There are probably few jobs in advertising more challenging or more closely scrutinized than the launch of a new car line. The stakes are enormous and image is seemingly everything. The current campaign in that category is for DaimlerChrysler’s Jeep Liberty, the new SUV that fits in between the utilitarian Jeep Wrangler and the more high-end Jeep Grand Cherokee. PentaMark, Troy, Mich., is handling the advertising push for the vehicle, and if initial Liberty sales are any measure, it looks like a success. (PentaMark was formerly the office of BBDO Detroit; it was renamed last year when the shop was awarded the estimated $2 billion DaimlerChrysler account.) The campaign so far consists of six :30s that position the Liberty as a vehicle with all the traditionaloff-road attributes of the Jeep brand, but with real appeal to city dwellers who may like knowing they can go off-road more than actually doing it.
"[DaimlerChrysler] asked us to try to find a way to take Jeep and expand its appeal to more people who would not take it totally off-road," says Bill Morden, executive VP/chief creative officer at PentaMark. Morden oversees all creative coming out of PentaMark, and has a history with the Jeep account, having worked on the brand while at FCB Detroit, Southfield, Mich., and at earlier agencies handling Jeep’s business. As is somewhat typical in ads for SUVs, the new spots have their share of scenes with the Liberty in the woods or slogging over rocky terrain, but they devote even more footage to the Liberty in city situations, on asphalt.
The campaign images are more urban and on-road than typical Jeep spots, Morden notes, "but it always gives you that off-road twist. For example, ‘Tunnel Shift’ starts with it on a road. It’s a subliminal way of saying Jeep goes on a road just like anything else can, but it’s that unique premise that underneath that on-road vehicle, the Jeep really wants to be off-road, no matter where it’s at." "Tunnel Shift," directed by Gerard de Thame of bicoastal HSI Productions and London-based Gerard de Thame Films, opens with a Jeep Liberty approaching a highway tunnel. But the tunnel inexplicably shifts away from the road, leaving the Jeep to scale the mountain now blocking the highway.
"It’s that whatever nature throws at us, symbolically, the Jeep can handle in a Jeep-like way," explains Morden. "It’s the same thing in the one we call ‘Shakeytown.’ No matter what nature throws at you unexpectedly, you’re still protected. It takes care of you. Once you’re in a Jeep, you’re safe and secure and you can get out of it. We try to hit on those emotional connections."
In "Shakeytown," directed by Samuel Bayer of bicoastal Mars Media, a man in a Liberty is getting ready to pull away from the curb when he drops a CD. While he is fumbling for it on the floorboards, an earthquake rocks the town he is in, buckling the pavement and damaging nearby structures. It’s over by the time he finds the CD, and he drives off unfazed. The other spots in the campaign are: "Eagle Eye Exam," directed by Charles Wittenmeier of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, in which a soaring eagle can’t believe his eyes that there is a new Jeep in the forest; "Natural Attraction," helmed by de Thame, in which city trees and potted plants are attracted to a parked Liberty; "Red Light/Green Light," directed by David Cornell of bicoastal Headquarters, which opens with a Liberty high in scenic mountains that turn out to be a city driver’s daydream; and a brand image spot called "There’s Only One," directed by Dana Christiaansen of Plum Productions, Santa Monica.
"We definitely want to say, this is a brand-new Jeep," Morden relates. "We made some spots that demonstrate that it is something no one has seen before, like ‘Eagle Eye.’ I think it targets a little younger audience, a little more urban, less of the real cliché outdoors person. We targeted a little more toward current contemporary lifestyles than escapist lifestyles."
Variety
While Morden and Mike Stocker—PentaMark’s group senior VP/ creative director/head copywriter on the Jeep account—were creative directors on all six Liberty spots, the campaign used a somewhat surprising number of directors, art directors and copywriters. Only de Thame and the team of Stocker and art director Robin Chrumka—also a group senior VP/creative director on Jeep—did as many as two spots.
The main reason for spreading the work around was to get all six ads done at the same time, Morden explains. "Even so, each spot has its own quirky thing about it, too," he notes. "Our mission from the production standpoint is to make sure there are enough similarities in the transferring and the editing and sound and style. We try to find directors who are compatible in that, yet have their own unique marks. There’s a seamlessness to it. There’s some CGI work, more so in some than in others. We try to find directors that are best suited for the job."
Although de Thame is well known for his automotive work, Morden says he wasn’t looking for sheet metal directors. "We just look at people who really understand how to execute a concept," he states. "If we ever have a real concern about the sheet metal side, we make sure we have good DPs."
And although the agency was looking for a seamless campaign, Morden says the creatives encouraged director input and collaboration in the execution. "In all six spots, everybody brought something to the party," he reports. "We really require that. Gerard de Thame is not going to just shoot the board."
In "Natural Attraction," Morden points to de Thame’s casting of the spot and how he choreographed the CGI plants and trees. "We just had a fundamental idea of plants in the city trying to escape to get to the Jeep," Morden recalls. "The board was four or five frames. All of those ideas are pretty simple ideas.
"That’s one of our trademarks," he continues. "It’s simple and you get it. Everybody was terrific. A lot of people like to work on Jeep because there is a lot of freedom. [Jeep work] has been going on for so long that it’s amazing how many people actually get the nuances that have been created over the years, and [get] how to shoot it even though a lot of the work is done in CGI. We as a team really look at the stuff as it goes through the system, to make sure it isn’t all over the place."
With the initial Liberty campaign done, Morden is now absorbed in several spots in some stage of production for various DaimlerChysler brands. There’s a new Liberty ad titled "Fireworks" in the planning stages, as well as approximately 18 new branding spots. "We’re going to concentrate on the fact that the brand is made up of three vehicles: Liberty, Wrangler and Grand," says Morden. "Our mission right now is to make sure people understand that we have three very unique, yet very strong, elements in the Jeep brand. We have a couple spots that are going to concentrate on that."
A new Dodge truck and car campaign is in production now for the fall, and the agency is currently shooting brand and car line spots for Chrysler. The Liberty spots have just begun to run as the summer TV doldrums draw to a close. "We’re just trying to expand Jeep’s appeal without leaving the strong brand identity we have in place," says Morden.
