I was watching our own Doug Russell guest host The Sports 32 Roundtable last week and saw, for the first time, a Milwaukee-based ad for Griffin’s Hub Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge.
It really stood out even making me rewind the DVR.
It begins like this, "Got a question. What does this city know about cars, huh? It’s a beer town, right? Well, if you’ve got over 50 years in the car business you might know a little something about the iron that comes out of Detroit. "
All in all, it’s a great spot with solid dialogue and music. I loved the Milwaukee scenery with landmarks like Gesu, the old Blatz Brewery, the Riverwalk, Miller Park, Germania Building, Milwaukee Public Library and the Hoan Bridge.
Even though I wasn't certain who the narrator/actor was supposed to be (it's Jim Griffin) it’s still a very, very good ad, and a far cry from the old "Is there a Hub tag on your car?" spots. Sure there are similar national spots for Chrysler, but for a local spot it's something to be proud of.
I reached out to Griffin's, haven't heard back but Tony Schueller of Anton Music Productions, who provided the original music for the spot, said Steve Ewing produced the ad.
Ewing runs a small creative services company, and tells me via email that he's worked on many car related projects and even "had the opportunity to tell Mick Jagger to 'Take it up a peg' and lived to tell about it." But, Ewing says "the most fun (in his work) is to have clients that trust you and cut you the kind of slack it takes to break through in a business that demands attention." So true. Ewing continued, "car dealers (hardly) ever run spots longer than 30 seconds and never run ads that don't have a financing offer."
"Yeah it's a great spot, but it's a big tribute to having the ability to trust in a vision. Tony Schueller is a brilliant music guy, all I had to do is explain the vision. He gets it. Tony and I work great together, I'm the old guy, he's the kid and together we're the 'one two punch'," added Ewing.
Anyway, watch the ad here:
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
