Weiden+Kennedy is one of our favorite big shops.  Their creativity is on par with CP+B, and they have the lions to prove it.  But everyone keeps talking bout the Old Spice spot.  Don't get us wrong, it was one of the best tv spots we've seen in very long time.  But their work on Jeep has been in the shadows of Old Spice for long enough.  Have you seen their tv spots yet?  We are totally smitten with them.  We've been talking a lot about the somewhat underground movement of Americana.  It's popping up everywhere, TV, print and the blogosphere. Don't believe us?  Turn on the History Channel or Discovery Channel.  There's a WHOLE lot of history out there, yet it's always about the US and it's "never give up" attitude.  There was a series called "America The Story of US" that had us captivated for weeks.  The point we're trying to make is, America is in love with its own past.  It's almost as if we're addicted to looking backwards at more "simpler" or "wholesome" eras.  It was only a matter of time that a brand noticed the trend, and adapted accordingly. And it totally works for Jeep  Let's start by peeping their recent tv commercial:

 

Tying Jeep to America and the Industrial Revolution is fantastic brand messaging.  Mostly because Jeep can trace its roots back the fertile grounds of that time period.  WWII gave us the Jeep Willy's and to most, the rough, no-frills facade of the Jeep personified the American Spirit and captured an entire generation.  A fever that Jeep owners still enjoy today.  But Chrysler has been plagued with low customer perception, as have most US car manufacturers.  So it is unknown if taking the scenic route of yesteryear will boost sales or not.  Nostalgia is a powerful emotion when coupled with the love affair American's have with "the car".  Powerful enough to suck us in! But you have to admit that the tv spot and website do have a lot of style.  We took a couple screen grabs below.  Assuming their print will be similar in typography and content:




Take a moment and hit their website.  While we wish they had done the site in HTML 5, the flash version is still pretty swank.  We dig the minimalism to the site.  It's svelte yet bold.  Big pictures, giant font, strong message.  A tip of the hat to W+K.  But will this trend spill over into other brands?  Perhaps.  We're not sure how much it will catch on, but we really hope it replaces the "CEO/President Chat" that automobile and mobile carrier companies seem to have adopted.  It will probably never replace the formula of "Dancing/Talking Baby + Pop Culture Reference" that seems to never die.