Take a short dose of the massive hit “Born to be Wild” add to it some spirit of the 1969 movie “Easy Rider” load it up with Baby Boomer aches, niggles and suggestive puns and then position a perfectly ageing well-groomed 60+ year old Mr Fonda and a hot Mercedes, among a room of ageing bikies. What do you get… Baby Boomer satire heaven. This freshly released Superbowl ad from Mercedes has been directed by the enormously renowned Coen Brothers best known for their films, “No Country for Old Men,” “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski”. The entertaining 1 minute clip sets the scene perfectly, opening with a mature bikie putting on his glasses so he can read the jukebox making everyone hold on for the rest!
The ad is called “Easy Driver” places a group of ageing bikers at a traditional American bar. A rather entertaining and yet clumsy fight ensues playing on the age of he patrons, and from it the bikers emerge to the call of “blocked in” to find that Mr Fonda (the star of Easy Rider) has parked in all their motorcycles with his stunning Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster.
The advertising is part of Mercedes new strategy to give AMG, their sports car sub-brand, greater brand positioning.
“Real car aficionados know what an AMG is. What we are now doing is beginning a process of making AMG a brand in its own right and broadening that audience,” said Drew Slaven, VP-marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA in B&T.
Mr Slaven says the AMG brand grew from the same founding decade as the Easy Rider, giving the creative team inspiration. “Easy Rider” was all about open air, the love of the drive and “freedom as a the result of the machine you are on,” he said. “And that to us set up a really nice parallel.”
The brand released an extended cut of the ad today (above). In the game it will run as a 30-second spot in the fourth quarter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7fR43emn5s