‘I bought a Jeep’ returns

Jeep has boldly acknowledged its recent difficulties in Australia in a new generation of ‘I bought a Jeep’ television advertisements.

The new TVCs even use the same actors in the same scenarios as the originals that first started appearing in 2011.

But instead of just buying a Jeep the characters go on to explain the ownership experience wasn’t what they hoped for.

The campaign launches with three TVCs created by ad agency Cummins & Partners and will then appear across press, digital and social media.

It also debuts a new Jeep tagline – or brand platform, as they call it in the ad industry – ‘I’m in’.

Jeep was the sales success of the Australian new vehicle industry in the early 2010s, rocketing from 8648 in 2011 to 30,408 sales in 2014.

It plummeted equally quickly because of a combination of factors including price rises, reliability issues and poor customer care.

New FCA Australia managing director Kevin Flynn publicly detailed a re-boot for the brand in March, just months after Jeep global boss Christian Meunier told Australian journalists the aim was to eventually hit 50,000 sales here.

Jeep has recently introduced a number of business improvements aimed at enhancing customer care, revamped the aftersales programs including more competitive capped price servicing and repricing over 17,000 parts, and increased technical expertise across Australia.

“We’re the first to admit we grew too big, too fast,” Flynn said in a press statement announcing the new campaign.

“Unfortunately, in the process we left some drivers behind. That’s why we’ve made big changes to Jeep in Australia with reduced running costs, improved technical support and dedicated customer care. We’ve listened, we’ve changed, and there’s no turning back.”

The TVCs were described as “a reset moment” by Cummins&Partners creative director Chris Ellis. He said they both “acknowledge the past and let Australia know Jeep is changing for the better.”

“It’s an arresting and novel way to communicate this transformation, and transition to the wider campaign. It wasn’t without challenges, like locating the original talent. Thankfully, they’d held up pretty well. Special effects took care of the rest.”