Sitting in a hotel lobby, I hear a television commercial asking “What’s a born maker made from?” It is an advertisement created by Chrysler about how their cars are made – by people who are “born makers” with the ingenuity and skills to make things by hand.
The new ad rolls through a fair number of people giving you a chance to spot yourself. Chrysler is targeting the maker movement and snippets of how that most likely includes you. The Spanish version says “we are creators” instead of makers.
As I pointed out in my recent post about the annual Maker Faire in the Bay area, the maker movement is only partly related to technology and Chrysler weaves that into the commercial showing its robot-powered assembly line (clearly at the high end of tech) and then an image of hand tattooed with letters to spell out the word handmade, speaking to the individual artisan, inventor, and perhaps explorer, in each of us.
Here is the 60-second spot that is almost a poem, an ode to makers.
What’s a Born Maker made from?
From callused hands…
strong backs…
from the shoulders of giants.
From small steps.
And giant leaps.
Big ideas.
And sharp minds.
From steel resolve.
From blood, sweat…and gears.
All the things that make a Born Maker…made this.
A car with swagger.
Intelligence.
Soul.
A car that proves a well-made sedan doesn’t have to cross an ocean to be
worthy of American driveways.
We are Born Makers.
We made this.
The All-New Chrysler 200.
On the site page where I found the 60-second spot, I found a bit about why Chrysler is targeting the maker movement.
“‘Born Makers’ reminds us that it’s not just dreaming big ideas but also having the ingenuity and commitment to make them happen. It’s an homage to American innovation, serving as a reminder that you don’t have to cross an ocean for a car you’re proud to have in your driveway,” said Olivier Francois, Chief Marketing Officer, Chrysler Group LLC. “The all-new 2015 Chrysler 200 embodies this ideal. It’s a perfectly timed coming together of people, resources and spirit of the Chrysler brand.”
I applaud their efforts because I believe in our country’s innovative, can-do spirit. As many articles here on Forbes and elsewhere have pointed out, there’s a groundswell of support for the maker mindset. Make magazine caught the trend, the wave of makers and making early, and has been its herald ever since 2006.
We live in an amazing time, technology powering our lives in ways we never imagined. Even if a maker is doing something traditionally art or craft related, with no tech aspect, technology is probably helping it along with an iPhone app or social network to support the burgeoning community.
The commercial’s visuals include footage of Chrysler Group’s Sterling Heights, Michigan Assembly Plant (SHAP), and its employees. The all-new 2015 Chrysler 200 is designed, engineered and built with pride in Michigan. With a major investment of more than $1 billion, SHAP, once slated for closure, sports an all-new paint shop using leading-edge technology, a new, fully robotic body shop and an upgraded assembly area, setting the stage for the world-class craftsmanship found in the all-new 200 car.
Chrysler is far from alone in targeting the maker movement, Ford has partnered with TechShop, the modern day equivalent to shop class that disappeared from high schools and is seeing a resurgence via makerspaces. (I’m planning to see that TechShop partnership when I visit Detroit in a couple of weeks.) The list of big brands trying to tap the maker mindset is growing – from Home Depot to Levis, the man, woman, or child willing to work with their hands is on the marketer’s mind.
Technology companies are frequently heard now talking about makers being important to their ecosystems (that is their employee base, in this case) or sponsoring makerspaces to encourage younger people to adopt and use particular hardware or software. It is a trend I would like to see continue so that shop class comes back, a traditional and modern one, and we see 3D printers in every school -- not for the printer itself, but for the inventiveness it spawns. Hats off to Chrysler for celebrating that mindset.
The commercials can be viewed here on YouTube.
