Jeep Australia on the road to regaining trust with new campaign via Cummins&Partners
Jeep is on the road to regaining trust with Australian consumers, launching the first campaign since reappointing Cummins&Partners earlier this year. Undergoing a significant local business transformation, Jeep is focused on winning back customers.
Launching with three television commercials, the campaign continues across press, digital and social media platforms.
View the Michael TVC
View the Clifftop TVC
View the Bigger Boat TVC
Kevin Flynn, Managing Director, Jeep Australia said he wants Jeep customers, new and existing, to know that the brand is committed to improving the customer experience through key business changes.
“We’re the first to admit we grew too big, too fast. Unfortunately, in the process we left some drivers behind. That’s why we’ve made big changes to Jeep in Australia with reduced running costs, improved technical support and dedicated customer care. We’ve listened, we’ve changed, and there’s no turning back.”
Since Kevin Flynn’s appointment in August 2019, Jeep Australia has introduced a number of pivotal business improvements including enhanced customer care, revamped Aftersales programs including more competitive Capped Price Servicing and the repricing of over 17,000 parts, and increased technical expertise across Australia.
Tom Noble, Director of Marketing Communications, Jeep Australia, highlighted the importance of communicating these changes to Jeep owners and the Australian public: “This is an exciting time for Jeep in Australia, but before we reposition the brand, we first have to acknowledge the bigger commitment we’re making to customers and address the barriers to purchase directly in our marketing, as we have done across the business. Our challenge to the agency was to deliver this first message in an engaging way.”
Says Chris Ellis, Creative Director, Cummins&Partners: “There’s powerful equity in ‘I Bought A Jeep’ it entered the Aussie vernacular. Before launching exciting new vehicles, we needed a reset moment to acknowledge the past and let Australia know Jeep is changing for the better. To do that, we delved into the archives of this iconic Jeep campaign and changed the commercials themselves. It’s an arresting and novel way to communicate this transformation, and transition to the wider campaign. It wasn’t without challenges, like locating the original talent. Thankfully, they’d held up pretty well. Special effects took care of the rest”.
The campaign represents the first in a stream of new work set to launch under the new platform developed by Cummins&Partners for the Jeep brand, “I’m in”.
Says Sean Cummins, Chief Creative Officer, Cummins&Partners: “Our audience thrives on challenges and loves overcoming adversity. They say “I’m in” to every opportunity. And that’s what we want customers to say about Jeep. We need to show the proof and give Australians permission to buy Jeep again. This is the first step towards regaining trust”.
Creative Agency: Cummins&Partners, Melbourne
Chief Creative Officer: Sean Cummins
Creative Director: Chris Ellis
Creative Director: Heath Collins
Associate Creative Director: Adam Slater
Senior Art Director: Cam McMillan
Senior Copywriter: Liam Jenkins
Group Account Director: Josh Collins
Account Director: Kara Brumfit
Chief Executive Officer: Chris Jeffares
Strategy Director: Brad Hill
Head of Television: Karley Cameron
Production Company: FINCH
Director: Jae Morrison
Executive Producer: Corey Esse
Producer: Marge McInnes
DOP: Tim Tregoning
Editor: Johanna Scott | Arc Edit
Flame Artist: Drew Downes | Atticus
Sound: Dylan Stephens | Risk
Media: Starcom
Digital & Social: Digitas and Nicebike
Client: FCA Australia.
Managing Director: Kevin Flynn
Director of Marketing: Tom Noble
Senior Marketing Manager: Rachel Semmens
47 Comments
surely someone could have stopped him doing what he wanted.
You don’t revive the ads that were responsible for killing the brand.
Sales of Jeep won’t stay flat. They’ll stop.
I’d like to know the source of deep ad knowledge. You mean the ads that launched Jeep, gave them record sales, and into the Australian vernacular like NO OTHER car brand did at the time, right???
Are NiceBike out?
Glad there was that convoluted and poorly run pitch process to keep the incumbent so they could dust off the old ads from the back-catalogue. Bravo Jeep. Good luck regaining trust from consumers, and the industry from here on in.
Love the bitter agency folk – whose precious ideas didn’t get a gold star from the prospective client – that bombard the forum of the launch of a campaign they didn’t win. They could have produced ‘Citizen Kane’ and you’d still be here saying it’s rubbish. Troll.
ANCAP crash rating for Jeep: One star.
Yip, one star. The Fiat Panda has one star.
Who would put their family into a Jeep?
Good luck with the advertising, it’s the product that’s at fault. All it takes is a simple Google search.
