BMW’s communication is highly dependent on global activity, and our goal is to find a way to resonate local audiences in different ways, including channel diversity. We wanted to take it one step further by creating a new pillar of communication through an exponentially growing scene, Esports. The global pandemic began to plague, changing the way people envisioned life, and impacting industries at scale. The main goal was to position the brand that has no affinity within the local MENA Esports community in the most genuine way possible, while achieving the following objectives to address the bottom line.

• Drive mass participation to build an Esports CRM of 17,500 participants.

• Become a leader in automotive Esports market share with a target KPI of 60%.

• Maximize engagement rate & viewership across of 10% & 20 Million respectively.

• Gather 6,000 participants who are in-market to buy a car

BOTG lived live and online bringing together top talent, influencers and content to the gaming community in the middle east. With countries coming in and out of lockdowns and physical events canceled, BOTG was taken online to allow access for all the gaming audience to tune in and watch the different competitions taking place across different popular games. We looked at entertaining the viewer not only by watching two players compete against each other but also to engage with the stream by commenting and reacting to the special activities that were to take place live. BOTG is all about the joy of competing and for that purpose the whole stream was branded to showcase the dedication of BMW towards the gaming community in the region and to establish it's position at the forefront of gaming activations from a automotive brand.

Although a major part of #JoyOfCompeting was to build brand equity & affinity towards core gamers, the secondary objective was to address the brand’s bottom line & drive interest towards the products for potential sales. The strategy to achieve this goal consisted of a full-funnel approach, which all began with an immersive live experience, subtly branded to keep the brand top of mind. The goal was to execute an engaging product full of catchy game highlights, comedic moments between casters, giveaways that kept users returning & anticipating the live stream and bring on-board recognizable figures to join the fun. Influencers were a key part of the engagement, and they not only joined that actual competition, but told their story on stream, led on giveaways, and delivered long, much-anticipated content that their fans wanted to see live on BMW’s stream. All of which drove users down the funnel to convert.

#JoyOfCompeting consisted of two seasons, spanning over six months of consistent live streams across major platforms. Thirteen of the biggest gaming influencers in the region such as Ahmet Bayati and Ahmed Show to name a few either promoted or joined the streams to create memorable experiences. The most exciting moments included Hulk Clash revealing his face for the first time ever after building a huge fanbase, bringing the much-anticipated moment for his fans to life on the BMW stream, boosting engagement levels significantly. In addition, Ahmet Bayat joined the stream to celebrate his birthday, paving the way for millions of his followers to join in. Fans also had the opportunity to play their favorite games, all being live streamed to showcase their participation. One of the most unique aspect was a collaboration with BMW to create a virtual studio consisting of a 3D model of their newest flagship models.

Established BMW’s digital gaming ecosystem with brand-new social media channels dedicated to gaming and a bespoke website which allowed us to tighten the consumer journey towards test-drives. We achieved our goal of becoming the dominant automotive Esports player, with more than 10 000 players participated across both BMW mobile cup and BOTG. The tournament achieved a reach of 11 Million with 15 million views across all channels. With the establishment of the BMW esports ME social media accounts, the pages saw a rise in following that reached 41 00 social media fans, a 5% ad recall rate. On the BMW esports ME website we recorded a 2m 9s dwell time as well as 360 000 unique visits. On the business side of things the tournament generated around 4500 leads from the different targeted markets.