Better Days

 

Ok, I want you to watch these two spots for Fiat Chrysler, the first, from Italy:

https://youtu.be/3GgdH6lJ864

And then this one, running in America:

https://youtu.be/Esvg7SOvlZc

This is a risky time for marketing.

Which commercial do you think best serves the brand?

You already know what I think.

I honestly can’t imagine anyone thinking deeply about buying a car with everything that’s happening right now in our nation.

So, while zero interest and blah blah blah might have attracted some buyers if we weren’t surrounded by the sick and dying, it feels self-serving and almost absurd to me precisely because we are.

It’s one thing to remind people your restaurant is open for delivery, or that your company has produced hundreds of millions of face masks to help protect us when we have to go to the grocery store.

It’s quite another to try to entice us to buy a new car when literally tens of millions are out of work and wondering how they will survive and pay for food and rent.

If they’d asked me, I would’ve advised them to take the money they’re spending on this campaign in the U.S. and tell everyone who is still paying for their Fiat or Chrysler that they don’t have to worry about their car payment for the next 90 days because Fiat Chrysler is taking care of that for them, and then directing them to a web site and phone number where they can register for help.

Something like this, from VW…

 

or this, from Verizon:

 

Or this from Cottonelle:

It’s not just the words, or the “deal” that matter in this extraordinary time we’re living through.

It’s not just what you say, it’s when you say it.

It’s the reinforcement that you understand what people are going through, and you’re trying to find a way to help.

 

I’ll share some more spots I like from Europe and America in tomorrow’s post.