BMW advertising campaign and interactive gallery
Here is a new advertising campaign launched by BMW. In previous campaigns BMW had been in a head butting competition with the increasingly popular Audi manufacture. BMW and Audi are pretty much as Coke and Pepsi as you can get both appeal to the same markets with pretty much the same cars and same visions. But how do you get an edge over the competition once performance is put aside? Well both of these companies have been struggling to turn the corner and take the lead as the undisputed champion of the world… or in this case the sports car market. There have been millions of internet buzz over the popular Santa Monica ad war between the Audi national campaign and the BMW Santa Monica dealership. This is a case where Audi challenged BMW to make a better car in their ads. Let alone did Audi know that immediately across the street was open space for a larger billboard. BMW capitalized and made Audi look childish. Pretty much both ads acted like they were for BMW. BMW even branded their colors on this ad to make a more definitive point. Everyone usually remembers the solid black BMW car, but just like chess pieces on the board, BMW made their car white to show the game being played and the moment being seized. With that being said BMW has taken for the most part, of this new campaign, the competition scenarios out of the picture. Now this isn’t 100% for sure, but BMW wants to remind you (consumer) and inform you (consumer) what they bring to the world. Put it simply as BMW does, “JOY.” They are reminding you how you feel or could feel when you turn the corner on a country side road. The feeling you get when you accelerate and feel the wind in your hair, the happiness you get from using their product and embracing your lifestyle. Personally I feel this sounds very similar to a campaign for one of my favorite products and brands of all time…. Coca-Cola. I do no drink soda that much at all really but I will fight to the death in a brand war for Coca-Cola over Pepsi and many other products that aren’t even beverage related. Coca-Cola instilled this idea of the feeling you get from a product rather than a product itself. This product they made had an impact that it changed the way people lived their lives. As an example of how this happened, I recall watching a documentary of the Coca-Cola story. In this story it told and showed real accounts of where people in Africa would walk miles by foot to the store in order to pick up Coca-Cola for their families. Although they paid a good amount and even seen as unnecessary amount of money for this non-necessitiy, they felt they had to do this for their family. The reasoning behind these people’s stories as to why the did this…. the “joy” it provided their family. Life in the majority of Africa is harder than it should be. The constant struggles these people go through is considered and seen as unbearable by much of the western world. But people there would walk bare foot for a hour or so just so they can be reminded and given that feeling of joy they are provided with once drinking the Coca-Cola beverage. If you deny that story as not powerful, then you have deeply underestimated the power of branding. But how will this work for BMW? People who can buy BMWs do not go through the hardships that the majority of poverty stricken Africans go through? Yes, that is true. But as western and global society becomes more and more technology advance, pressure and time restraints grow. The internet alone has made competition higher and productivity possibilities endless. People now fit so much into their schedules in order to keep up with the technology and the competition inspiring and driving all industries. Every job now demands more, and if you fail to do that or happen to fall into bad luck a computer will take your job. Technology is a great gift that has inspired many movements that have benefited from society… but there also is a dark side to it. You can not leave the house/apartment without your cell phone. You physically can but that isn’t the point, it is presumed you leave your humble abode with a device to connect yourself to others and the internet. You can tweet before you get on a plane and now even use internet services while on several planes. You are expected as a person for work or casual reasons to remain on a network of some sorts at all time. Now did all my talk stress you out? It could have, knowing that you have really a limited amount of privacy at all times. Back to my point, people that can afford BMWs usually have higher paying jobs and are holding jobs that require more control over valuable and important assets. Whatever those assets may be? These people want a way to escape the office, something they have been slaving over their whole lives. This BMW car they have could give them joy off the line from the light or feel the wind whip in their hair along the highway or lastly feel their pulse raise as they accelerate. Is this joy worth the money and investment? Is this lifestyle worth pursuing? Only time will tell, and BMW is hoping so.
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