The Jeep® brand will air its record-breaking video, “More Than Just Words,” for the first time ever on television during the premiere of NBC’s new series, “Songland.” The two-minute “More Than Just Words,” a visual narration of the “The Star Spangled Banner,” features music performed by OneRepublic. The song serves as a catalyst that takes viewers on an unexpected musical and visual odyssey, with images splashing across the screen representing the song’s lyrics. The video launched online as part of FCA’s “Big Game Blitz” campaign leading up to this year’s Super Bowl telecast.
The 11-episode “Songland,” premiering on Tuesday (5/28) at 10 p.m. Eastern/Pacific, gives an authentic peek into the creative process of song writing and provides one talented winner per episode with the opportunity to have their song recorded and released worldwide by chart-topping artists. The program features Ryan Tedder, the lead singer of OneRepublic and a four-time Grammy® Award-winning songwriter and producer, as one of show’s producer-mentors.
“Music allows us to build upon the strength and identity of each of our brands by giving each a voice, and OneRepublic has long played a huge role in the success of Jeep brand’s advertising campaigns,” said Olivier Francois, Chief Marketing Officer, FCA. “Last summer’s partnership with the band gave us the opportunity to launch their hit song ‘Connection’ as part of our successful Apple Music initiative, and our ‘More Than Just Words’ spot leading up to the Super Bowl featuring OneRepublic smashed records for the Company. In advance of NBC’s highly anticipated new series ‘Songland,’ we wanted to support both the series and Ryan in his new endeavors by presenting a first-ever television airing of ‘More Than Just Words’ to run during the show’s premiere this Tuesday night.”
As part of its advertising efforts in the lead-up to Super Bowl 2019, FCA US debuted eight commercials online as part of its “Big Game Blitz” digital and social strategy. The Jeep® brand’s “More Than Just Words” smashed the Company’s record for most online views, with over 106 million, more than the audience size for the Super Bowl broadcast. (The eight videos released as part of FCA’s “Big Game Blitz” have aggregated more than 169 million views – well beyond the estimated viewership for the game broadcast.)
In addition to breaking Company records for most views, “More Than Just Words” has been shared across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube over 200,000 times cumulatively with over 50,000 comments combined, reflecting overwhelmingly positive sentiment from fans across social media. Social sentiment for the video is overwhelmingly positive, with all comments 99 percent positive or neutral. Comments from fans across Jeep’s Facebook and Twitter channels include the following:
– “Probably one of the loveliest renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner I’ve ever seen. And you’ll note I said ‘seen’ because there’s very few words. …Thank you Jeep and one republic … ya did good.”
– “Thank you Jeep! This was a very deep message and it brought tears to my eyes. One of the best commercials I have seen….should be on super bowl.”
– “Every year, I wait for the best of the Super Bowl ads. This it it. Good ad, great message. Well done.”
– “Gave me goosebumps. This was absolutely epic! And the fact that there’s no words in the anthem (except at the beginning and end) makes it 10X better. Well done jeep!”
– “One of the best commercials I’ve seen in ages. This is a home run. No, not just a home run…It’s a GRAND SLAM! I’ve rewatched it a half dozen times and continue to pick more of the symbolism and continue to tear up through parts of it. It pulls at heartstrings.”
The Jeep brand’s “More than Just Words,” directed by Mark Toia with music by OneRepublic, was created in partnership with Dallas-based The Richards Group.
