Marketing Strategies 15 | SunMatrix Ramble

BMW Films: The Escape

BMW Films has teamed up with Academy Award nominated director Neill Blomkamp (“District 9,” “Elysium”) to create an action-packed short film to promote the new upcoming 2017 BMW 5 Series.

The story centers around a young girl simply named “Five”, played by Dakota Fanning, who is the subject of seemingly illegal experiments.

With the FBI cracking down on the company responsible for such experiments, Oscar nominated actor Clive Owen plays the nameless transporter who is hired to get Five out of there. The action ensues.

Why BMW Films still works as a launch format

This is not a product demo dressed up as content. It is content where the product belongs naturally. The car is not the “message”. It is the tool that makes the story credible.

Extractable takeaway: Branded entertainment only pays off when the product is structurally necessary to the story, because that necessity makes the brand presence feel earned.

Here, “branded entertainment” means a film that works as entertainment even if you are not shopping, with the brand woven into the premise instead of appended as a pitch. Because the car drives the plot, the attention feels earned and people share it as a short film, not a launch asset.

Talent creates attention. Director and cast set a quality bar that feels like entertainment, not advertising.
The vehicle role is functional. Driving, control, and decision-making are essential to the plot.
Shareability comes from story. People pass it on because it is a short film worth watching, even without shopping intent.

In global high-consideration launches, long-form story formats work when they make the product feel necessary before anyone compares specs.

The brand job: make the new 5 Series feel inevitable

When a film like this lands, it does two things at once. It signals confidence and it frames the new model in an emotional territory that spec sheets cannot reach. Capability, composure, speed, control.

The real question is whether your launch format makes the product feel inevitable, not merely visible.

The benefit is not that viewers remember a feature. The benefit is that they remember a feeling, and they connect that feeling to the 5 Series before they ever step into a showroom.

What to take from this if you are launching something complex

Earn attention with craft. If you want people to choose long-form, it needs to deserve their time.
Give the product a role, not a cameo. If it does not matter to the plot, it will feel bolted on.
Let story carry the distribution. The strongest paid media is the one you do not need because people share it anyway.
Build a universe, not a one-off. Formats like BMW Films work best when audiences expect the next chapter.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “BMW Films: The Escape”?

It is a branded short action film created to promote the upcoming 2017 BMW 5 Series, directed by Neill Blomkamp and starring Clive Owen and Dakota Fanning.

Why use a short film instead of a classic launch ad?

Because story earns time and attention. It creates emotional association and premium perception that traditional product messaging often cannot deliver on its own.

What is the product role of the BMW 5 Series in this format?

The car functions as an essential tool in the narrative. It supports the transporter premise and makes the action feel credible, rather than serving as a standalone showcase.

What makes branded entertainment feel “credible”?

High production quality, real creative talent, and a story where the brand presence is natural and necessary, not forced.

What is the practical takeaway for launch teams?

If you want to use long-form content, design it as entertainment first, then embed the product so it belongs, and the attention will travel further.

Coca-Cola: First Drinkable Advertising

You are looking at a Coke Zero ad on a billboard, on TV, in print, or even on radio. Instead of just watching it, you Shazam it. On your phone, Coke Zero appears to pour into a glass on-screen, and that moment converts into a free Coke Zero coupon you can redeem at select retail stores across the US.

The premise is blunt and smart. Many people think they know the taste of Coke Zero, but they actually do not. So Ogilvy & Mather creates a campaign where the quickest route from awareness to belief is not another claim. It is immediate trial.

How “drinkable” advertising is engineered

This execution turns Shazam into a universal call-to-action layer across media. Here, “drinkable” means the ad triggers a mobile pour moment that turns into a redeemable coupon for immediate trial.

Any channel can trigger the experience. Billboard. TV. Print. Radio.
The smartphone becomes the conversion surface. Visual payoff first, then the coupon.
The coupon bridges straight into retail. “Try it now” becomes a physical action, not a brand sentiment.

The important part is not the novelty of animation. It is the end-to-end path from message to product-in-hand, because the Shazam trigger and coupon make the next step unambiguous.

Why this works as shopper marketing, not just a stunt

The campaign is designed to reduce the classic friction points that kill trial. In performance-led shopper marketing, the fastest path from awareness to belief is reducing trial friction and making redemption immediate.

Extractable takeaway: If you want trial, design the interaction so it ends in redemption, not in more content.

No guessing what to do next. Shazam is the behaviour.
No abstract promise. The ad demonstrates “taste” by pushing you to the real thing.
No delayed gratification. The reward is immediate and concrete. A redeemable coupon.

It is experiential marketing that does not require a pop-up installation or a live event. The experience travels with the media buy.

This is shopper marketing done right. It treats media as the first step of redemption, not as a detour into “engagement.”

The real question is whether your media can trigger immediate trial without adding steps or new infrastructure.

