To the strains of George Thorogood and the Destroyers' "Bad to the Bone," a Cadillac Escalade is assembled before our eyes in a state-of-the art factory that's moodily lit by little more than welding sparks. Shots of the vehicle's womb-like interior and its headlights flickering on set up an announcer's declaration that "The Cadillac Escalade is born" along with the spot's tagline: "It's good to be the Cadillac." (Acura's "What He Said" in 2016 used a similar theme to promote its long-awaited NSX supercar.)

Berlin Cameron & Partners in New York, an independent that would be acquired by WPP Group in December 2001, handled the Super Bowl XXXIII launch spot. But by the spring of 1999, Cadillac handed oversight of the Escalade account to D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, which was already AOR for the overall Cadillac brand.

General Motors' other ad in the 1999 game promoted Oldsmobile's new Alero ("Start Something").

Copyright 2015 General Motors LLC. Used with permission, GM Media Archive.

BRAND: Cadillac

YEAR: 1999

AGENCY: Berlin Cameron & Partners

SUPERBOWL: XXXIII