Experienced chief financial officer Paul Liska has served several greater Chicago corporations, generally for the purpose of ushering in major changes. In the 2010s, Paul Liska was part of the management team of Sears Roebuck, maker of the iconic DieHard battery. Advance Auto, of which Liska has been a board member, now sells them through its Carquest outlets.
To publicize the new source, Advance tied the batteries’ name to the Die Hard thrillers that starred Bruce Willis as case-hardened detective John McClane. A 2-minute television ad made in the movie’s style appeared on the Fox Network broadcast of an NFL face-off between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers.
The commercial reunited Willis with an old enemy, Theo (played by Clarence Gilyard Jr.) and limousine driver Argyle (De’voreaux White). It begins with Theo’s gang trying to stop McClane from going to Advance Auto for a new battery. Villains bite the dust as the action revolves around a chase between earthmovers that is capped by the requisite explosions.
Willis and company executive Jason McDonell both compared the celluloid hero’s toughness and endurance with the battery’s long-lasting power. Carquest planned to repeat the ad on its social media platforms as winter approached.
