by Matt Konkle
Managing Editor
Following a year of advertising and event pullbacks, Jeep is set to make a return appearance this February to television screens across the world during the National Football League’s title game.
New Jeep North American Head of Brand Bob Broderdorf made the announcement recently during the automaker’s media press event at the Los Angeles Auto Show, while also highlighting Jeeps’ overall return to marketing efforts.
Broderdorf took over Jeep’s North American reins back in early September.
Jeep did not provide any creative details on the Super Bowl advertisement. It could choose to feature the Jeep Gladiator 4xe, which it announced back in May but hasn’t said much about since. Or, it could highlight the all-electric Recon which is scheduled for release sometime in 2025.
Whichever direction the ad goes, Stellantis’ senior vice president and chief marketing officer Rajoielle Register said it needs to be fresh and creative.
“You have to make sure you have the best story, the best angle, the best creative,” Register says. "And it's something that I say causes a little bit of churn in certain regards, but it gives us a great amount of respect once we see how things come together.”
Returning to the Super Bowl won’t come cheap for Jeep, as 30-second ads are going for around $7 million, according to Fox Corporation. However, the game does bring in an average of 123.4 million viewers and advertising experts estimate companies return an average of $5.20 for every dollar spent on game advertising.
Jeep last took up Super Bowl ad space in 2023 with a 60-second spot featuring its 4xe lineup, including Wrangler, driving in the wilderness with a backdrop of animals ‘performing’ to Shaggy’s ‘Electric Boogie’.
Perhaps Jeep’s best, and most-remembered recent Super Bowl ad was in 2020, when it lured Bill Murray to the screen for his first-ever television commercial — a movie-like sequence featuring highlights from 1993’s ‘Groundhog Day’. Only, in the commercial, Murray is seen repeating each day while driving a Gladiator truck.
That spot won Ad Meter’s best ad of the year for 2020, and helped propel Gladiator sales to nearly 80,000 for the year.
The brand returned again in 2021, featuring Bruce Springsteen driving a 1980 CJ-5 towards a small church in Lebanon, Kansas — recognized as the geographic middle of the United States — with a voiceover urging Americans to "meet in the middle".
Besides skipping last year’s game, Stellantis also made the decision nearly a year ago to pull out of many United States auto shows like Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Houston — partially because of the United Auto Workers strike, but also as the company looked to revitalize sales across its lineup.
Instead, local dealers could opt to buy up exhibition space to feature Stellantis brands during the 2024 show season.
The NFL’s title game is set for Feb. 9.
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