Jeep® Creates the New Jeep Trail Rated™ Requirements to Communicate Legendary 4x4 Capability

Auburn Hills, Mich. - The Jeep® brand today announced Jeep Trail Rated™, a new way to communicate to consumers the extensive level of off-road requirements that all Jeep 4x4 vehicles must meet. The new 2004 Jeep 4x4 vehicles - Grand Cherokee, Liberty and Wrangler -- with Trail Rated badges start arriving in dealerships next week.

“Jeep Trail Rated is an industry-leading methodology to objectively measure and predict off-road performance for all Jeep vehicles,” said Jeff Bell, Vice President Jeep, DaimlerChrysler Corporation. “We created Jeep Trail Rated to communicate the legendary Jeep capability that is designed into every Jeep 4x4.”

Jeep Trail Rated is supported by the Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC), which has 45 years of off-road vehicle testing experience, including the creation of standards for the U.S. military.

The new Jeep "Trail Rated" badge indicates that every Jeep 4x4 has been designed to perform in a variety of challenging off-road conditions identified by five key consumer-oriented performance categories, including Traction, Ground Clearance, Maneuverability, Articulation and Water Fording.

“Through a combination of natural and controlled field tests, as well as computer-simulated environments, Jeep Trail Rated provides a repeatable and consistent measurement of off-road performance for all Jeep vehicles,” said Bell. “As the Jeep brand expands, Trail Rated will help us ensure that our legendary 4x4 capability remains a cornerstone of the Jeep brand.”

Six new print ads and four new television spots will communicate the stringent requirements that Jeep vehicles must meet in order to earn the Jeep "Trail Rated" badge. The new spots will highlight one of the five consumer-oriented categories that make up Jeep Trail Rated. Both print and broadcast ads break in mid-October. Consumers can also see details of Jeep Trail Rated on Jeep.com. Additionally, the Jeep brand will debut Jeep Trail Rated creative in The New Yorker magazine’s charter edition of the Tablet PC.

Describing the overall direction of the ads, Bell added, “Each print ad will consistently show the performance standards with a capability graphic that highlights one of the five off-road conditions being demonstrated, along with the Trail Rated 4x4 badge. The television spots will also feature the performance categories and the Trail Rated 4x4 badge.”

“The Jeep brand continues to deliver on the promise to provide rugged, versatile vehicles with authentic 4x4 capability,” said Bell.

• Icons Highlight Jeep Vehicle Capability in Five Key Categories
  
• Advertising Communicates the Industry Leading Jeep Trail Rated Standard
  
• New Jeep Brand Advertising Launches with New Print Ads, Television
  
• Spots and Web-based Initiatives

Auburn Hills, Mich. - The Jeep® brand today unveiled the latest elements of a new advertising campaign showcasing Jeep Trail Rated™, the recently announced new way to communicate to consumers the extensive level of off-road requirements that all Jeep 4x4 vehicles must meet.

The campaign is built around the Trail Rated badge, which is affixed to all 2004 Jeep 4x4 vehicles -- the Grand Cherokee, Liberty and Wrangler. The unique emblem signifies that every Jeep 4x4 has been designed to perform in a variety of the most challenging off-road conditions, and also endured testing endorsed by the Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC).

"Trail Rated further delivers on our promise to provide rugged, versatile vehicles with authentic 4x4 capability and ensures that this legendary capability remains the cornerstone of the Jeep brand," said Jeff Bell, Vice President, Jeep Marketing, DaimlerChrysler.

To earn Jeep Trail Rated certification, Jeep vehicles are required to meet capability standards in traction, ground clearance, maneuverability, articulation and water fording. Icons representative of each standard are used in advertising, on Jeep.com and in other Trail Rated communications.

"This new campaign not only reinforces the fact that Jeep Trail Rated provides a repeatable and consistent measurement of off-road performance for all Jeep four-wheel drive vehicles, it also helps consumers understand just how capable Jeep vehicles are," said Bell.

Trail Rated communications launch in late-October with five print advertisements, two 30-second television spots and a special Trail Rated section on Jeep.com. Trail Rated creative will also be found in the charter edition of The New Yorker magazine's Tablet PC, the digital edition of BusinessWeek, as well as at Jeep branded events throughout the year.

Many of the advertisements feature images captured during actual NATC testing. Additional capability photos and video clips are available on http://www.Jeep.com .

In the TV spot "No Endorsements," a Jeep 4x4 drives effortlessly through deep, Arctic tundra snow, crossing a stream and scaling boulders. All of the tasks are completed in the presence of typical signs of sporting success -- an Olympic-style three-tiered podium, a football-style scoreboard and a finish line, but no people. Throughout the spot, the voice-over states that no gold medals or world championships are given to vehicles that complete these challenges. "So why do we make sure every Jeep 4x4 is Trail Rated to meet such strict standards of capability? Perhaps," says the voice-over, "the better question is, why doesn't everyone else?" The spot closes on the full line of Jeep 4x4 vehicles -- the Grand Cherokee, Liberty and Wrangler -- perched on a majestic mountain peak.

"No Endorsements" is by BBDO Detroit, the Chrysler Group's lead agency. The other TV ad, "Car Shopping," was created by GlobalHue, Chrysler Group's multicultural agency.

"Car Shopping" features a young African-American couple shopping for a new vehicle at a Jeep dealership. The man tells the salesman that he and his wife are looking for something "real." The salesman knows exactly what the couple is searching for and shows them a Jeep Grand Cherokee. As the young man approaches the vehicle, he realizes that noises are emanating from the Trail Rated badge on the vehicle. He bends down to get a better look at the badge and is swept into scene after scene of the rigorous testing that Jeep vehicles go through to earn the Trail Rated badge. As the vehicle in the vision completes the water-fording test, the husband is splashed with water, drenching him from head to toe. His wife walks over to admire the vehicle, and is shocked to see him soaking wet as he basks in the afterglow of his experience.

All of the advertising in this campaign closes with the theme line "The Jeep Trail Rated System. If it's not Trail Rated, it's not a Jeep 4x4."

"Jeep brand advertising has always reflected the 'go anywhere, do anything' capability of Jeep 4x4 vehicles," says Bill Morden, Vice-Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Detroit. "Now, through Trail Rated, we can demonstrate to our consumers how every Jeep vehicle keeps them safe and secure no matter what nature throws at them."

The NATC has 45 years of off-road vehicle testing experience, including the creation of standards for the U.S. military.

More information on Trail Rated can be found at  www.jeep.com/trailrated.