STEVE GRIMMETT Superbowl Commercial Theme Explained

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., has revealed more information about its Super Bowl commercial featuring legendary British heavy metal vocalist Steve Grimmett (GRIM REAPER, ONSLAUGHT, LIONSHEART). The 30-second television commercial will air today (Sunday, February 4) during Super Bowl XLI in Miami. The spot airs midway through the Super Bowl's second quarter. Watch the commercial and extended music video at this location. The extended music video can also be found at YouTube.com.

The commercial is Garmin's first Super Bowl ad and the first-ever for any consumer electronics manufacturer that specializes in GPS navigation — and is the company's latest effort to expose a global audience to the Garmin brand. Garmin is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of GPS enabled devices for consumers.

"The Super Bowl showcases some of the world's most recognizable brands, and our participation demonstrates Garmin's desire to be counted among them," said Jon Cassat, Garmin's director of marketing communications. "The popularity of GPS navigation is expected to continue growing rapidly in 2007, so we felt it was important to further establish Garmin as the market leader in this important and increasingly ubiquitous consumer technology."

The theme of the commercial is "Grab your Garmin, Take on the World" — demonstrating how Garmin personal navigation devices can save the everyday consumer time, money, and hassles. Taken to the extreme, the commercial is a humorous 1960s-style sci-fi piece. The commercial's quirky low-tech production treatment is in playful contrast to Garmin's cutting edge GPS technology and other advertisers' use of complex computer effects.

The spot begins with an "Average Joe" finding himself lost and unfolding a road map for help. The map continues to unfurl and expand — quickly taking over the car — eventually turning into the dreaded "Maposaurus." Thankfully, another motorist – armed with his Garmin nüvi — morphs into a superhero who battles and defeats the dreaded map monster. An earnest yet over-the-top heavy metal band adds narration to the epic battle.

Garmin's nüvi line of Personal Travel Assistants was introduced in late 2005, and has quickly become the standard by which other personal navigation devices are judged — thanks to its elegant design, simple user interface, and rich set of features.

The project was conceived and produced with the help of Minneapolis-based Fallon Worldwide, one of the world's most critically acclaimed, creatively driven branding ad agencies which was also responsible for Garmin's infectious and highly successful "Give a Garmin" 2006 holiday campaign.

"To an engineer, these devices are literally rocket science, but in the hands of the consumer, they're anything but," said Fallon group creative director Brian Tierney. "We purposely went for a look and feel that would make the technology approachable and the brand likeable to the consumer — all while communicating the core idea that in the arena of personal navigation, Garmin is the no-holds-barred champion."

As previously reported, Grimmett is preparing to enter the studio this month with producer Dennis Ward (KROKUS, SILENT FORCE, PINK CREAM 69) to begin recording the debut album from his new project, THE STEVE GRIMMETT BAND. Three demo recordings from the group — "Enemy", "Freedom" and "Afterglow" — can be heard on Steve's MySpace page.

THE STEVE GRIMMETT BAND is:

Steve Grimmett (GRIM REAPER, ONSLAUGHT, LIONSHEART) - Vocals
Ian Nash (LIONSHEART, SEVEN DEADLY SINS) - Guitar
Ritchie Walker - Bass
Pete Newdeck (PAUL DI'ANNO'S KILLERS) – Drums, Vocals