Francois Fights to Right Fiat Fiasco

"I don't think we have a car problem; people love the car," said Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer and head of brand marketing communications for Fiat-Chrysler, speaking of the former brand. "I think we have an awareness problem."

But however you slice it, there's a problem: After six months, the automaker isn't selling anywhere near the ambitious U.S. 6,000-per-month goal set by Fiat-Chrysler chairman Sergio Marchionne; dealers are disgruntled that they have only one model, the 500, to sell; Fiat is dropping its original U.S. agency, a tiny, under-the-radar shop seemingly ill-equipped to handle a full-blown car launch; a celebrity-fueled promotion went awry and was canceled before it got launched; and its latest marketing push -- a music-video-style ad featuring Jennifer Lopez -- is taking a drubbing for both its creative and media placement.

It all adds up to Mr. Francois, who spoke with Ad Age in an exclusive interview during a dealer meeting in Rochester, Mich. last week, having his hands full. Mr. Francois, chief marketing officer and head of marketing and communications for Chrysler, added oversight of Fiat marketing this month.

In January, Ad Age reported that Fiat North America CEO Laura Soave had hired Impatto, a Southfield, Mich.-based boutique agency run by Michael D'Antonio to handle creative duties and event strategy. Impatto had handled some event marketing at Ford when Ms. Soave was there.

When asked about Ms. Soave's status at the company, a Chrysler spokeswoman said "To my knowledge, Laura is still on board."

Ms. Soave could not be reached for comment.

Lopez's Fiat ad

What other executives close to the situation did say was that Impatto was outsourcing creative on Fiat, and Mr. Francois confirmed that "we are winding down our relationship with them. There's no real marriage. I never, ever meet with them, never met with the guy [Mr. D'Antonio]. My understanding is that they are less of an advertising agency and more of a strategic partner."

Mr. D'Antonio did not return a call at press time.

"I respect what she [Ms. Soave] did so far. I may have my opinions about the brand, and they are well known so I'm not going to get into anything here," said Mr. Francois. "But when you are working with limited resources, you have to invent some out-of-the-box stuff which I am trying to do."

One out-of-the-box play was working with Ms. Lopez on what former auto-marketing exec Peter DeLorenzo called "quite possibly the worst automotive spot of the last decade, hands down." Mr. Francois defended the push and said it was not a commercial at all but rather a "trailer" for Ms. Lopez's new video for the single "Papi." Mr. Francois said it came about after a discussion he and his friend Ms. Lopez had with her manager Benny Medina, in which they talked about having the Fiat 500 used as the car featured in the chase sequence of the video. Afterward, Mr. Francois said he asked Mr. Medina for the footage and said Fiat would put together a 30-second trailer for the video. Impatto was never involved.