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By Doug Zanger, Americas Editor

February 2, 2016 | 2 min read

To launch its newest offering, the NSX Supercar, luxury automaker Acura will debut a spot in Super Bowl 50 that includes the iconic Van Halen song Runnin’ with the Devil. This is the first time Van Halen has released the song for use in advertising. The campaign will also have an alternate 60-second version and robust social and digital activations to support the release of the NSX, the only supercar designed, developed and manufactured in the U.S. Exclusive global production of the NSX is set to begin this spring at the new Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio.

”In our Acura commercial, we wanted to convey the excitement of the NSX to a big Super Bowl audience," said Jon Ikeda, vice president and general manager of Acura. "The high energy visuals are complemented by a big rock anthem, giving viewers just a taste of the emotion this new Acura supercar elicits."

One of the more interesting aspects to the spot is the use of the Van Halen hit, Runnin’ with the Devil. The band is not known for licensing their songs for advertising — but an Acura spokesperson noted that the innovative nature of the car, combined with the fact that the band members personally liked the original NSX, which was manufactured from 1991 to 2005, played a big part in agreeing to support Acura’s Super Bowl effort.

Created by Acura’s agency of record, MullenLowe, the new Acura Super Bowl commercial is posted to Acura.com and Acura social media channels for previewing before the game and is augmented with a series of unique social media activations and live experiences, including one of the first applications of Twitter Conversational Video to launch a Super Bowl spot.

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