DETROIT — A CEO’s exit, electric vehicles sending the industry scrambling and one company’s resurgence in the U.S. combine to make Ram and Jeep parent Stellantis the only automaker to film a Super Bowl 59 ad.

That’s according to Stellantis Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Francois, who said other automakers are skipping the big game this year due to industry uncertainty and cost-cutting, but a return to the Super Bowl is crucial for the struggling transatlantic automaker.

Francois said Stellantis chairman John Elkann, a scion of Italy’s Fiat automaker, called him after CEO Carlos Tavares abruptly left in December and told him to do a commercial during the big game to recommit to the automaker’s U.S. business.

“We had not planned to shoot a commercial. John Elkann called me in December and said, ‘I want something. I want to make a comeback. We want to show, to express that comeback story. We want to show America how important it is to the Stellantis Group,'” Francois told CNBC.

Under Francois, Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, has become known for its symbolic, unconventional ads that feature iconic celebrities and tell stories about more than just trying to sell new cars and trucks.

It all started when the automaker was trying to recover from its 2009 bankruptcy. In 2011, the company aired a surprise two-minute Super Bowl ad featuring rapper Eminem and the city of Detroit, tying the company’s resurgence to the grit and rebirth of the Motor City. The ad also showed a now-discontinued Chrysler 200 sedan.

Francois said Elkann, who is leading the search for a new CEO, told him to rediscover that “comeback” spirit for the automaker after years of cost-cutting and lackluster U.S. sales.

Francois said Elkann also told him to keep the late Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne in mind when crafting this year’s car ads. Marchionne, who died in 2018, was a supporter of Franois and past Super Bowl ads.

“There was a philosophy in Sergio that he believed in playing as if you had nothing to lose. He once said, ‘Mediocre isn’t worth a try,’ ” Franois said. “So the creative execution and investment for this year’s Super Bowl is the essence of that spirit.”

Since Eminem, the company’s Super Bowl ads have featured actors like Clint Eastwood, Bill Murray and singer Bob Dylan. The ads don’t necessarily feature any specific car, but they discuss culturally relevant topics like political divisions and patriotism.

This year’s Stellantis Ram Trucks ad was a more traditional comedy Super Bowl ad. Starring Glen Powell, the actor from “Twister” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” the ad reimagined “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” with trucks.

But the automaker’s two-minute Jeep ad starring Harrison Ford, the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” actor, was a true homecoming for Francois.

Jeep Super Bowl Ad

Francois said Ford turned down an initial proposal for another ad. Francois said he and friend Edward Razek wrote the first version of the ad that aired at the time. Razek was a former marketing executive at Victoria’s Secret owner L Brands who resigned amid controversy in 2019.

CMOs don’t typically write scripts. It’s more common for these executives to approve agency scripts with guidance. Francois said agencies did help before the final ad, but the script and creative started inside the automaker.

In the ad, Ford discusses freedom, heroes and people writing their own stories in life because there is no “owner’s manual” (which is the ad’s title).

Several Jeep models can be seen driving and off-roading, as Ford says, with one outrunning a Ford Bronco SUV — a new competitor to the Jeep Wrangler SUV — while the actor talks about how to inspire others.

“I agreed to do this ad because of the script. It’s a straightforward account of life that ends with getting in a Jeep, and that’s the selling point. It didn’t require me to reintroduce myself or point out that I’ve done a lot of things in my life and am known for specific projects or roles,” Ford said in a statement. “It was just a quiet conversation of one person sharing ideas. I love the way it went.”

The Wrangler over the Bronco is one of two reference points for Jeep’s competitors. The other comes from the actor at the end of the ad: “Choose what makes you happy. My friends, my family, my job make me happy. This Jeep makes me happy – even though my name is Ford. Here’s my owner’s manual. Go out and write your own.”

The Jeep ad was filmed over two days in Santa Clarita, California, in early December, according to Stellaris.

“Headless Chicken”

The automotive industry has historically been one of the hot sectors for Super Bowl ads. Even during the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, when the auto industry was hit hard, several companies such as Toyota, Hyundai and Audi aired ads.

Francois believes other automakers may not be participating in the Super Bowl this year because previous years did not bring any returns, when many automakers, including Stellantis, hyped all-electric vehicles that did not even come to market.

“There have been a lot of automakers in the past few years, and they have been hyping electric vehicles, electric vehicles that don’t even exist,” Franois said. “These people are obviously running around like headless chickens: electric vehicles, electric vehicles, electric vehicles. I mean, we’ve all been in that situation.”

Automakers regularly advertise during the NFL regular season and playoffs, including partnering with companies such as Toyota to become the “Official Automotive Partner of the NFL.” But no automaker, except Stellantis, is advertising during Sunday’s game.

Both of Stellantis’ Super Bowl ads this year feature electric vehicles, but also include traditional internal combustion engine vehicles as well as plug-in hybrid models such as the Jeep Wrangler.

Francois said it was probably a good thing that Elkann called him in early December rather than a few months earlier, because that way he could have more precisely conveyed his message, rather than just touting electric cars.

“The time had come, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to rewrite the script. To rewrite history, that is, not to run away like a headless chicken,” Francois said. “I was able to improvise in that moment.”

Stellantis declined to say how much it spent to produce and air the ads, which cost as much as $8 million for 30 seconds of airtime during Super Bowl 59.

But Francois said Elkann told Stellantis’s advertising and marketing chiefs: “Marketing is no longer a cost, it’s an investment.”
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