Fiat Chrysler Launches Major, Music-Filled Summer Campaign Across 5 Brands With 10 Artists

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is ready to cruise into the summer months with a major new marketing campaign that’s all about music. Today, the company dropped new creative across five brands (including Jeep, Fiat, Dodge, Ram and Chrysler), highlighting how Apple CarPlay fits into the FCA driving experience.

Just last month, FCA started to offer customers free Apple Music services (six months free for new Apple Music users and three months free for existing customers) with the purchase of a new Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep or Ram car. FCA continues to push that message in each of the 11 new ads.

“FCA offers an incredible Apple experience, giving consumers the ability to enjoy Apple Music’s catalog of 45 million songs and to listen with premium BeatsAudio sound, in addition to all the features that come with CarPlay,” Olivier Francois, CMO, FCA, said in a statement. In each of the new spots—there are 11 in total—viewers get a taste of how CarPlay works in each of the different vehicles.

Since music plays such a big part in the new work, FCA tapped 10 artists to feature in the ads. The brand worked with Interscope Records to find the perfect artists for the campaign.

One of the biggest musical collaborations for the campaign was between Jeep and OneRepublic.

In three of the five new Jeep ads, OneRepublic’s new song, “Connection,” plays. Those three ads all take a similar approach—a group of people make their way to a OneRepublic concert but get lost along the way, don’t snag a ticket before the concert sells out or have a VIP experience.

Those spots are part of Jeep’s sixth Summer of Jeep campaign. Jeep also has two additional spots rolling out as part of the 360-degree campaign. Those include “Always on Beat,” featuring Will.i.am’s “Boys and Girls,” and “Perfect Sync,” featuring Sofia Reyes’ “1, 2, 3.”

With the Dodge brand, FCA worked with Alice Cooper on two sillier ads, “Black” and “Snake.” For both ads, viewers see a frantic driver hopping into his Dodge and cranking “Under My Wheels,” using CarPlay. The driver also uses his Dodge to ask Siri for directions to a local beauty supply store (in order to buy enough black nail polish for a small army) and a grocery store (for some black licorice).

For Ram’s ad, “Support the Port,” FCA worked with Brothers Osborne using the track “While You Still Can.” The ad is all about giving back to a Florida community and ties nicely with Ram Truck’s “Built To Serve” mission.

Chrysler also uses music in its spot (of course) but also brings in a famous face to the mix: Kathryn Hahn returns for the brand in the 60-second “Girls’ Night Out” ad. Rather than flailing her body across the hood of a Chrysler, Hahn is  instead getting ready for a night on the town with some friends as Nicky Blitz’s “Good Time” plays in the background.

Finally, Fiat is rolling out two spots with the new music-driven initiative. Both feature the track “Liberated” by DeJ Loaf and Leon Bridges, but while one features some epic finger dancing, the other features a severely annoyed girlfriend and a drum set.

The campaign also includes curated playlists from some of the different artists including Alice Cooper, OneRepublic, Dave Cobb and more. Those playlists are available exclusively on Apple Music, making FCA the only automaker to provide branded playlists for Apple Music listeners. “This allows us to provide increased relevance to targeted audiences,” Francois added.

The entire campaign begins rolling out today on social and digital, with TV spots hitting the air on Monday, July 2.

Katie Richards

@ktjrichards

Katie Richards is a staff writer for Adweek.