Fiat and the Jamaican Bobsled Federation on the way to Turin 2006

Once again Fiat is sponsoring the Jamaican Bobsled Federation, five years after the link forged between them when the Fiat Doblò was launched. The decision to become involved once again in this extraordinary Jamaican adventure is a clear message that the FIAT brand supports the values of vitality, broadmindedness, determination and positive thinking that this team represents.

The Jamaican Bobsled Federation made its debut on the sports scene at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, attracting an extraordinary amount of interest and making the team extremely popular world-wide. It is immediately obvious that Jamaicans competing in Winter Olympic Games challenge the cliché according to which winter sports are out for people who have no experience of wintery things. The story of these Jamaicans fascinates everyone because it is all about dreams, hopes, pushing back frontiers, thinking differently and pioneering spirit.
The Calgary experience was not a one-off, and the Jamaican Federation appeared promptly at all the events that followed. In Lillehammer in 1992 the team came 14th, ahead of the US team, and in 2001 it won the gold medal in the World Push Championship.
The incredible story of the Jamaican Olympic athletes soon attracted the attention of the film-making world, which placed them firmly on the international stage with the Disney production "Cool Runnings".

The link between FIAT and the Jamaican Bobsled Federation was first forged in 2000, at the time of launching the FIAT Doblò.
FIAT has now embarked on a second episode of this sponsorship leading up to the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, in which a leading role is played by the Panda 4x4. It includes a wide range of special communication events for launching the campaign, starting with a new sled featuring attractive Jamaican FIAT colours for the team. This is being followed by an advertising programme calling, in recent weeks, for a first 15-second teaser and 7-second billboards announcing the Jamaican team's return.
This introduction will be followed by a saga of spot announcements that will see the Jamaican bobsled team and the FIAT 4x4 involved in a rocambolesque escape from an avalanche, a group "call of nature" and an encounter with an enormous familiar-looking dog.
The campaign sets the colours of the Jamaican flag against the pure white of the snow and brings together the laughter of the whole team with Eddie Murphy's final "solo" laugh ending each spot. The background music is always a piece merging the world of reggae with the local Alpine sound of the yodel.

This sponsorship of the Jamaican Bobsled Federation will also be highlighted by grass-roots promotional activities, from sports-based marketing to happenings at points of sale, from special events to Jamaica House, a piece of Jamaica to be created this summer in the Olympic valleys surrounding Turin and where the team will be training for the Olympic meeting.
The project will also have the backing of the www.whynot.fiat.com web site. In addition to providing information about the Jamaican team and the events in which they will be taking part together with Fiat between now and the 2006 Olympic Games, the site will be regularly up-dated, creating a community for everyone who feels "Jamaican inside". For users who register there are two absolute firsts: the backstage of the commercials now being broadcast and special footage of the Jamaican bobsled team

Supporting the Jamaican Bobsled Federation is an important aspect of FIAT AUTO's advertising strategy as an Official Sponsor of the 2006 Turin Olympics, alongside the Freestyle Team, which combines the best Italian snowboard and skiing freestylers with the Alfa Romeo Ski Racing Team, consisting of top athletes from the Italian downhill skiing team, and the match between Lancia and the world of figure-skating with Carolina Kostner.

??Last but not least, FIAT is an Institutional Sponsor of the "Olympic Flame Relay ", the tour due to leave Rome on 8th December 2005 and to reach Turin on the opening day of the 20th Winter Olympic Games, covering a distance of more than 11,300 kilometres in just over two months and visiting numerous Italian towns on the way.??

"With FIAT we have found once again the spirit and values of the Jamaican bobsled team, " says Lapo Elkann, in charge of Brand Promotion for FIAT Auto. "Together, we will face both the icy Olympic track and adventures on the small screen. The team have done an excellent job in both roles, expressing their gifts of appeal, creativity, imagination, style and originality, that is to say the modern values that FIAT cherishes and wants to pass on to people buying FIAT cars: Why Not?"

Milan, 10th March 2005

IMAGES BRAND PROMOTION

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