The Jeep brand and Ann Druyan, the widow and collaborator of Carl Sagan, have joined together to create the 90-second video “Pale Blue Dot,” which launches the new Jeep Wrangler 4xe and puts attention on efforts to combat climate change. With every completed view of “Pale Blue Dot” on Jeep brand’s YouTube page, the brand will make a contribution to Coalition for Rainforest Nations and the Carl Sagan Institute of Cornell University to combat climate change.
On Feb. 14, 1990, famed scientist Carl Sagan gave the world an astonishing vantage point of the planet we call home. In 1981, Sagan, a member of the mission’s imaging team, began lobbying NASA to turn Voyager 1’s camera for one last look homeward, once it had completed the first reconnaissance of the outer planets. The resulting image with the Earth appearing as a tiny speck, miniscule in size from out beyond Neptune, almost 4 billion miles away, became known as “the pale blue dot.”
The brand worked together with Emmy and Peabody Award-winning American writer, producer, director Ann Druyan on creative elements of the piece, hinging on Carl Sagan’s narration. The Jeep brand’s “Pale Blue Dot” video includes passages from Sagan’s 1994 book “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space” in which he spoke in-depth about the photograph.
“Jeep is in a process of electrification of its lineup, and we feel a big responsibility to market it properly because it is not just a technical upgrade, it is a new chapter that opens for the brand,” said Olivier Francois, Chief Marketing Officer, FCA. “The core of the brand’s DNA is exploration, adventure and freedom, so our customers already have a deep and powerful relationship with nature and with our planet.
“Entrusting us with passages from her husband Carl Sagan’s iconic ‘Pale Blue Dot’ oration is an act of faith and generosity from Ann that is absolutely incredible,” Francois added. “We very clearly felt an enormous duty to both protect their shared legacy, and also advocate for this universal message of caring for our planet by giving our global audience the ability to support two climate change causes that are very important to us both, by simply watching ‘Pale Blue Dot’ video across our social channels.”
“In October 2017, Olivier came to me with a request to use Carl’s iconic soliloquy to introduce a new Jeep model. For obvious reasons, I asked him to please come back to me when Fiat Chrysler made an electric Jeep,” said Ann Druyan, Founder and CEO of Cosmos Studios, maker of science-based entertainment. “Exactly two years passed and he called, saying, ‘We made you a car, Annie.’ In addition, he had the idea that the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ announcement could become a kind of Earth-friendly engine of its own, generating contributions for the two environmental nonprofits of my choice, through the unskipped views of the online video. Fiat Chrysler has already given the first installment of that support. If enough of us download the video and watch it, that contribution will increase more than tenfold.”
In addition to the YouTube initiative, “Pale Blue Dot” will air on television on Tues., Sept. 22 during the U.S. broadcast premiere of “Cosmos: Possible Worlds” on Fox at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
“Pale Blue Dot” was created in partnership with Doner Agency in Michigan.
Earlier this month, the Jeep brand introduced its new Wrangler 4xe, marking the arrival of the most capable, technically advanced and eco-friendly Wrangler ever. Jeep Wrangler 4xe models will be available in Europe, China and the United States by early 2021. The Jeep Renegade 4xe and Compass 4xe models – introduced last year in Geneva – began arriving in Europe this summer. The new Jeep 4xe models follow the introduction of the Jeep Grand Commander PHEV in China last year.
The Wrangler 4xe’s plug-in hybrid powertrain is capable of up to 25 miles of nearly silent, zero-emission, electric-only propulsion, making it commuter friendly as an all-electric daily driver without range anxiety and the most capable and eco-friendly Jeep vehicle off-road – combined with the open-air freedom that only Jeep Wrangler offers. Electrified Jeep vehicles will carry the 4xe badge. Jeep electric vehicles will be the most efficient and responsible Jeep vehicles ever, taking performance, 4×4 capability and driver confidence to the next level.
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