Bmw Case Study (Marketing)
A marketer’s vision is to deliver a message so gripping that everyone who sees it passes it along to their friends, increasing the brands recognition, sales and bottom line. So, how do you make your marketing campaign “viral”? How do you get 2 million people to register to your company website? Let’s look at one of the largest luxury car brands to learn how.
One of the first viral marketing campaigns that came to mind for this assignment was the BMW short films. The BMW short films were launched in 2002 as part of a large BMW marketing campaign. BMW, the “Ultimate Driving Machine” became the ultimate interactive marketing campaign through BMW Films. Traditionally, BMW had always supported the release of a new vehicle with an advertising campaign designed to reinforce the brand promise of delivering the world’s most exciting luxury cars. But in 2000, BMW had a window of opportunity when it could do something purely for the sake of branding without the release of a new vehicle, to deliver a unique message in an increasingly packed out luxury/performance car market. BMW knew that the average work-hard, play-hard customer was 46 years old, with a median income of about $150,000. Two-thirds were male, married, and had no children. As BMW sliced and diced its market further, an interesting statistic surfaced: “Roughly 85% of BMW purchasers used the Internet before purchasing a BMW”.₁ This new found information was key to marketing for the brand.
The campaign was lead by the VP of Marketing for BMW North America, Jim McDowell. With this campaign, BMW began to develop a non-traditional concept to show consumers what makes a BMW a BMW. Combining the ideas of producing a series of short films and using the Internet in an advertising campaign, short films for the Internet was born with BMW Films. BMW assembled a cast of A-list directors and actors, and developed scripts within the basic structure of having a central character that helped people through difficult
One of the first viral marketing campaigns that came to mind for this assignment was the BMW short films. The BMW short films were launched in 2002 as part of a large BMW marketing campaign. BMW, the “Ultimate Driving Machine” became the ultimate interactive marketing campaign through BMW Films. Traditionally, BMW had always supported the release of a new vehicle with an advertising campaign designed to reinforce the brand promise of delivering the world’s most exciting luxury cars. But in 2000, BMW had a window of opportunity when it could do something purely for the sake of branding without the release of a new vehicle, to deliver a unique message in an increasingly packed out luxury/performance car market. BMW knew that the average work-hard, play-hard customer was 46 years old, with a median income of about $150,000. Two-thirds were male, married, and had no children. As BMW sliced and diced its market further, an interesting statistic surfaced: “Roughly 85% of BMW purchasers used the Internet before purchasing a BMW”.₁ This new found information was key to marketing for the brand.
The campaign was lead by the VP of Marketing for BMW North America, Jim McDowell. With this campaign, BMW began to develop a non-traditional concept to show consumers what makes a BMW a BMW. Combining the ideas of producing a series of short films and using the Internet in an advertising campaign, short films for the Internet was born with BMW Films. BMW assembled a cast of A-list directors and actors, and developed scripts within the basic structure of having a central character that helped people through difficult