Jeep Ad Pulls Everyone to the Center
How much do you enjoy the Super Bowl? Some people look out to the music performances and this year the multi-Grammy winner, H.E.R calmed the audience with a powerful performance. For marketers, though, the Super Bowl is a clash of ideas, of creativity, of storytelling.
This ad by Jeep won it for me. We meet Bruce Springsteen at his best with a Vintage CJ-5 Jeep from the 1970s. He drives to the US Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas, a church that is always open, inviting people to come fellowship with their fellow Americans.
Among the most fascinating things with the ad is the way it pulls the audience to the political and social issues that have shaped the American sociopolitical landscape in the last decade. The country was divided in the middle, between Red and Blue, and the storming of the capital was the worst of politics we have seen in decades.
Jeep showed that it cares about the state of the country. The desire to achieve peace and unity, to find a middle ground for the Democrats and Conservatives, is akin to a journey: long and uncomfortable. It requires moving through the desert, the snow and rugged terrains to arrive at the destination.
For a motor company, that journey metaphor highlighted its strength and resilience. It tells the story of the Jeep as a company and how it has been making strong cars that can withstand the challenges of a long and a difficult journey to the “middle”. It was a message to the political class that it can brave the current political headwinds and find a middle-ground, to make it Re-United States of America.
The ad was hugely successful as 29.8 Million people viewed it eliciting close to 100K social reactions and a breakthrough score of 682, 3% above the normal breakthrough score for Super Bowl ads. Its online activity had a score of 11.15%.
While the ad got many things right, from the selection of Bruce to the choice of US Center Chapel, I think its most outstanding feature is the marriage of the ad storytelling to the recent events in the US. It is an example of excellent marketing that is not only memorable, but also impactful.
