City Man Replaces Jeep Bobblehead Ads; Still Not Interesting

When Jeep introduced the new Compass small SUV, it used a series of ads with bobbleheads driving the car around, listening to music and bobbing their heads. That was it. To say it was lackluster is an understatement. Now Jeep is following the bobbleheads with City Man, a giant made up of urban things like road signs and newspaper stands. City Man surfs the Compass around streets, supposedly showing it off.

Advertising pundits aren’t impressed with City Man, and I admit I didn’t get it at all when I first saw it last week. I never got the bobbleheads, either.

What would be a better commercial?

I vaguely recall a Dodge Caliber commercial with a bunch of young, hip guys on a road trip, drinking from the refrigerated glove box, then pulling over to the side of the road for an impromptu bathroom break. Maybe they could have a bunch of young, hip women drive the Compass on a road trip and show off its features.

What do you think? What’s the best car commercial on TV right now?

[Message Lost For Some in Jeep Ads, The Detroit News]

Comments

None that I can remember.
One of the best I think was the 1987 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z...
it started off with a red Daytona speeding along a dirt road (desert?) kicking up dust,then it changes to a Daytona spinning on a pedestal with TV screens in behind with various scenes of the Daytona.The TV would then shift to one of the scenes (the car sliding in a corner)with a voiceover about the only sports car in the world with front wheel drive...competition suspension....5 year/50,000 mile warranty,then the car pulls in front of a house,a female gets out and gets in the Daytona,and it speeds off with wheels (front) spinning.And the tagline "Its gotta be a Dodge"!
The background music was very catchy as well.
A very energetic commercial that stuck in a lot in a few seconds worth of time...and also sorta implied that if you owned a red turbo Daytona,you would be calling on females daily....

I did see a better commercial this weekend for the first time. It was for the Subaru Legacy GT with a husband and wife checking it out in the showroom. The wife is looking inside the car and the salesman explains it has five-star safety ratings while he pens this message on his clipboard to show the husband who is standing outside the car: “Faster than a Porsche Boxster 0-60”

The husband then says, “Let’s take it for a drive.”

Simple, but it made me laugh.

I'd say the Jetta commercials are pretty good; the ones that simulate car wrecks. They seem very real and the actors do a fine job.

Well City Man may be stupid [Do they really call him City Man?] but at least it doesn't come with an annoying KRS-One song.

I'd say the best car commercial out there is the one for Marvin Windows with a BMW 3-series chasing a Chrysler 300.

the Volkswagen "Unpimp your auto" commercials for the GTI. That german guy acted in Armageddon i think, could be wrong.

My favorite right now would be the BMW driving around the Nurburgring. Love it...until you see its an X5. I'm sorry, but getting exciting about an SUV, I just can not.

Adrock,
I like that commercial because it does turn out to be an X5. Otherwise it's one of the best racing shots I've seen in HD. Blew me away the first time.

I know you said "on TV right now", but I loved the old Joe Isuzu commercials, where he told such wild lies about their cars.

And now Joe Isuzu is long gone,and so is Isuzu.Just goes to show,some catchy ads can keep an otherwise marginal operation going.