USA TODAY International Edition
Murray reprises ‘ Groundhog Day’ role in winning Jeep ad
‘ Groundhog Day’ redo had familiar, timely feel
Commercial had familiar but timely feel in topping USA TODAY’s Ad Meter rankings.
Part of the mystique of Bill Murray is the fact that he is nearly impossible to contact.
In Hollywood circles where everyone has a publicist, an agent, a business manager or some other kind of representative or assistant, Murray flies solo.
“He doesn’t have a phone, doesn’t have an agent, doesn’t have an email,” Fiat Chrysler Automobiles chief marketing officer Olivier Francois told USA TODAY on Friday. “He allegedly has an 800 number. You leave a message and maybe he’ll call you back.”
This was the challenge that Francois faced when his team first came up with the idea for its 60- second Super Bowl commercial, a brilliant reprise of “Groundhog Day” that finished first in USA TODAY’s Ad Meter, which ranks Super Bowl ads by consumer rating.
It’s the first Ad Meter title for the Jeep brand, which had finished inside the top five only once before, in 2013. It
also marks the fifth consecutive year in which a first- time winner has finished atop the Ad Meter rankings, which first started in 1989.
Hyundai finished in a close second with its Boston- themed ad “Smaht Pahk,” which featured Rachel Dratch, Chris Evans, John Krasinski and former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz.
The two political ads that aired during the broadcast, from the campaigns of Michael Bloomberg and Donald Trump, finished 60th and 62nd out of 62 commercials, respectively.
None of the ads impressed panelists like Jeep’s, which revisited the 1993 film “Groundhog Day” in a commercial for Jeep Gladiator, a type of pickup truck. Murray said in a news release that it was his first national television commercial — “and I’m glad that this is my last commercial, as well.”
Francois said he realized “a few months ago” that Super Bowl Sunday would fall on Groundhog Day, something the company said has happened only twice in 54 years.
Soon, the idea for the spot had crystalized. So Francois reached out to Murray. And then ... nothing.
Francois said he had watched interviews with director Sofia Coppola in which she said it took her a year to secure Murray’s participation in “Lost In Translation.” But Francois didn’t have a year. He had weeks.
Fortunately, Francois said, he and Murray went to the same dinner party once upon a time. They have mutual friends, he added. “The guy has no manager. But he has friends,” Francois said.
Murray eventually got back to him and — more importantly — agreed to reprise his iconic role of Phil Connors from the 1993 film “Groundhog Day.” So Jeep, in consultation with its ad agency Highdive, got to work.
They recruited other members of the original cast, including Murray’s brother Brian Doyle Murray, and returned to the original location: Woodstock, Illinois. They licensed a Sonny & Cher song that plays a prominent role in the movie from
Warner Music. And they got the blessing of Sony Pictures, which produced the film, to mirror its themes and characters.
“Everything had to be absolutely authentic to the original,” Francois said.
In the spot, which aired late in the fourth quarter, Murray again finds himself living the same day over and over again.
The notable difference, from the movie to the commercial, is the presence of the Jeep Gladiator, which transforms Murray from loathing his return to “Groundhog Day” to loving it. He goes on a series of adventures with the groundhog, from riding bikes to a comical scene in which Murray plays a game of whack- a- mole while the groundhog watches.
“It’s not personal,” Murray says in the ad. “It’s just a game.”
Francois said Murray came up with many of the lines in the commercial off- script.
“He never did a commercial, never intended to do one,” Francois said. “But he did this one, which is a miracle.”