Steal this: Shazam-to-trial loop

If you are trying to drive trial at scale, this is a reusable model.

One trigger across channels. Create a single interaction that works across channels.
Mobile as the conversion surface. Use mobile to make the experience feel personal and immediate.
Redemption, not delay. Close the loop with a retail mechanic that is simple to redeem.

Do that well, and “engagement” stops being a vanity metric. It becomes a measurable bridge to purchase.

A few fast answers before you act

What makes this advertising “drinkable”?

Shazaming the ad triggers a mobile experience that ends in a free Coke Zero coupon. It is designed to turn exposure into real-world trial.

Why use Shazam in the first place?

It provides a consistent interaction across media formats, including channels where clickable links do not exist.

What business problem is this solving?

Driving immediate trial for a product where many people assume they already know the taste, but have not actually experienced it.

What is the key CX detail that makes it work?

A simple, familiar action. One step to trigger, then a clear reward that can be redeemed in-store.

How do you prove this is more than a stunt?

Measure Shazam activations and coupon redemptions, then compare trial impact against a similar media buy without the redemption mechanic.

100% Real Virtual Reality

A passerby in Tbilisi, Georgia (the country), puts on a VR headset and starts touring Ireland. Irish countryside. The streets of Dublin. A traditional Irish bar. Then the headset comes off, and the “virtual” bar is suddenly real. A pop-up pub has been built around them in seconds, complete with actors performing Irish clichés, and beer in hand. The reveal does not explain the slogan. It makes the slogan unavoidable.

Turn “100% real” into proof

Use virtual reality as misdirection, then land the brand promise by turning the “virtual” experience into a physical surprise.

How the stunt is engineered

Old Irish is a craft beer launch in Georgia (the country). Leavingstone takes a line that could sound like every other beer claim, “100% real,” and makes it literal. Here, “misdirection” means the tech holds attention just long enough for the real-world payoff to be built with zero narration.

Invite the public into VR
People on the streets of Tbilisi are offered a VR “tour of Ireland,” including nature, Dublin streets, and a typical Irish bar.
Build the punchline in real life
While they are inside VR, a crew builds a pop-up Irish bar around them. The space is filled with actors performing how locals imagine Ireland.
Reveal the promise as a lived moment
The moment the headset comes off, the audience is already “in Ireland,” except it is physically there, and the product is part of the scene.

In challenger FMCG launches in mid-sized markets, the fastest way to earn “authentic” is to stage a moment people can witness and retell without explanation.

Why the reveal sticks

Beer marketing often tries to borrow authenticity through language. This one manufactures belief through an experience that collapses the gap between claim and proof. Because VR locks attention and suspends context, the physical build happens unnoticed, which makes the reveal feel like undeniable evidence.

Extractable takeaway: When your promise is “real,” design a before-and-after moment that makes “real” physically undeniable in under five seconds.

The proof is theatrical, but the reaction is real

The campaign bets on ordinary people’s genuine surprise. That reaction becomes the content people want to share.

VR is not the product. VR is the timer

Virtual reality is used as a temporary attention lock so the physical transformation can happen without explanation. The innovation is the transition, not the headset.

The brand promise lands in one repeatable beat

“100% real” is not argued. It is demonstrated when the environment jumps from virtual to physical.

Results Leavingstone reports

Leavingstone reports the stunt video was posted on the Old Irish Facebook page on March 18 with a modest placement budget. They report it engaged more than 50% of internet users in Georgia (the country), reached 1 million views in 72 hours, and was followed by 515,698 liters sold in the first month (described as 2x more sales).

Leavingstone also lists multiple awards for the campaign, including Cannes Lions Bronze and Eurobest Bronze.

What the brand is really buying

The real question is how to turn a generic authenticity claim into proof people can feel and retell. The stance is simple: treat tech as misdirection and timing, then make the product truth the thing people physically experience together.

How to reuse the reveal move

Use tech as a timer, not a headline. If the product truth is physical, make the physical payoff the main act.
Design the reveal beat. The win is a single, clean “before/after” moment that needs no voiceover.
Cast for real reactions. The most credible asset is ordinary people processing surprise in real time.
Map the stunt to one promise. If the promise cannot be “felt” in the reveal, the stunt becomes spectacle.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core mechanic?

A VR tour of Ireland distracts participants while a real pop-up Irish bar is built around them, so the reveal converts “virtual” into physical.

Why use VR at all?

It creates a believable reason to pause someone in public, and it buys time to build the physical environment unnoticed.

What makes it shareable?

The surprise is immediate, visual, and human. Ordinary people’s reactions are the story engine.

What is the transferable pattern?

Use an emerging-tech interface as a controlled setup, then deliver the brand promise through a physical, social payoff people can experience together.

What is the biggest risk?

If the reveal does not map cleanly to the product truth, the stunt becomes spectacle with no belief gain.