The Coen Brothers Return to the Super Bowl After 15 Years With This Mercedes Ad

Fans of the Coen Brothers can look for their work during the Super Bowl on Feb. 5. Joel and Ethan Coen have directed a new Super Bowl ad, their first in 15 years—a 30-second spot for the Mercedes-AMG brand, a new point of differentiation from the luxury automaker. "We are now switching from AMG as a proof point for Mercedes-Benz performance to AMG as its own brand," explained Drew Slaven, vice president of marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA. "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 center." The high-energy ad is a tribute to the 1969 film Easy Rider; the film's star, Peter Fonda; and its famed soundtrack, Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild." It will debut during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI. A 60-second extended version is below: "[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," Slaven said. He added: "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." The Coens directed a spot for H&R Block in the Super Bowl 15 years ago, and one for Honda 18 years ago, according to agency Merkley + Partners, which worked on the spot with Germany agency Antoni. For more Super Bowl LI news, check out Adweek's Super Bowl Ad Tracker, an up-to-date list of the brands running Super Bowl spots and the agencies involved in creating them. 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

Super Bowl Commercials

The Coen Brothers Return to the Super Bowl After 15 Years With This Mercedes Ad

A tribute to Easy Rider

Kristina Monllos

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Kristina Monllos