Within 24 hours of posting its “Wisdom” commercial on YouTube on April 17, 2014 Dodge had 5.7 million views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKKlqMs19tU
It isn’t hard to see why. We think it’s a heartfelt and compelling celebration of Dodge’s 100th birthday. One of the reasons it’s so effective is because it isn’t just about a longstanding brand. It is about the people who shared the same century and how they have just as much horsepower, moxy, and well, wisdom as the American car manufacture with which they grew up and grew silver.
Wisdom goes viral
However, this wasn’t initially a commercial produced for the Superbowl. It was actually created for a much smaller audience. Dodge presented this now classic commercial during a 2014 New York International Auto Show press conference to celebrate their 100th anniversary. Then Dodge shared it on YouTube and broke the Internet. In less than one week after its April 17 posting, “Wisdom” cracked the top 10 most-viewed online videos of all time from Chrysler Group and Fiat.
Room to be creative
Olivier Francois, Chief Marketing Officer for Chrysler Group and Fiat stated the idea of Dodge spotlighting elderly people rose partially from a desire to defy the model of typical corporate anniversaries. Additionally, he wanted it to “thumb its nose” at our current fixation on marketing to youth.
Figuring that the commercial’s ultimate home was going to be on the Internet and not television, Francois was able to experiment and do something different. Still, great content has a way of finding its own audience and building a fanbase. It’s a great story about how approaching a brand story from an entirely different angle can sometimes break barriers and win the attention of a larger audience.
In the end, how could Dodge not repurpose the commercial for the 2015 Super Bowl? We were already in love with the sassy centenarians who showed us that even at 100 you can still burn rubber and steal the spotlight.