The advertisement through a series of films
You’ve got zero seconds for a commercial. Impress me
BMW. Offroad Branding
Pieter Lolkema
9936785
Participatory Culture
When we look at BMW films, we see a site built around the love for film. BMW hired expensive and talented famous producers to make a series of films for them. All the films are filled with racing BMW’s and funny short stories. BMW seems to be a film company.
As they say on their site:
Brace yourself for intricate plot twists, riveting car chases, and a dose of wit. All eight short films of The Hire, created by Hollywood’s finest talent, are available now for downloading and streaming.
These brilliantly produced films star Clive Owen as the driver. Hired for his superb driving skills and unshakable poise, the driver encounters unexpected obstacles that put his abilities to the test. Watch as each film reveals new depths of character, intrigue, and cinematography.
The question is why a carcompany spends so much time on making a series of films by wellknown producers. Aren’t they happy to be in the carbusiness? No, it’s probably not that. This filmmaking is part of an image building through viral marketing strategies. It’s a style thing. BMW doesn’t want to be seen as German, but as succesful, hip, young, and most of all not German. It wants to be a global car. Not one by which people will think: ‘oh, well, pity it’s german’. The Hollywood style in the movies is far from the rich alternative filmmaking history Germany has, but American. The biggest film style in the world.
Literature:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com:8100/legacy/college/kotabe/0471230626/text_cases/bmw.doc (BMW Marketing Innovation. BMW’s own story on the filmmaking marketing)
e-Spot-Pioniere: Bud und BMW
Eines der ersten Unternehmen, das Erfahrungen mit viraler Verbreitung von Spots sammelte, war Budweiser in den USA. Als Ergänzung zur Ausstrahlung im Werbefernsehen boten die Bierbrauer im Jahr 2000 ihren TV-Film "Whassup" auf der firmeneigenen Homepage zum Herunterladen an. Gute Idee, doch leider lief die Aktion schnell aus dem Ruder. Denn die Internetcommunity machte sich einen Sport daraus, den Clip zu persiflieren und neu zu bebildern. Schon nach kurzer Zeit kursierten zahllose Variationen im Netz, die mit dem Ursprungsfilm nur noch die Tonspur gemein hatten. Pionierarbeit leistete im vergangenen Frühjahr BMW in den USA mit der ersten reinen Internet-Clip-Kampagne. Renommierte Regisseure, darunter der inzwischen verstorbene John Frankenheimer und Madonna-Ehemann Guy Ritchie inszenierten Spots, die ausschließlich über eine Webseite (http://www.bmwfilms.com/) angesehen werden konnten. Die hohe Qualität der Filme und zugkräftige Namen unter den Darstellern (u. a. Madonna, Mickey Rourke) sorgten für einen Hype unter Internetnutzern mit dem Ergebnis, dass die Filme über 13 Millionen mal heruntergeladen wurden. Jim McDowell, Marketingleiter von BMW Nord Amerika schwärmt noch heute: "We had no idea how successful it would be, since we were going into uncharted territory when we started the project. In the end, the project far exceeded any of our expectations".
