Chrysler may have hit the target audience more squarely on Super Bowl Sunday in 2003 with this ad for its Ram truck than the anthem starring Celine Dion. The spot via BBDO Detroit uses humor to convey a straightforward product attribute -- often a recipe for success in the big game.
Dodge afterward took a long hiatus from Super Bowl spending -- ABC charged an average of $2 million to $2.2 million for 30 seconds of ad time during Super Bowl XXXVII -- but came back in 2010 to promote the Charger ("Man's Last Stand"). As far as truck ads went, Toyota took over the manly Super Bowl advertising in subsequent years, leaving its Tacoma on a beach to be pounded by surf ("Tide") in 2006 and touting the Tundra's brakes in extreme demonstrations in 2007 ("Ramp," "See-Saw").
Director: David Kellogg. Production company: Anonymous Content.
Agency producers: Tom Hillebrand, Hugh Broder. Creative directors: Sam Sefton, Rick Dennis. Copywriter: Rick Dennis. Art director: Sam Sefton. Editorial: Inside Out. Editor: Igor Kovalik.
BRAND: Dodge Ram
YEAR: 2003
AGENCY: BBDO
SUPERBOWL: XXXVII
QUARTER AIRED: Q1