Sometimes you can appreciate a company taking an old style and doing something interesting with it. Generally, I hate television advertising because it's impossible to find much more than 5 commercials a year that amount to more than a boring, pandering piece of shit that does little else than waste time. And the car driving down the winding, desert road is the worst offender. So doing a new take on such an old staple actually made me stop and rewind, and that reaction earns an A+ from me more often than not.
Good work, Jeep.
Saw it today. Pretty good. Definitely more tongue-in-cheek than Hyundai’s Think About It work.
Posted by: bg | October 01, 2007 at 12:05 AM
Heh -- yes, that was a welcome relief from most car commercials. I have to admit I'm so inured to some ad phrases that I didn't catch the "new all jeep" line until I read the youtube comments, even though the spot felt strongly enough to put the words onscreen. More coffee for me.
Posted by: captain flummox | October 01, 2007 at 07:24 AM
Paul,
You beat me to it. I have been thinking about this ad campaign for about a week. Actually, I think the advertising world is being innovative with these ads, it is being retro. Fifty years ago advertising produced advertising to resonate with the customer, not to entertain the masses, which results in, as you said, boredom and irrelevance. Congrats to Jeep.
Posted by: Lewis Green | October 01, 2007 at 07:35 AM
Okay, I meant to say, I think the advertising world isn't being innovative with these ads, it is being retro.
Posted by: Lewis Green | October 01, 2007 at 07:36 AM
I like that their idea (and tagline of) "Have more fun out there" is something they are applying to the way they make advertising - having more fun in creating.
Posted by: El Gaffney | October 01, 2007 at 07:48 AM
Hmmm, very interesting. It looks like the POV is the one of the driver and not the one of the narrator (= the company). A good way of putting it. And thank you for sharing it here, I would have not seen it otherwise (no TV).
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Posted by: adrien | October 02, 2007 at 03:31 AM
Not overly impressed Paul.
The first time the car went off the road was enough. The second time they're hitting you over the head with it.
What's more, they're not telling me anything I didn't already know: Jeeps go off-road.
It's not awful, but certainly not breakthrough.
The Hyundai work is brilliant. You can check out my blog to see why.
http://tangerinetoad.blogspot.com/2007/10/thinking-about-hyundai.html
Posted by: Tangerine Toad | October 04, 2007 at 10:39 AM
Well, I never meant it was brilliant (hence the title, made somewhat interesting...) Still not great, but enough for me to pick my head up from my computer.
And really, that one fact makes it better than 95% of the rest of it that's out there. Kinda sucks that that's the way it is...
Posted by: Paul McEnany | October 04, 2007 at 08:02 PM
Took me twice seeing it to get it. Not that that's a bad thing. the first time I was only half paying attention - the narrator trailing off threw me.
I love the anti-beauty/drive idea. It's perfect for this brand. I hope they do more.
Posted by: james-h | October 15, 2007 at 12:47 PM