It’s Groundhog Day– but in 2020, this yearly event took place on a date that turned out to anything but the norm. Recognizing that, Jeep hit it out of the park.
The automobile company realized that in a rare feat, kind of like getting ahold of legendary comedian Bill Murray, the holiday fell on Super Bowl Sunday. It was the first time in 54 years that was slated to happen.
Then came the most difficult part: Signing Murray up to appear in what went down as Admeter’s top commercial of that year’s Super Bowl.
Murray has long been known as a difficult person to contact, let alone to convince him to appear in his first national commercial on the idea reprises his role as Phil Connors the 1993 film “Groundhog Day.”
As Ad Meter’s Tom Schad explained after the fact, Murray did not have a phone, agent, or email account. But after meeting the challenge, Jeep ended up winning their first Ad Meter title for the brand.
(Register now to become a 2022 Ad Meter panelist)
The Murray-groundhog collab for Jeep edged out Hyundai’s popular Boston-themed ad “Smaht Pahk,” ad for the crown. That commercial featured Rachel Dratch, Chris Evans, John Krasinski and now Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer David Ortiz.
The advertisement for the automobile company had to goal of unveiling Jeep’s new “Gladiator” truck line.
And lucky enough for Jeep, a cherry on top: Murray confirmed himself via news release it will be his first and last commercial he’ll ever star in. An all-around winning day for the brand at that Super Bowl.
Have another look at the extended version of Jeep’s winning commercial below:
More Super Bowl 56 commercial news:
Nissan teases ‘thrill’ in upcoming 2022 Super Bowl commercial