Bruce Springsteen plays in and tells a two-minute Super Bowl ad for Jeep, which contains far more Americana and scenery than any vehicles.
Rob DeMartin for Jeep
According to Jeep’s Super Bowl ad featuring Bruce Springsteen, Olivier Francois, a car marketing manager, was known for convincing A-list celebrities to appear in such ads.
Since 2011, Francois has said he has come up with an idea for Springsteen manager Jon Landau for a Super Bowl ad. It became somewhat of a tradition, though Francois thought there was little or no chance it would happen.
Why Springsteen, who has never appeared in an ad before? It dates from the former CEO of the carmaker, Sergio Marchionne, who passed away unexpectedly in 2018. The Italian-Canadian businessman was a fan of the singer and regularly used his music during presentations and events, giving Springsteen’s persona to the company.
“What you see today is actually a 10-year story in the making,” Francois told CNBC. “We started discussing Bruce – about Bruce, not with him, about – with my old boss, Sergio. … He loved Bruce Springsteen’s music.”
Francois, chief marketing officer of Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler), convinced Detroit rapper Eminem and musician Bob Dylan to appear in the company’s ads. He even landed Oprah Winfrey once for a voice recording. Last year, Francois convinced elusive actor Bill Murray to reprise his role in the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” for a Super Bowl commercial.
He said his “biggest regret” was not being able to get the ad to air with Springsteen while Marchionne was alive. “My biggest regret today is that they could never get it right. I always promised him I would make something happen and I delivered a little too late,” Francois said.
Why now?
Francois first brought Springsteen to the fore in a Super Bowl commercial called ‘It’s Halftime in America’ in 2012, which eventually starred actor Clint Eastwood. The ad listed Eastwood as the country’s coach and prompted the U.S. to learn about the revival of the Detroit auto industry.
Francois called this year’s ad a “sequel” to the ad, as well as others like a Super Bowl spot in 2013 called “Farmer.” Both were movie-time, rural commercials with few real vehicles.
In this year’s advertisement “The Middle”, Springsteen drives around in an old Jeep and talks about a chapel in the middle of the country called the US Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas. He uses the extremely small chapel as a basis to talk about the country that should meet ‘here in the middle’ before the ad ends with ‘To the ReUnited States of America’. This was followed by a website and logos for Jeep, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2021.
Bruce Springsteen (left) with Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer of Stellantis, during the filming of the company’s Super Bowl LV ad for Jeep.
Rob DeMartin for Jeep
In a press release, Landau said once they see the pitch, they decide it’s something they should do.
“Olivier Francois and I have been talking about ideas for the past ten years, and when he showed us the outline for ‘The Middle,’ our immediate response was, ‘Let’s do it,’ he said.” , relevant, immediate and artistic. I believe that’s just what Bruce did with ‘The Middle’. “
Francois believes the message of the ad was at the point of Springsteen’s conviction and found the ‘right balance’ between the goal of the company and the singer, who told Joe Biden a campaign series last year.
Francois said Springsteen was very 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 regular collaborators, Ron Aniello.
The ad almost did not happen
According to Francois, the ad with Springsteen hardly happened. After ten years of rejection by the singer’s manager, he decided not to give Landau an idea for Springsteen.
“I think this is the first year ever that I have not asked any agency to try to crack an idea of Bruce Springsteen,” he said. “I think it took me ten years to understand that it never happens. 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 plays in and tells a two-minute Super Bowl ad for Jeep, which contains far more Americana and scenery than any vehicles.
Rob DeMartin for Jeep
That’s until the Southfield, Michigan-based advertising agency Doner, posted the idea of ”The Middle”. After contacting Landau in early January to say Happy New Year, Francois decided to send the advertising agency’s mail to him. Francois said Landau, when he received the pitch, believed it was ‘the right message’.
“Yes, he takes a stand, but he takes a stand for the middle,” Francois said. “It’s not liberal. It’s not Republican. It’s just something trying to stand for the non-political. The common ground.”
The message seems to have resonated with viewers. Since it was published on YouTube early Sunday morning, the ad has been viewed approximately 24 million times. That’s about four times the combined number of other Super Bowl ads from General Motors, Toyota Motor and online car salesman Vroom.