Lucas Bell 
The Super Bowl has been waning in popularity over the past few years, but despite this it is still the biggest one-night event that hits the tube annually. Almost as synonymous as cheating and the New England Patriots, the Super Bowl and its ad-packed commercial breaks are a mainstay in American culture. Brands spend millions of dollars to craft the perfect ad for the Big Game, but few have ever done it as well as the Jeep Groundhog Day ad did last weekend.
Capitalizing on the wave of 1990’s nostalgia that has flourished recently, Jeep teamed up with the legendary Bill Murray to recreate the 1993 film Groundhog Day in commercial form. The 60 second ad-spot starts with the same scene as the film: An alarm clock clicks over to 6:00 a.m. and the song “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher starts to roll as Phil Connors sits up. From there, viewers are treated to a number of references to Murray’s classic Punxsutawney-based comedy, including cameos from Brian Doyle Murray (Buster Green) and Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned Ryerson).
The real star of the commercial however is the Jeep Gladiator pickup, which acts as the getaway vehicle for our favorite pair of Phils. A montage of different outdoorsy activities that Jeep would like associated with their products ensues, showing off the Gladiator’s various removable body panels in the process. One of these activities involves our dynamic duo riding on Jeep’s all new e-Bike powered by QuietKat. Available in June of 2020, the e-Bike is capable of achieving 40 miles on a single charge thanks to the efficiency of the 750 Watt electric motor.
The ad is a fun watch, especially when you consider that last Sunday was only the second time that the Super Bowl and Groundhog Day have ever shared a calendar date. How the ad will affect the sales of the Jeep Gladiator is yet to be seen, but considering each second of airtime during the Super Bowl cost advertisers $186,666, they’ll need to sell a lot to recoup the ad expenses.
