On Monday Night Football (September 12), the italian car brand Fiat launched its commercial featuring the one and only Jennifer Lopez. JLo is seen cruising the road in a Fiat 500 Cabrio convertible. However, it seems more like a JLO music video highlighting a Fiat Car rather than a Fiat ad featuring JLO.

Since the introduction of the ad, a study of web traffic by Edmunds.com announced that consideration for Fiat has climbed 31%. It was an interesting strategy to have Fiat ad space during NFL games when the target market is women. Yet, it turns out about six million women watch NFL games, which outnumbers the viewers for popular TV shows.

However, despite the clever placement of ads the brand positioning for Fiat is not sending a clear enough message. Considering how many car brands are bombarding us with continuous marketing, Fiat’s points of parity which include style, quality engines and high tech content is not as evident. Fiat even has a new more modern logo to reflect their future technology. JLo’s presence is diminishing the brand image by emphasizing herself more than the car. Whether or not JLo has a positive impact in sales for Fiat is yet to be seen.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/28/big-star-small-car/

http://www.insideline.com/fiat/500/jennifer-lopez-commercial-drives-interest-in-fiat.html