Ok.

 

It is very difficult in the car advertising business to make your advertising stand out.

 

Car manufacturers spend zillions of dollars (ok … only billions of dollars) and it is difficult to find something truly new and relevant and interesting to say.

 

 

So sometimes you just have to find a different way of saying the same thing and hopefully it stands out.

 

Jeep Wrangler Arctic just did it (for me at least).

 

 

In the television ad I saw I heard a poem I sort of recognized … and I couldn’t figure out who the voice was who was saying it (but it sounded dated).

The poem (and words used in the ad)?

 

“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”

 

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

 

The author? Robert Frost.

 

Holy cow.

 

Some copywriter dug around in his/her literary mental archive and saw these words and said “shit … I bet if we put some amazing footage of a Jeep Wrangler (Arctic to be specific) driving through some impossible snow underneath these words … well … it would be the fashizzle.”

 

Then he/she thought some more and said …

 

“Oh. No. Let’s do better. Let’s use Robert himself.”

 

(thought bubble attached: hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … I wonder if there is a recording of Robert Frost reading it?)

 

 

Holy shit (instead of ‘cow’ this time). Yes.  There is. Robert Frost reading Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.

 

 

And then they edited it to make this Jeep ad.

 

 

 

(by the way … if you stay on the link and let the next Jeep Compass ad run it is a great border collie ad)

 

Ok.

 

Is it brilliant advertising? Maybe not.

 

It is a brilliant creative way to say what you want to say? You bet.

 

It is an incredibly creative way of saying something that almost every ‘rough ‘n tumble’ car manufacturer has said.

 

Will most people know it is Robert Frost? Hell no.

 

But it sounds cool and tough and timeless and the words are relevant and if you do know it is Robert Frost … well … it makes you feel like you are a smart Jeep owner.

 

Anyway.

 

Here is the entire Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening poem:

 

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

 

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

 

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

 

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

 

 

Good stuff Jeep.

 

 

Oh.

intelligence beautiful

I have read a couple of commentaries on this advertising where some people were getting in a tizzy (a technical term) on using Robert Frost to sell Jeep Wranglers.

 

Geez people … get over it.

Get a life.

It is a smart idea.

And it’s not like they are using his poem (and voice) to sell feminine wipes or erectile dysfunction drugs (not that there is anything wrong with either of those).

 

This was artfully and thoughtfully done.

 

Once again. Well done Jeep.

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Written by Bruce