Jeep Is Almost Fun

Update: This post came out before the Jeep Heritage spot was released, which we really did enjoy.

We recently poo-poo’d all over the Jeep: “Have Fun Out There” supporting concept by small agency Cutwater. Here’s the followup: Jeep has launched a companion website, which offers essential links to Jeep Myspace (they have 28,000 friends), Jeep Facebook, Jeep Flickr and Jeep YouTube. The site also pulls from across these social websites to create a mosaic of jeep owners and their info. We like this bit, because it carries on the old tagline of – “Jeep. There’s Only One,” which makes those who buy a Jeep feel as if they are part of a special club. That tagline must of been working for them considering that Jeep sales were up 15% last year. This new pitch might be a way for Jeep to expand their market to a more youthful, mobile audience. Great!

But, but, but… if you’re going to push this “youthful” angle of Facebook and Myspace, then your ads (print or broadcast) need to reflect that fun, free feel. However, the ad above is burdened with copy, so very WSJ and super daunting. The ad below is so grandpa aka not youthful and fun only if you fish or are on acid. It reminds us of one of those decal shirts you’d buy at the Jersey Shore. Plus, the site loads slow enough that anyone under 30 is gonna be out in five seconds flat. It’s like Cutwater came so close to nailing this and then shirked away from going the whole hog by creating a message consistent across all media. Check out their website here, which is just a loading page. Here’s a question – if you knew that your agency was launching a major campaign in July, wouldn’t you have your website fully functioning?

READ MORE: The Most Touching Ad You’ll Ever See
Or, McDonald’s Goes Green. No… Really.