An early look at Jeep’s Super Bowl commercial shows one of the neatest crossover ideas of the season. With Super Bowl LIV falling on Groundhog Day, the car company joined forces with Bill Murray to recreate his iconic movie. If the little groundhog in the ad is anything to go by, there are definitely six more weeks of winter coming.
Murray appears in one of this year’s Super Bowl commercials, and at first it might look a little familiar. The ad recreates the cyclical shot from Murray’s hit 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, where he re-lives the same day over and over again. The big difference here is that Murray sees a new distraction: a brand new Jeep Gladiator.
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Murray — or perhaps his character, weatherman Phil Connors — grabs the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, and hops into the vehicle, taking it for a spin. Even for someone trapped in a time loop, the ad makes a strong case for the car, saying that “no day is the same in a Jeep Gladiator.”
“Its Groundhog Day all over again as Jeep brand debuts a Big Game spot starring Bill Murray (in his first-ever national television commercial),” read Jeep’s description of the ad. “But this time reliving the same day over and over again is always a new adventure when you’re driving the 2020 Jeep Gladiator. Jeep. There’s only one.”
Super Bowl commercials are some of the most coveted advertising spots of the year, and many big companies are pulling out all the stops on Sunday. Still, this is the only one so far to connect the dots with Groundhog Day, which happens to fall on Super Bowl Sunday this year.
In real life, Groundhog Day 2020 seems to be a big success. According to a report by The Associated Press, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil declared that early spring was “a certainty” this year.
IT’S GROUNDHOG DAY: Here’s what the different rodents across North America have predicted:
Punxsatawney Phil: Early Spring
— Domenic Fazioli (@DomenicFazioli) February 2, 2020
Staten Island Chuck: Early Spring
Shubenacadie Sam: 6 more weeks of winter
Wiarton Willie: Early Spring
Fred la Marmotte: Early Spring pic.twitter.com/16v1CGbPMt
Several other groundhogs around the country predicted the same, while a few predicted more winter. For what it’s worth, this week’s forecast is relatively warm in the northeast where Phil resides.
As for the fictional groundhog in Murray’s Jeep, we will have to wait until tonight when the full commercial airs. Super Bowl LIV kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Fox. Depending on how the game goes, the halftime show and the commercial block should fall somewhere around 8 p.m. ET.
