Tag: BMW

BMW Christmas Safety Card

To wish customers a new year of safe driving, BMW, together with ad agency AIR and electronics company Selectron, creates a Christmas card meant to be hung in the car.

A micro-sensor is built into the card to measure driving behaviour and react with a spoken message, “Ho! Ho! Hooo! Just like Santa!”, when the car is driven unsafely. The sensor measures G-forces and reacts when the car accelerates too much, or when it brakes or drives too quickly through bends.

A Christmas card that behaves like a safety co-driver

This is not a decorative greeting. The card acts like a lightweight in-car safety layer. It listens for aggressive driving signals, then interrupts with a playful warning that is hard to ignore.

Why this fits the BMW M League audience

These limited-edition cards are sent to members of the BMW M League who recently buy their car and participate in the BMW Track Days. For that audience, performance driving is part of the identity. This card nudges safer habits without lecturing, because it speaks in a tone that feels seasonal and disarming.

The pattern to steal

  • Pick a behaviour you want to influence and measure it directly.
  • Embed the intervention into a physical object people will actually place in the environment.
  • Trigger feedback at the exact moment of behaviour, not later in an email or app.
  • Use a tone that makes the correction acceptable, so people do not reject it on instinct.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the BMW Christmas Safety Card?

A Christmas card designed to hang in a car, with a built-in micro-sensor that detects unsafe driving and plays a Santa-style voice warning.

What does the sensor measure?

G-forces. It reacts to strong acceleration, hard braking, and taking bends too quickly.

Who receives these cards?

Members of the BMW M League who recently buy their car and participate in the BMW Track Days.

What is the core idea in one line?

Turn a seasonal greeting into an in-car behavioural nudge that activates in the moment.

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.

  • 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.

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 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

  1. Earn attention with craft. If you want people to choose long-form, it needs to deserve their time.
  2. Give the product a role, not a cameo. If it does not matter to the plot, it will feel bolted on.
  3. Let story carry the distribution. The strongest paid media is the one you do not need because people share it anyway.
  4. 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.

The Thrill Bench

During the Geneva Motor Show 2012, Mini came up with a novel way to get people talking about their new Mini Countryman. A special vibrating bench was installed on the streets. Every time someone sat on the bench, a Mini would sneak up from behind and rev up the engine. The bench in turn would vibrate and get some great reactions…