Jeep Wrangler Targets Sports Fans with ‘Original Freedom’Campaign

Jeep Wrangler, the 4x4 off-road vehicle marque, is launching ‘Original Freedom’, an integrated content campaign fronted by world class athletes in the fields of snowboarding, surfing and mountain biking, to target extreme sports fans looking for an equally high-performance vehicle.

The campaign was created, planned and negotiated by Maxus Partnerships, with creative agency Prime & Fire.

The ‘Original Freedom’ content campaign kicks off on March 28th and will run until the end of the year. It launches with a three minute road trip and mountain bike edit, hosted on the specially created Jeep Wrangler brand page on MPORA, the action sports digital network from Factory Media. The campaign will focus on two more sports – snowboarding and surfing; utilising major sporting athletes from these fields, including seasoned mountain bikers James Hughes and James McKnight.

The ‘Original Freedom’ road trip shorts, shot around the UK and Europe, allow viewers to accompany the cultural icons on expeditions where they pit themselves against the elements in ‘out of the way’ locations. The Jeep Wrangler is instrumental in getting the athletes across challenging terrains to the various riding spots, resulting in a series of high action edits.

Two further video edits will be released over the course of 2014.

The Jeep Wrangler brand page will host a number of videos, photo galleries, information about the vehicle and articles written by the athletes themselves. In addition, site takeovers, video and mobile billboards, and standard traffic drivers will direct target audiences from Factory Media specialist brand sites, DIRT, Surf Europe and Whitelines, on the MPORA network to the Jeep Wrangler brand page.

The ‘Original Freedom’ campaign also includes three competitions which will be hosted on the Jeep Wrangler website, giving the target audience the opportunity to win boot-fulls of top of the range snowboarding, surfing or mountain-biking equipment.

In order to reach key audiences within the snowboarding, surfing and mountain-biking communities, the video edits will be pushed out via MPORA’s specialist sports brands social platforms, alongside the social sites of the extreme sports professionals.

Damien Dally, head of brand at Jeep Wrangler, Fiat Group, said “Our target audience is made up of young adventure-seekers who are looking for a vehicle that can tackle tough terrain. Maxus Partnerships offered a different, integrated solution for communicating the freedom of adventure message of the Wrangler. The agency has also added value by helping the brand move into territories which create great content that communicates to a younger audience and which can be pulled through-the-line.”

Laura Wade, head of Maxus Partnerships, said: “Jeep Wrangler is the original 4x4, embodying the spirit of adventure. This partnership positions the marque as the ideal 4x4 in which to fulfil your off-road adventure whilst reaching out to an audience of extreme sports fans. This campaign required a publisher that commands a credible voice in the arena where our target audience is. We chose a new partner – Factory Media – to house the ‘Original Freedom’ campaign – as it provides a trusted space for people to engage with the content, as well as introducing a new audience to the brand.”

James Carter, director of bikes at Factory Media, commented, “Factory Media and our creative agency Prime&Fire, are delighted to be working with Jeep to push the boundaries across our sports. There is nothing like a fully capable off-road 4x4 to help reveal the freedom to explore our sports to the full. Whether dealing with unexpected weather or the most rugged outdoor terrain to reach the best spots, the right vehicle makes a massive difference to the fun we have riding.”