Fiat Chrysler Happy It Skipped the Super Bowl, as Online Jeep Ad Tops 100 Million Views

Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday said not airing any commercials during Super Bowl LIII—the first time it’s skipped the game in a decade—was a “winning” decision, after one of its online-only Jeep spots went viral and topped 100 million views. 

That Jeep ad, “More Than Just Words,” features a visual narration of “The Star Spangled Banner” with music by OneRepublic. It was released Thursday on the brand’s digital and social platforms. The view count across Facebook, YouTube and Twitter is 106 million and counting, FCA said. 

FCA’s previous online view-count record for a Super Bowl spot was Ram’s “Icelandic Vikings” video from last year’s game, with about 28 million views. Ram’s famous “Farmer” spot from 2013, which is still up on YouTube, has 23 million views on that platform. (“More Than Just Words” has 52 million views on YouTube alone.”) 

“This year, we adopted a new approach to launch our commercials in advance of the Big Game and our ‘gamble’ seems to be winning as we continue to track the videos through today,” said Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer at FCA, said in a statement. 

“Together, our eight creative executions have amassed over 169 million views. What is more exciting is that engagement to date suggests that Jeep brand’s ‘More Than Just Words’ on its own has surpassed the TV audience viewership for the Big Game. Viewers have been reacting to it in a very powerful way, commenting across our digital and social platforms telling us how much they appreciate the message, and thanking us for it. Our fans are calling the video one of the best Big Game commercials ever. And while it didn’t air in the game, people will remember it as one.” 

“More than Just Words” was directed by Mark Toia in partnership with Dallas-based agency The Richards Group.

See FCA’s other spots from what it called its “Big Game Blitz” below. They included another spot for Jeep, four for RAM and one for Dodge. 

CREDITS
Agency: The Richards Group
Client: Jeep
Spot: “More Than Just Words”
Creative Director/AD: Mike LaTour
Copywriter: Chad Berry
Brand Management, Principal: Dave Allen
Brand Manager: Tyler May
Producer: Sharon Chortek
Production Company: Zoom USA
Director/Partner: Mark Toia
Executive Producer/Partner: Lee Nelson
Post Production: Lucky Post
Editor: Sai Selvarajan
Assistant Editor: Jake Odgers
Color: Neil Anderson
Sound Design/Mix: Scottie Richardson
Online/FX: Tim Nagle
Producer: Anne Strock
EP: Jessica Berry