Fiat change how people drive- The Eco way...

I recently attended Marketing Week Live at Olympia and attended a talk regarding the Fiat EcoDrive Project- the consumer application opening up product integration into the digital world. To say it was informative is an understatement, it was so interesting and the speaker from Fiat was engaging with the audience from the moment he started speaking!

The aim of the project was to make the vehicle an integrated part of the consumers lifestyle and create a solid bond between the consumer and Fiat. A good example of this kind of relationship is the Nike plus Platform, where you not only purchase trainers but a whole lot more. This platform enabled Nike to capture customer data whilst still engaging the customer through the use of a microchip placed within a pair of trainers.

Fiat grasped onto this idea and realised that they could expand on this through the use of a ‘magic key’ placed into the cars. The use of the magic key meant that customers could engage with the music played through the magic key and the reactions could be monitored through the use of the volume button to gage ratings. Fiat knew that this could potentially be quite hard work with the fact they could not own the music so the idea developed into more about Fiat’s green credentials which they had always prided themselves on. This led to a USB key that could monitor the customers driving skills, their fuel consumption and their C02 emissions and Fiat could then give advice on how to make their drive greener using their captured credentials.

The brand value was ‘A to B with a smile’ and ‘From Car to PC in a USB’ really capturing the idea of digital placed into everyday life. Fiat personalised their approach creating the fictional characters Franco and Merv to make the relationship genuine as opposed to a client selling to a consumer. The last thing Fiat wanted was for the customer to feel like this was just another tedious task in an already busy day and instead a playful application that was fun to use.

So how it works… You purchase the Fiat car and the USB is already installed ready to monitor your driving behaviour. You then take the USB and upload the application onto your PC which is sent to a central database and then analysed by the Technical team at Fiat. The results are then sent back to the consumer, with not only generic results but particularly personal results, including an Eco Index of Accelerations, Decelerations, Changing gears and Speeds judged. The consumer has the option to shrink the data and really play with it, calculating the petrol used, their MPG’s and hidden costs that you would not normally be able to view.

The simple, single-minded idea was a success, with a media value of now over £10,000,000 and exposure across the world. For Fiat, it created more than just a capture of personal details and a strong bond with the consumer- it created channels of upselling to Fiat dealerships and also real results of how Fiats Eco friendly cars are doing their bit for the planet. It has proved how going digital has enabled them to control how people drive & it has created a real and sustained behavioural change within its Fiat drivers. This is just the start with Fiat, with the ‘My Car’ option in the pipeline enabling feedback to the driver via smart phones. With a multitude of possibilities, Fiat really has the opportunity to change driving for good.