2018 Brand Experience & Activation

SCORPION SKIN EDITION

TitleSCORPION SKIN EDITION
BrandFIAT & ABARTH / FCA THE NETHERLANDS
Product/ServiceABARTH
Category C01. Guerrilla Marketing & Stunts
Entrant LEO BURNETT AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Credits
Name Company Position
Jonathan van Loon Leo Burnett Amsterdam Art Director
Daniel Ashkol Leo Burnett Amsterdam Copywriter
Daniel Ashkol Leo Burnett Amsterdam Copywriter
Mischa Schreuder Leo Burnett Amsterdam Creative Director
Ramon Stalenhoef Leo Burnett Amsterdam Creative Director
Dave Fransen Leo Burnett Amsterdam Designer / Photographer
Gert-Jan Timmer Leo Burnett Amsterdam Managing Director
Vanessa Snoeij Leo Burnett Amsterdam Account Director
Diana Angelova Leo Burnett Amsterdam Account Manager
Bart breugem NewBreed Amsterdam Director
Jonathan Bleeker NewBreed Amsterdam Director
Jonathan Weyland NewBreed Amsterdam DOP
Joost Steinhoff Leo Burnett Amsterdam Producer
Amp.Amsterdam Amp.Amsterdam Sound Design
Pauline van Die MSL Group Account Director
Marlot Langendonk MSL Group Advisor PR & Influencer Marketing

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

To honour company founder Carlo Abarth we introduced: Scorpion Skin Edition. Online people could see a short video of the production process. After watching it they were directed to our website to place a bid and invited to an exclusive event where the car was auctioned. At every dealer people could take a look into a special coffee table book and place a bid right away. During the event you could immerse yourself in the story of The Scorpion Skin Edition. Where you could hear about the brand’s heritage, the illustration and witness a natural phenomenon. Created by real scorpions.

Background

Abarth vehicles were renowned for being high-performing and powerful, but first and foremost small and agile just like the Scorpion. The scorpion is in the core of the brand.

Describe the creative idea

In 1949 Carlo Abarth built his very first race car. Under the emblem of the scorpion, his own star sign, he won everything possible. But sadly lost his life to cancer. To honour him, we created the Scorpion Skin Edition, a car specially created to raise money for the Dutch Cancer Society. An unknown fact we discovered is that a scorpion excoskeletons glows in ultraviolet light. The blue-green glow comes from a substance found in the skin of a scorpion. We collected these empty skins that a scorpion releases 16 times in its life and developped a new type of paint that we used on the car. Together with Dutch Contemporaty Artist we created a unique artwork based on Carlo Abarth’s rich history. This one-of-a-kind Abarth got auctioned and all profits were donated to the Dutch Cancer Society on a special event.

Describe the strategy

With a rather small budget we wanted to reach those who might need a racing car next to their regular car. Because our target audience is sensitive to innovation and exclusive “must haves” we decided to offer them something they’ve never seen before. Instead of showing the speed and the power we decided to approach them with something that was already in the core of the brand since its beginning. Besides the fact that a scorpion is small, agile and powerful it has another pretty unknown feature. It glows up at night. Something we never used before. What made The Scorpion Edition literally stand out in the media and in the middle of the night.

Describe the execution

After developing a unique artwork with Dutch contemporary artist Pablo Lücker we collaborated with a specialised car paint company in Germany. Who gave the car a paint job with a special type of paint. Containing the active substances taken from the shed skins of several scorpions. Which shed their skin around sixteen times in a lifetime. By seeding a short and snappy “How it’s made” video we grabbed people’s attention. And invited them to place a bid on our website or at the dealer. If you’d be one of the few that placed the highest bid you would get free tickets for an exclusive event where the car was auctioned.

List the results

Our campaign was shared on several car blogs, lifestyle websites and news outlets. We had over 3 million unique visitors and the Scorpion Skin Edition was sold for €36.000. All profits were donated to the Dutch Cancer Society and they even had a 22% increase of donations during our campaign.