Joel Reese

It makes no sense: Sting, one of the wealthiest musicians around, appears in a Jaguar commercial as his song “Desert Rose” plays in the background.

There could only be one reason for Sting to do the ad: It has to be monumental greed, right?

Wrong, says Sting’s manager, Miles Copeland. Sting did the commercial to save his career.

“There’s no question: We were dead in the water without the Jaguar ad,” Copeland says. “I truly believe that.”

Here’s what happened: Sting’s previous album, the 1996 release “Mercury Falling,” had done just that - fallen. Three years after its release, the disc had barely sold a million copies in the United States.

“For Sting, that’s terrible,” says Copeland, whose brother Stewart played the drums for Sting’s original band, The Police.

In September 1999, Sting released his latest album, “Brand New Day.” Sales were OK, but the album had slipped all the way to Billboard’s number 78 and was fading fast. Sting wanted to keep the album’s momentum going, so he released the song “Desert Rose” as his second single.

But because of the Arabic intro sung by Algerian rai music singer Cheb Mami, radio wouldn’t touch it.

“Everyone we talked to, they all said, ‘We love the song, it’s our favorite song on the record, but - ooh, big problem with radio. Can you lose the Arabic?’ And we told them ‘No way,’ ” Copeland recalls.

So Sting and Copeland were stuck with a song people loved, but no one would play. And for the album to succeed, they needed people to hear the music - one way or another.

“The truth is, if you don’t get exposure on the airwaves, you’re going to reach a very small audience,” Copeland says. “So you have to get that exposure.”

Then Copeland came up with the idea of doing a Jaguar commercial, using footage from the video for “Desert Rose.” (Sting didn’t actually film a new spot for Jaguar, he just let the company air parts of his video.)

The ad aired, and people started saying, “Hey, I really like that Sting song in the Jaguar commercial.” So “Desert Rose” went top 10, “Brand New Day” sold nearly 8 million copies, and now Sting is seen as a 49-year-old hipster who’s just as relevant as ever.

This revitalization of Sting’s career is what’s important about this story, Copeland says - not hand-wringing about whether Sting violated some hazy ethical principle.

“If Jaguar, which is a cool product, uses your music, what’s wrong with that? The public certainly doesn’t care,” Copeland says.

“And if the Sting album had only sold 700,000 copies, the press would have said, ‘Sting is history. He’s a has-been.’ That’s the press I worry about,” Copeland continues. “I don’t worry about some press saying, ‘Sting sold out, but he’s done twice as many records this time as he did last time and ‘Brand New Day’ the album is top 10 and a phenomenon.’”