| On the evening of July 4, 2017, a new Fiat commercial premiered on Italian TV channels, and was reportedly seen by almost 11 million viewers that night alone. The ad celebrates 60 years of the Nuova Fiat 500 series of automobiles, and features Mario Lanza's 1958 recording of "Come Prima" on its soundtrack. In fact, the song and the Lanza movie it comes from (the 1959 For the First Time) are part of the plot of the commercial as well. Not only does the ad's star, Academy Award-winning American actor Adrien Brody (right), listen contentedly to the song on his record player and whistle and hum to it, but he also later hears it playing in a street market and then passes a cinema in which For the First Time is being screened (see above). |  |
The ad, which is titled See you in the Future, is a romantic piece of time travel whimsy, in which Brody's character emerges from his 1959 apartment in Milan to find himself in a present-day version of the city, where he is soon smitten with a young woman, played by Italian actress Anna Manuelli.
There are currently three versions of the ad, ranging in length from 2 minutes and 20 seconds to more than 4 and a half minutes. The ad is being screened not only on TV in a two-and-a-half-minute version, but also on the internet, in cinemas, and in public places and on public transportation in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Austria, Portugal and Poland. In short, its potential audience is massive.
Lanza's only surviving child, Ellisa Lanza Bregman, gave her permission for her father's recording to be used in the ad.
There are currently three versions of the ad, ranging in length from 2 minutes and 20 seconds to more than 4 and a half minutes. The ad is being screened not only on TV in a two-and-a-half-minute version, but also on the internet, in cinemas, and in public places and on public transportation in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Austria, Portugal and Poland. In short, its potential audience is massive.
Lanza's only surviving child, Ellisa Lanza Bregman, gave her permission for her father's recording to be used in the ad.
Update (9 July 2017): My friend Stefanie Walzinger of Germany has just alerted me to a completely different 30-second ad, in which the characters played by Brody and Manuelli attend a screening of For the First Time together. This latest ad cannot be viewed outside of Europe, unfortunately (though it's worth keeping an eye out for on YouTube).
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