Chris Harris And Shmee150 Say Ferrari Acted Paranoid Around Luce Reveal. Shmee Says Automaker Threatened Journalists With A $699,000 Fine

The static reveal of a new car usually goes something as follows: After agreeing to an embargo, bleary-eyed journalists board a jet, arrive at a place far from home, get in a van, see what they’re meant to see, take some photos or video, have a bite to eat, and then pretty much turn around and go home. The very definition of business travel, this is jet-setting in such a non-tourist way that it simply becomes part of the routine. However, reports suggest that the debut of the Ferrari Luce wasn’t quite routine. Reading between the lines, it seems that Ferrari was nervous.

First off, there’s who was invited. On Tuesday, veteran journalist Chris Harris (who has historically had a bumpy relationship with Ferrari) recently recorded an “emergency podcast” in which he talked about the Luce with friends. Beyond the initial reactions, Harris said Ferrari, like any automaker holding a press event, had a certain vetting process when it came to the Luce:

As a journalist, I can tell you [that] you had to meet certain criteria to be invited for that unveiling. I’m proud to say I didn’t meet them. I was telephoned and asked how positive I was about electric cars and I said “Not very,” and the invite was not forthcoming.

[Ed Note: It’s common for Automakers to invite journalists they trust and whom they think will like their product. While they don’t usually ask the journalist point-blank what they think of a certain type of car, they definitely figure out it out by reading journalists’ stories. In some ways, asking point blank could be seen as better. -DT]

It goes without saying that automakers control who’s invited to press launches, and being choosy is within their right. They’re spending enormous sums to fly media in, so they get to pick who’s invited.

A brief look around the sphere at who was and wasn’t invited to Luce is telling. Harris, one of Britain’s most accomplished motoring journalists who has been known to give controversial models like the Jaguar Type 01 a fair shake upon experiencing them, was not invited. Meanwhile, technology influencers reportedly received their own junket wave including time at Alfa Romeo’s Balocco Proving Ground.

So what about the experience of those who did attend the unveiling? While this is the account of one individual, Tim Burton of Shmee150 gave an eye-opening look into just how Ferrari dealt with things.

As we left our hotel, our phones got fully stickered, our laptops got stickered, everything got completely covered up. Then, on arrival at the venue, as we entered the car park, same again, checking everything. Then at the door, again the same to go inside, then at the entrance to the hall, exactly the same again. So, the most protective event—despite this being 24 hours before the reveal—that I’ve ever been to in my life.

Stickers over cameras isn’t unprecedented, but it’s clear Ferrari’s security was tight.

On top of that, according to Burton, the embargo that states that every outlet must hold reporting until a certain time to give everyone a fair chance to write their stories, process their photos, and edit their videos came with a rather shocking clause.

This is probably gonna be the most controversial part of this video and possibly get me in a little bit of trouble, but I think it’s important to be honest with you because it will also make quite a bit of sense as to what you’ve seen out there. For example, take Top Gear’s video by Jason. Great video, but the top comment basically says ‘journalists have become PR representatives for automotive companies’. And that’s because Ferrari played this very cleverly in the way they did this event. I felt really uncomfortable with it for various reasons, and I’ve been shooting first look videos like this for many years and done a lot of them, but there was something quite unique about this one in particular that I have never had to do before and that’s in connection with the embargo.

So it’s very normal when you get to see something in advance of its public preview that you sign a contract effectively stating that you won’t share or publish or leak any imagery or anything about the car until a certain date and time when it’s due to be released, and that’s completely normal and—I think—totally, totally fine. In the case of this one, though, not only was it that, but you also had to agree to pay €600,000 in damages if you were responsible for a leak. Now for any publication, that’s not small change, and that’s not something I have ever had to do before.

[Ed Note: Embargo agreements are serious and often threatening. Here you can see a Kia agreement that I signed; it’s written in legalese and clearly quite serious:

And here is Scout threatening to pursue legal action (which could include going after “damages” i.e. money) if I break the embargo:

To spell out a dollar figure like $699,000, though, seems a bit much. This may be how Ferrari does things, but to some this paints a picture of nervousness around the Luce reveal. -DT]

At current exchange rates, €600,000 is about $699,000, an utterly ruinous sum for many outlets. While it’s understandable not wanting anything to leak, in all my years of being a car journalist, I’ve never been asked to sign for a responsibility over a specific, explicitly stated monetary amount of damages associated with a leak. Not once. What’s more, threatening such damages over a leak could potentially be seen as more intimidating than useful due to how the media was actually captured. As Burton went on to state:

Now that’s one thing and you know, for myself, that’s kind of like right, y’know, accept that, take that seriously, but that was then combined with this exceptionally peculiar filming setup and in particular, that we had to use their camera operators, their camera equipment, and they kept all the footage to share with us only a couple hours before the embargo dropped. Now, in my opinion, you can’t have both of those. If there’s going to be a massive fine, then let you get the right content, let you shoot it correctly, let you get the right messaging and explain the car. If you’re going to be leaving the memory stick with them, then you can’t leak it anyway because they’ve got it. You’ve not done anything wrong. This was a completely unique scenario.

Hang on: If Ferrari or its contractors were responsible for visual media capture and this report of only being given assets hours before the embargo was up is accurate, the likelihood of a leak is very low. Especially with video, because most of that time will simply be eaten by grading footage and editing shots into a coherent narrative that fits the voice of each outlet. It’s understandable that Ferrari wanted to keep a lid on the Luce, but not only is withholding assets for such a time likely to compromise quality of visual coverage, there are some potential issues should an automaker collect and hold onto such pieces of media prior to publication.

I’ve been doing this for seven years and not once has an automaker asked to see parts of a story before it goes live. [Ed note: I’ve definitely been asked before under specific circumstances, but I usually decline. The only exception I can remember revolved around unique details that both sides wanted to get absolutely correct. – MH] There’s a certain unspoken trust here, not just for fairness but also for the editorial independence of any coverage. Ferrari reportedly having a hand in all audiovisual asset capture raises questions about potential control of reception. If coverage is negative, would the footage still be sent outlets’ way intact? Would that potential fear cause certain members of the media to be a bit less outspoken than usual? In a way, Harris summed it up best:

I think, judge a car company’s confidence by the way it manages car launches. The first time I drove a Porsche 918 that was finished, it was left in a garage with a key. There was no one there with it, they just said go off. They knew they’d made something brilliant. Same with great cars. If you have to show the interior then the exterior, then you have to do seven bleed-out launches, you know you’re dealing with a company that’s really having to manage things.

Judging by these reports, Ferrari seems to have had a serious grip on the Luce debut, and that begs several questions regarding trust in the journalistic process, and the automaker’s own confidence about the car in question. Obviously, the only way through this is to talk about it, so I’ve reached out to Ferrari and will update you as soon as I hear more.

Top graphic images: Ferrari; iOS