>The story, stars behind the Chrysler Super Bowl ad

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In just 2 minutes, Chrysler lit a fire under its reputation, made hardworking Detroit feel cool again — Yes, Eminem is ours! — and turned a handful of locals into overnight celebrities.
Kevin Yon, 59, of Rockford narrated the inaugural “Imported from Detroit” commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Christopher Roddy, 53, the greeter outside the Guardian Building in Detroit, gave that serious nod during filming that took four days in early January. Alissa Czisny — the 23-year-old 2009 and 2011 U.S. ladies champion from the Detroit Skating Club — twirled on the ice at Campus Martius.
The finale went to Eminem, with backup from the Selected of God Choir from Praise Tabernacle of Grosse Pointe.
By all accounts, the commercial was a sensation and a success.
It was featured in national news. NBC, for example, ran a segment on it’s Nightly News.
“Chrysler 200” was the No. 2 search term Sunday on Google, beating out the Black Eyed Peas, the band that performed during halftime. Traffic at the online car research site Edmunds.com shot up 267% for the Chrysler brand in the hours after the commercial aired — and 1619% for the Chrysler 200.
That’s quite a comeback in interest for the updated replacement for the Chrysler Sebring midsized car, which was one of Chrysler’s worst performing and highly criticized cars ever.
Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told Forbes magazine that Eminem “was not an easy choice,” acknowledging that the rapper posed some risks. But in the end, Eminem turned out to be the perfect spokesman for Detroit, for Chrysler and its hell-and-back journey.
“He is really very symbolic of this town and the idea of what a comeback can bring,” said Melissa Garlick, head of Chrysler’s advertising.
City’s grit, guts, glory inspire ad
There’s a big story behind the two-minute commercial that introduced Chrysler’s new tagline, “Imported from Detroit,” and featured rap star Eminem.
It started with an idea from Chrysler’s ad agency, Wieden+Kennedy of Portland, Ore., and involved some risk-taking from Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and about three dozen metro Detroit actors, athletes, choir members and regular people.