Bruce Springsteen starred in and narrated a two-minute Super Bowl ad for Jeep, which featured far more American scenery than any other vehicle.
Rob DeMartin for Jeep
According to Olivier Francois, a car marketing executive, the Jeep commercial at the Super Bowl, starring Bruce Springsteen, became famous a decade ago to convince the A-list celebrities.
Every year since 2011, Francois said he got an idea from Springsteen director Jon Landau for a Super Bowl ad. It became a bit of a tradition, although Francois thought there was little or no chance of this happening.
Why Springsteen, who had never appeared in an ad before? It goes back to former car CEO Sergio Marchionne, who died unexpectedly in 2018. The Italian-Canadian businessman was a fan of the singer and regularly used his music during presentations and events, relating the personality of Springsteen with the company.
“What you really see today is a ten-year history in process,” Francois told CNBC. “We started arguing about Bruce (about Bruce, not with him, about) with my old boss, Sergio. … He loved Bruce Springsteen’s music.”
Francois, marketing director for Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler), has convinced Detroit rapper Eminem and musician Bob Dylan to star in the company’s ads. He even landed Oprah Winfrey for a voice-over once. Last year, Francois convinced evasive actor Bill Murray to reprise his role in the 1993 film “Groundhog Day” for a Super Bowl ad.
He said his “biggest regret” was not being able to make the announcement with Springsteen occur while Marchionne was alive. “My biggest regret today is that they never managed to get together. I always promised him I would make something happen and I delivered a little too late,” Francois said.
Why now?
Francois first released Springsteen in a 2012 Super Bowl ad called “It’s Halftime in America” which ended up starring actor Clint Eastwood, who is another celebrity who is not known to appear in commercials or have joined a product or company. The announcement featured Eastwood as the nation’s coach, urging the U.S. to learn of the resurgence of Detroit’s auto industry.
Francois called this year’s ad a “successor” to this ad and others, such as a 2013 Super Bowl spot called “Farmer”. Both were movie and national commercials with few real vehicles.
In this year’s “The Middle” commercial, Springsteen drives an old Jeep and talks about a chapel in the center of the country called the US Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas. He used the extremely small chapel as a base to talk about the country that needed to “meet here, in the middle” before the announcement ended with “In the United States of America.” Then there was a website and logos for Jeep, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2021.
Bruce Springsteen (left) with Olivier Francois, head of marketing at Stellantis, during the filming of the company’s Super Bowl LV ad for Jeep.
Rob DeMartin for Jeep
In a press release, Landau said that as soon as they saw the playing field, they decided it was something they had to do.
Olivier Francois and I have been discussing ideas for the last ten years and when he showed us the outline of ‘The Middle’, our immediate reaction was, ‘Let’s do it,’ ”he said. something surprising, relevant, immediate and cunning. I think that’s what Bruce has done with “The Middle.”
Francois believes the ad’s message was in line with Springsteen’s beliefs and struck the “right balance” between the company’s goal and the singer, who last year narrated a campaign ad for Joe Biden.
Francois said Springsteen was intimately involved in creating the Jeep ad and worked closely with director Thom Zimny. He wrote and produced the original score for the commercial with another of his frequent collaborators, Ron Aniello.
The announcement barely happened
According to Francois, the commercial with Springsteen hardly happened. After ten years of being rejected by the singer’s manager, he had decided not to present an idea to Landau for Springsteen.
“I think it’s the first year I didn’t ask any agency to try to break an idea of Bruce Springsteen,” he said. “I think it took me ten years to realize it never happened. Obviously, I was wrong, but that’s what I thought. And it was also an abuse of John Landau and Bruce’s time.”
Bruce Springsteen starred in and narrated a two-minute Super Bowl ad for Jeep, which featured far more American scenery than any other vehicle.
Rob DeMartin for Jeep
That’s until Southfield, Michigan-based advertising agency Doner launched the idea for “The Middle.” After contacting Landau to say Happy New Year in early January, Francois decided to send him the launch of the advertising agency. Francois said Landau, upon receiving the release, believed it was “the right message.”
“Yeah, it’s positioned, but it’s positioned in the middle,” Francois said. “It’s not liberal. It’s not Republican. It’s just something that tries to defend the non-political. The common ground.”
It seems that the message has resonated among viewers. Since it was posted on YouTube in the early hours of Sunday morning, the ad has been viewed approximately 24 million times. It’s about four times more than the combined vision of other Super Bowl car ads from General Motors, Toyota Motor and online car salesman Vroom.