the course of 12 months, the team batted ideas back and forth, but quickly realized that it had do something “original and bold, but most importantly PR-driven,” said Martini. Thus, it was decided that Francois, who also serves as global CMO of parent company Stellantis, would be immersed in a pool of paint.
“It was a simple idea but very complex in terms of production. Starting with the cost, much higher than a classic commercial,” said Martini.
Everything was done for real, without the use of CGI, but there were some technical challenges along the way.
“Ensuring Olivier’s total safety also required a lot of time and study,” Martini said, adding, “It’s not every day you dip a CEO in 10,000 liters of paint.”
Ripping up the rulebook
Over the last decade ad spend in the automotive market has dwindled, with total global investment falling 5.3% to $42.4bn in 2022, according to WARC Media, and forecast to decline a further 12.4% in 2023.
In 2022, Fiat recorded a 6.8% drop in sales versus 2021, better than the double-digit drops recorded by other major brands including Renault, Nissan, Honda or Volkswagen, but worse than the declines recorded by Kia, Ford and Hyundai.
Amid this climate, brands including Ford have been pushing their electric offering to eco-conscious consumers, but the creative sparkle has been lost as digital media has become more fragmented.
Martini said Leo Burnett Italia and Fiat were intentional about breaking every rule in the car advertising playbook to produce a blockbuster piece of work.
“To be memorable, distinguishing ourselves from any other ad, especially automotive ones, was not important: It was the only thing that mattered. Our work is standing out so much because both the marketing strategy and the creative strategy are so single-minded. It’s something that almost never happens.”
At the time of this writing,”Operation No Gray” had clocked five million views on YouTube.
“The idea was designed to achieve this kind of result, but the reality has exceeded our expectations,” said Martini. “But beyond that, we believe that one of the reasons behind the success of this operation is that people always reward brands that put their values before their business.”
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