Bruce Springsteen and the Jeep® brand have joined together to launch the two-minute film “The Middle.” The film can be viewed across the Jeep brand’s social media channels, and is making a one-time television appearance during the Super Bowl telecast.
Springsteen was intimately involved in creating “The Middle” and worked closely with longtime director Thom Zimny (an Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special Emmy winner in 2019 for Springsteen on Broadway). Springsteen wrote and produced the original Jeep ad score with frequent collaborator Ron Aniello.
“The Middle” was filmed in locations across the United States, including on the grounds of the U.S. Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas, which stands on the geographical center (the middle) of the USA’s lower 48 states
“From ‘Imported from Detroit’ and ‘Halftime in America’ to ‘Farmer,’ and most recently ‘Groundhog Day,’ we have looked at making meaningful and emotional connections with millions of viewers, with cultural relevancy at the core of our communication,” said Olivier Francois, global chief marketing officer, Stellantis, parent to varied automotive brands, including Jeep. “’The Middle’ is a celebration of the Jeep brand’s 80-year anniversary and, more timely, it is a call to all Americans to come together and seek common ground as we look collectively to the road ahead.”
Added Francois, “Bruce Springsteen was instrumental in crafting this joint message. His experiences and perspective have often been called upon to bridge a divide. Now seems to be a time when a message like this is greatly needed.”
Springsteen appears in “The Middle” and serves as its narrator. His voiceover message reads:
“There’s a chapel in Kansas.
Standing on the exact center of the lower forty-eight.
It never closes.
All are more than welcome.
To come meet here, in the middle.
It’s no secret …
The middle has been a hard place to get to lately.
Between red and blue.
Between servant and citizen.
Between our freedom and our fear.
Now, fear has never been the best of who we are.
And as for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few; it belongs to us all.
Whoever you are,
wherever you’re from.
It’s what connects us.
And we need that connection. We need the middle.
We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground.
So we can get there.
We can make it to the mountaintop, through the desert …
and we will cross this divide.
Our light has always found its way through the darkness.
And there’s hope on the road … up ahead.”
The Jeep brand campaign was created in partnership with Doner agency in Michigan.
Over the last decade, the Jeep, Dodge and Ram brands have evoked aspirational messaging in their Big Game campaign efforts. While “Imported from Detroit” spoke to the grit, ingenuity and determination of the American (Detroit) automotive workforce in 2011, the following year “Halftime in America” sought to galvanize Americans going through challenging times, with Clint Eastwood stating, “This country can’t be knocked out in one punch. We get back up again.” Then, in 2013, the Ram brand launched “Farmer,” acknowledging and honoring American farmers through the iconic words of legendary radio personality Paul Harvey.