Big Bang zum Auftakt
Der Erfolg der BMW-Filme ebnete auch den Weg für The Viral Factory. Das Script für "Headrush", dem Premierenspot, war schnell geschrieben. Der Clip besteht aus einer einzigen Einstellung. Ein Mann kniet an einem Strand und pustet ein Gummiboot auf. Aus dem Hintergrund stürmt einer kleiner Junge heran, der sich übermütig auf das Boot stürzt. Was dann passiert, beschreiben die Initiatoren mit typisch britischem Understatement: "At the last moment the action was subverted in a way that totally defied viewer expectation." Lediglich eine kurze Einblendung am Ende des Zwölfsekünders verweist auf die Urheber bzw. auf deren URL. Headrush macht von Anfang an die sehr eigene Vorgehensweise von The Viral Factory deutlich. "We see Virals as sponsored content. We come up with viral scripts, and attach brands to them rather than the other way round", beschreibt Matthew Smith das Grundkonzept. Diese Aussage macht deutlich: Content ist King im Reich der Virenfabrikanten. Virals funktionieren nur dann, so Smith und Robinson, wenn sich alles andere dem Inhalt unterordnet, der Kunde und die Marke mit eingerechnet. "In order to create a viral that works, it is more important to service the creative work than the client." Klar, das dies kein Kunde gerne hört. Aber in dieser Haltung sehen die beiden Virenzüchter die Grundlage für das Gedeihen eines Marketingvirus. "We see content as the catalyst to drive a marketing message. If the content does not work, then the message will not move and the virus will die." Der außergewöhnliche Inhalt ist aber nur ein Punkt im Kriterienkatalog für die Produktion von Virals. Hinzu kommen formale Kriterien wie die Filegrösse und die Fileart sowie inhaltliche Kriterien. Dazu gehören die kulturelle Unabhängigkeit der Story, die Konzentration auf visuelle Gags und das Formulieren universeller Situationen.
(uit: http://www.vm-people.de/de/vmknowledge/casestudies/casestudies_detail.php?id=2)
How the Viral Marketing Proces works:
http://www.intrapromote.com/vmm/vmm_oct2001.html
(Viral Marketing Monthly)
Interesting discussions on the topic:
http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=1654
Questions:
Will advertisement be implemented in the series in the future ?
As we see films like Tomorrow Never Dies, with advertisements in the film from Heineken, Smirnoff, BMW, Visa and Ericsson, or Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me had advertising partnerships with Heineken, Visa, Mitsubishi, Virgin Atlantic, Philips Electronics, Starbucks coffee, and the American Academy of Periodontology (‘Don’t forget to floss, baby!’)(Bordwell and Thompson, 2001), it’s clear that advertisement has blurred the barriers between entertainment and advertisement. Now the same thing is happening on the Internet where different media are allready combined. It seems this is going to be the new style. No commercials, but ‘ ‘entertisement’. Games are already starting to be more and more advertising virtual worlds, like 1080 on the nintendo 64. This game is filled with Burton snowboards and boardwear.
Will regular commercials become too slow ‘snail mail’? (Jenkins, 2002)
Will fans of BMW find the ‘normal’ television commercials too slow, or not interesting now they found the BMW films, which are fast, expensive and attractive?
Are the BMW Films mainly for a manly public? If yes, how does it show?
Fast cars and beautifull women are mostly for the manly part of society. They think they ‘re tough when driving fast and being the hero. Women are more catchy for safety and practical use. These stereotypings, may be a part of the targetgroup BMW is heading for. Is it a men thing?
Why is BMW focusing on boundary branding instead of clear branding?
It’s strange to see that BMW launches all kinds of boundary branding strategies. First they came with the BMW Film series and now they’ve got games in which you can do all kinds of funsports like downhill mountainbiking, snowboarding, wild water kanoeing. Of course the brand apears everywhere in this game and you have to drive a BMW x3 to get to the top of the mountain. These cars can’t be damaged, no matter how often you crash into a wall. Isn’t this a manly advertising way too?
Are other carbrands competing thrue Film Advertisements?
A brand like volvo does nothing like this. The only strange thing they have is the Volvo Saved My Life Club. Where people tell how Volvo saved....their life of course. I could add my story there too. An V70 XC AWD saved mine. Long live Traction Control! (http://www.volvocars.us/VolvoOwnership/volvosavedmylife/)
Audi hasn’t got something interesting to watch either. Except of course for the beautiful cars. They offer racing courses and trips lioke that. www.audi.com (hear the sound)
Mercedes has an interesting site for interested I guess male visitors. They tell about the philosophies behind models with movies. Not as trendy as BMW, but more adult. http://www.mbusa.com/microsite/gst/index.jsp
Saab only tells that their cars are good for military purposes too. A visitor can combine carparts and safe those. Further not much is happening here. http://www.saabusa.com/main/US/en/sitemap.xml
