Insurer picks a gem for advertisements

Who-oooo will launch your latest ad campaign?

For Mercury Insurance, it’s the music artist Jewel.

The insurer and Live Nation Entertainment on Wednesday announced a partnership to connect music fans with the artists they love through Mercury’s “My First Car” series, an intimate look at popular musical artists and their first memories behind the wheel.

Jewel is the first artist featured in the My First Car video series.

“My first car was a 1969 VW bus,” Jewel said in the ad. “It was my first real ride and it also became my home, so it was a pretty big deal. I was homeless at the time (and) this van represented safety and shelter. I wrote a lot of songs in that van and it’s amazing to think that those songs became my first album. Those songs ended up changing the entire trajectory of my life. I will always think of a lot of music when I think about van.”