Yes, another Super Bowl ad, and you better be ready for more of them in the lead up to the big game on February 6 (AEST). But for now, we’ve got the Coen Brothers’ first ever directed spot for the Super Bowl, and it’s a cracker.
Joel and Ethan Coen have directed their first Super Bowl ad, and it comes in the form of a 30-second spot for the Mercedes-AMG brand, leading them in a different direction from their usual luxury-filled marketing.
Featuring a bunch of bikers and one suave Mercedes-Benz, the ad is a tribute to the 1969 film Easy Rider, the film’s star, Peter Fonda, and its infamous soundtrack, “Born to be Wild”, by Steppenwolf.
It will debut in the fourth quarter of the game.
Check out this 60-second extended version:
https://youtu.be/BvHFM8c7cPM
Per AdWeek, Drew Slaven, vice president of marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA, said, “”We are now switching from AMG as a proof point for Mercedes-Benz performance to AMG as its own brand.
“It’s still part of the Mercedes-Benz family—it’s called Mercedes-AMG—what we’re really beginning to do is put the AMG piece of it front and centre.
“[The AMG brand] is known by performance drivers but not as much by a broader community, and that’s why we went to the single best way to [introduce it to a broader audience], which is a television commercial in the Super Bowl.
“Peter Fonda plays a critical piece of the storyline, and he’s known as someone who still epitomizes what it is to love driving performance and the open road. … The film [Easy Rider] component goes back 48 years.
“We thought there was a nice parallel that was set up between the era of that and what was, in 1967, the beginnings of AMG.”
CREDITS
Agencies:
Antoni – Germany
André Kemper, Chief Creative Officer / Founder
Dr. Tonio Kröger, Managing Partner / Founder
Marcell Francke, Creative Director
Stephan Schaefer, Creative Director
Mark Róta, Executive Producer
Guelcan Demir, Account Director
Moritz Pfingsten, Account Director
Merkley + Partners – USA
Andy Hirsch, Chief Creative Officer / Chairman
Alex Gellert, CEO
Gary Grossman, Director of Broadcast Production
Alex Kobak, Senior Producer
Diane delisa, Director of Business Affairs
Cynthia Davis, Chief Client Officer
Lisa Mannarelli-Puleo, EVP / Group Account Director
Beth Liss, Group Account Director
Production Company:
Company Films
Joel Coen, Director
Ethan Coen, Director
Dan Hainey, DP
Ron Neter, Line Producer
Robin Benson, Executive Producer
Executive Producer, Richard Goldstein
Head of Production, Ari Schneiderman
Editorial Company:
Final Cut NY
Rick Russell, Editor
Jen Sienkwicz, Producer
Sarah Roebuck, Executive Producer
UK Loading Assistant, Mike Radforth
NY Cutting Assistant, Geoff Hastings
Visual Effects:
Blacksmith
Tom Bussell, VFX Lead
Iwan Zwarts, Lead Compositor
Daniel Morris, Compositor
Liz Lyons, Compositor
Michael Dunkey, CG FX Artist
Rotoscoping, Trace VFX
Tracking, Bogdan Mihajlovic
Megan Sweet, Producer
Charlotte Arnold, Executive Producer
Color Grading:
Company 3
Tom Poole, Colorist
Music:
“Born To Be Wild” – Steppenwolf
Audio Post:
Heard City
Phil Loeb, Sound Mixer
Trinitite Studios:
Brian Emrich, Sound Designer