But hey, at least they’re spending money.
Which Jeep gets 1 star?
https://www.ancap.com.au/safety-ratings/jeep?is_current_model=true&page=1&field=published_at&direction=desc
And you ran a pitch for this? Pathetic. Yet again, clients like this deserve what they get.
I don’t get who this ad is for or the strategy behind it.
If it is for previous Jeep owners (the ones who know you had rubbish customer assistance) then they are already probably burnt by the experience, have swapped and seen the difference, and unlikely to go back just because an ad said you’ve improved. It’s like a bad ex saying they’ve changed and want you back the minute they see you in a new happy relationship.
If it is for non-Jeep owners who you want to switch, you’ve just blatantly said that your service was rubbish despite your comms saying otherwise the first time, why would they trust you now that they know the car is probably rubbish. You’ve also completely ruined the original ads by breaking the fourth wall in a really bland way and overcomplicating the ad with proof points – what made You Bought a Jeep great was that it was the most simple, non proof point/feature led car advertising in a category that just does ‘we have parking assist and 5 years 0% financing’ advertising. Such a shame.
It’s the work of a very persuasive man
1. They pitched the business for this?
2. Did anyone mention that Joe Public doesn’t remember the ads the way the agency that made them does?
3. Did anyone mention that using the one positive thing the brand had done as a way to publicise it’s glaring failures is potentially a bad strategy?
The only people that will understand what the hell is going on here will be the agency and marketing department. And they know all too well you’d never buy a jeep.
Can’t wait to see how this tests with the rest of Australia, they will have no idea what’s going on.
Problems:
1. Assuming the general public give a sh*t about ads as much as us industry wankers and will remember these ads at all
2. Even if they do, why would you want to remind them of the deception that started it all regardless of what you’ve tacked on the end
This is a disaster.
Suzuki over there making small plastic cars look fun and cool even if they burst into flames.
Cummins over here rehashing an out of date campaign but rather than making it better they just added a list of problems to the script and banged an end line on it that makes less sense than the strategy.
This campaign is beyond stupid. Does it create desire to own a Jeep? Hell no. Does it tell the public the cars need (more) technical assitance, yes. The only saving grace will be the miniscule media spend will limit the spread of the stupidity.
Here’s the thing.
I bought a Jeep became a parody. It made people embarrassed they bought a Jeep. Especially as the product failed around them.
To launch new initiatives with something reminding people of how shit the cars are / were is really really stupid.
The agency held onto it for to long. To bring it back is hubris egotistical self loving and tune will show – wrong. However, it’s very creative. Just completely the wrong type of creative driven by ego.
It’s all just so apologetic, weak and cap-in-hand – I feel sorry for everyone concerned. And pity won’t make anyone buy anything.
This industry – in general – has so little confidence at the moment.
Jeep needed and deserved a front foot response – a confident well placed stake in the ground. It’s a brand that’s entitled to stand for something…they have history, passion, and capability.
Jeep needed swagger…they got a snotty white flag.
Trouble with putting your weight on the back foot is it only takes one little shove to push you over.
Nah… What they need is a half way decent car. All the advertising sugar in the World won’t sweeten this lemon. Overpriced (especially parts), poorly made, unreliable, sub-standard safety. Take ’em back to the ‘States and let them RIP (Rust In Peace).
It is fascinating guessing which of the old actors have or haven’t had Botox
This is the advertising equivalent of buying a pack of chocolate chip cookies but biting into one and finding out that you picked up the gluten-free, sugar-free, out-of-date, raisin chip cookies.
Hi folks. Some spirited comments here which our work always tends to arouse.
Thanks for sharing your opinions.
We know what we’re doing.
Sean Cummins
Sean, I assume you mean, “we know what we are doing, because we’ve hit their diabolically misguided brief “ it’s not your fault Sean, the management at FCA back then was capable. Since then, not so much.
Care to let the rest of Australia in on what you’re doing? Because from here it feels like you’re making a problem worse. I’m sure this is just some work the client needed to do before you can release your shiny new IM IN manifesto, but it’s pretty poxy. Looking forward to the second instalment of confusing Australia when you drop the IM IN work that has nothing to do with I bought a Jeep.
Just remember this would be a virtually impossible brief, even if the client wasn’t freaking out and overthinking it (and I presume they would have been – tell me I’m wrong Cummins+co). Any grown ups who have been anywhere near a client that’s in a tailspin will understand. So many opinions. The stake holders! The dealers! Nightmare material.
