The general discussion about the meaning of branded entertainment in Germany is still quite undefined. Some talk about product placement. Some talk about the integration of celebrities or events into the communication of brands. Some talk about content building. Some talk about sponsoring. Some talk about brand experience. And some don’t even know what to think. Until 2010 product placement and any integration of advertisement in story-telling or journalistic content which was not visibly marked as an 'advertisement' was officially illegal in Germany. In 2010 a new Broadcast State Contract was passed.The product placement of single products is now allowed in fictional and entertainment programmes as long as they are 'editorially justified'. What is still not allowed is the so-called 'schleichwerbung' (insidious advertising). “Schleichwerbung” means the intentional positive presentation of goods or services in programmes without them being declared as being an advertisement, because this could mislead the viewer.

This includes product placement or mentioning them in the news, informative programmes or kids TV. The product must not have any distinctive representation in the programme. An advertorial presentation including laudatory dialogues is not allowed.

So branded entertainment in Germany is more of a high-voltage subject than 'just a part of regular advertising'.

To draw the audience to the Fiat brand's message, we created the 99Fire Films Award using the following tools: 1. Call to join: Print-campaign via posters (universities, cinemas); TV commercial; Website;Facebook;Radio announcement;Newspapers.2. 99 hours of insanity:film topic provided by FIAT to create content; TV, radio and print journalists, as well as an EPK team who accompanied film teams during the creative process.3. The award: Top 9 movies of the event;coverage of sponsors on event invitations, logo walls, car integration, media coverage by EPK team and journalists nationwide; car-charity activation;winners' films aired on TV and online.

Joining Fiat with the 99Fire-Films-Award, we offered not just car-sponsoring but also we got people to create their own content and intelligently play with the DNA of the FIAT Cinquecento.With 5973 young film directors enrolling, we created the world’s largest short-film competition in 2012!1559 creative movies were shot using the sponsor’s given topic.

All of them were seen on the 99Fire-Films Facebook site, and countless other social-media channels, since contestants started to virally spread their own creative content.More than 7500 people gave feedback on Facebook.The number of fans increased by more than 300% new users.More than 900 VIP guests from the worlds of fashion, culture, politics, and business, as well as celebrities, came to the glamourous gala.More than 8,564,500 saw it on TV.More than 315 online channels mentioned it.20 radio stations covered the story nationwide.More than 96 articles were included in newspapers and magazines.An overall media value of more than €5,587,197 was created. (This number is as of 8 March 2012, since we are still in the progress of collecting all PR clippings.)Today, Fiat is part of the creative, young, urban, pop-culture's conversations.