In 2024, the number of competitors is significantly increasing . In fact, the European car market will be invaded by numerous cheaper Chinese brands with more technologically advanced cars. Hence the need for the Italian Fiat brand to distinguish itself in order to increase its sales. To accomplish it, Fiat has decided to do the most counterintuitive move: to stop producing grey cars, its best-selling colour and which accounts for 25% of its sales.

To differentiate itself from all its competitors and to increase its sales, Fiat decided to do what no other brand had the courage to do: give up the world's best-selling colour: grey. Fiat has therefore stopped producing grey cars, despite grey being Fiat's top selling colour, accounting for 25% of its total sales. Disruptive news that had to be communicated in an even more disruptive way. That's why it was announced by the brand's CEO himself, while sitting inside a grey Fiat 600 that was symbolically dipped in 10,000 litres of orange paint.

The European car market is becoming increasingly competitive. In 2024 alone, more than 10 Chinese car brands will start selling their cars in Europe. Fiat, not having the same media budget as its rivals, could only do a disruptive and memorable operation to compete with them.Before the actual launch, a teaser was shared on the brand's social channels. After the hero video was aired online, a “making of” video was released telling how the dipping of the car into a 10.000-litre paint can was made technically possible. In addition, digital assets were made, which reinforced the link between Fiat and the colours of Italy.

The operation had only one objective: to be spectacular.

That is why the stunt was carried out in Lerici, one of the most colourful villages in Italy, both architecturally and scenically. And that's also why we built a gigantic tin containing 10000 litres of orange paint and submerged a grey Fiat 600 with the company CEO inside it, using a 15-metre high crane. Everything had to be entertaining and memorable.

The launch film, “making of" and digital amplification were solely shared on the brand's proprietary media, without any additional PR push. Nonetheless, the video of the operation received global media coverage, being republished by national and international trade and non-trade publications.

With zero paid media, the film spread spontaneously, reaching 46.4 million views and it generated +74% positive sentiment towards the brand. But most importantly, Fiat sold +12% cars compared to last year and increased its market share by 0,3%, overcoming all expectations in terms of business target.

It has also been featured in more than 6,500 articles in newspapers and magazines around the world such as Le Monde, The Times, and SKY. Moreover, System1, a global marketing research and effectiveness company, found that it is in the top 3% of UK car ads of all time for audience preference. It scored 3.6 stars while the average is 2.4 stars. It also performed well on its potential to drive short-term sales, scoring an 'exceptional' 1.34 spike score, higher than the category average of 1.04.