I saw an ad for Fiat recently – for their new Fiat 500 X – which, at first, I thought was a bit juvenile (a bit ‘poo, bum, willy’), but I’ve grown to like.
Here it is:
So, man goes to take a Viagra, it falls out of the window, bounces around, lands in the Fiat’s petrol tank, and the Fiat fills out / becomes stiffer… tee hee etc.
But … I actually think the ad is quite smart.
The car is Italian, and – broad brush / stereotype – Italians are seen as passionate, so the sexy, Viagra story works.
The Fiat 500 is seen as something of a girly car (although I’ve driven one, and really liked it), so the Fiat 500 X needs to be given a bit of a masculine image: what defines masculinity better than a Viagra tablet making the car… ahem… rise?
The Fiat 500 X needs to be shown as a beefier, more robust version of the dinky Fiat 500 (this is the key message of the advert, from what I can tell). The fact that it bulks out, after the Viagra goes into the petrol tank, gets this idea across.
So, yes the idea is a little juvenile, but it works, it’s funny, and it absolutely nails the key message(s) about this car.
Bravissimo, Fiat – bravissimo.