Posts tagged ‘BMW’
The Joy of driving? Not sure that belongs to BMW
I’ve been trying not to write this post for a few weeks. You see, I really wanted to love the new BMW campaign, all about joy.
I really like BMWs. They’re in my blood. I’ve got a little one. But I didn’t buy it because it made me joyful. And getting into it to go to the office does not make me want to burst into the halleluiah chorus.
My car makes me feel safe, protected, cosseted against the world and I get a tiny kick out of putting my foot down on the M1. It even makes me a little bit proud that I spent a lot of time wading through powerpoint and sitting in boring meetings to pay for it. But I can’t say that Joy gets a look in.
The new X1 ad states that ‘Joy is going where the mood takes you’, hence you need something that will go off road. Expect that makes the entire 4WD category joyous, not just Beemers.
I think I will actually have to buy an X1 next time as my 1 series is totally incapable of coping with snow, ice, gravel, grass or anything else that isn’t smooth tarmac. Which isn’t very joyous either.
Beemer brand love
I’ve been thinking a lot about Brand Love recently. Not quite in a Lovemarks relationship/performance expectation way, but in a (perhaps more British?) understated, mostly unacknowledged way.
Take my relationship with BMW. I drive a little One Series. Do I really need it? No. Was I probably always destined to own it? Yes. Just after I was born my Dad bought a BMW on the recommendation of a friend who said that his Beemer was quiet on motorways. Five cars and thirty odd years later and he’s still got one – and so has his mate. As a child I even had a BMW car seat, an enormous thing in matching black upholstery fabric that seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth (in that I can’t find any pics on the internet to share with you).
As a brand, BMW to me means security, strength, family, comfort, safety and a sense of belonging – not perhaps the brand values you might usually attribute to ‘the ultimate driving machine’. Since its also an easy and fun car to live with, I think this might be a new generation of BMW ownership off to a flying start, perhaps despite rather than because of the BMW marketing team’s best efforts.
There must be lots of people knocking about with slightly off kilter brand associations & random Brand Love. I suppose the best way to harness this is the good old internet, where niche marketing sits best. Incidentally, I did visit BMW’s website looking for some old pics but there were none to be found. How about an online museum BMW marketing guys? Lets share the love.
pic from here, GNU license applies
Give me a ‘B’
Soooooo, the Live Honda TV Ad aired last night. Yes, it really was different, engaging and created loads of buzz. It a perfect fit with what Honda stands for as a brand.
The only tiny, tiny thing is, twenty seconds in, all I could think was ‘isn’t that a 5 series BMW?’. I know its probably some high-end Honda, but that’s what popped into my head!