I’m in? I guess it’s like a sequel-line to I bought a Jeep. I was amazed a line like that worked in the first place, using the idea of popularity of product, kind of a 1950s advertising idea, but it shows how simple people are sometimes and how over complex we’ve all got, forgetting the basics of advertising. Sean is often great at just that very thing. But does it make sense to use that style of line now? ‘I’m in’, when people seem to be out? I suppose they were ‘out’ the first time they used it. Could potential buyers be naive enough to fall for it again?
This is a slow-mo car crash.
Grab the popcorn and strap yourself in.
There needs to be seriously brilliant ‘Part 2’ or else JEEP is in a death spiral.
…. the shit.
Not killer.
That’s not my comment above. I’m commenting to say I didn’t comment, with a comment. Oh the irony.
I barely remember the old ads. The catchphrase is iconic, but the rest of it has faded over time. As a result, the impact of these is lost.
the eyeline shift is a terrible execution of a terrible concept !
I like the boat one.
How sad is this? It’s just like to remember a puppy who has grown up to be a mongrel dog. I was the National Dealer Council Chairman and Dealer advertising chairman when Jeep was something to be proud of. That senior management wouldn’t and didn’t listen to the advice they were given is a shame.
You simply can’t go backwards – the only way is forward. Warren Buffet says ‘that everything is clearer going forward than it is in the rear vision mirror’. Can’t argue that.
Jeep is a train wreck in Australia. Arrogance, Ignorance, no care for customers and a sole focus on FCA profitability at any cost has destroyed the brand. Good Luck on a come back. I’m In………….
Steve Z NYC, you are 100% correct. The brand is a train wreck. Had FCA not appointed foreign CEOs with little knowledge, understanding or affinity with Australian consumers, then things could have been very different. It’s ironic that the aforementioned CEOs seem to take zero responsibility, blaming FCA and the Australian leadership that grew the brand “too quickly”. What a farce, growing a brand too quickly is what marketing dreams are made of. It’s only a bad thing when the new CEOs screw it up with their “better American ideas”. I clearly remember the most recently foreign Jeep CEO telling Jeep dealers how he’d seen and solved bigger problems. Fail! Arrogance and hubris costing franchise holders and their staff their livelihoods. I hope this campaign works but I have my reservations.
People don’t remember what advertising says. People remember how advertising makes them feel. And this kind of work makes people feel either nothing, or weird. Advertising is not a place for rhetoric. It is an opportunity for magic. This work misses that point and shouldn’t be held up as an example of what to do. The real value of this work is seeing it as a case study for what advertising cannot or shouldn’t do.
If you look closely, you can see the client ruining the work.
I am surprised they didn’t soundtrack it with the Potbellez – Don’t Hold Back….
“I BROUGHT A JEEP” out of sheer desperation, should have continued “AND IT’S THE SHITTEST CAR EVER!”
Credit to Cummins, they are the masters of winning accounts, but they never seem to deliver work of any real significance. I’d love to see their pitch decks, because I don’t think they’re winning based on their creative idea. It’s probably a sign of the current advertising landscape in Australia – a highly targeted data driven / media approach winning the pitch, but unable to deliver any brand sentiment.
Everytime I see it my eyes shrink. But they don’t shrink as much as the female talents left eye. Was there anyone overseeing the production, anyone at all?
FCA’s very expensive production team have been pushed aside for Finch. Good decision FCA.
Sean can say ‘we know what we’re doing ‘ but the great unwashed don’t care about what must have been excruciating meetings between agency and client.
Anything can be post-rationalised.
I just find these spots, especially the first two, cringingly self-conscious.
I actually think this is quite a smart solution. I think people do remember those ads, and while it may not bring those who were burned back into the fold, it’ll help alleviate some of that bad word of mouth that spread owning a Jeep. Still, I’d never buy one. I like my family too much.
It’s a proven strategy – confront the barrier (misperception). Skoda, via Fallon, did it best with their “It’s a Skoda. Honest.” campaign in the UK about 20 years ago. People think your car is a poor quality brand from Eastern Europe – fairly or unfairly – so prove them wrong with great quality cars. Which they did. And sales boomed. The question being raised here is whether there is general consensus amongst prospective Jeep buyers (including lapsed; but excluding rejectors). I guess only the client and Cummins know what the data says. But the strategy is proven if the numbers stack up.
I had no idea Jeep were having issues like this with their customer base….so thanks for bringing it to my awareness and advertising it to the gen pub.
I bought a ‘bleeep’
Lets wait what the numbers say.