Cannes Lions

BMW 1-SERIES

GSD&M ADVERTISING, Austin / BMW / 2008

Awards:

1 Shortlisted Cannes Lions
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Film
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For centuries, the tiny village of Oberpfaffelbachen, Bavaria, has been known for its agriculture and baked goods. Unfortunately, cows and cookies don’t attract the tourist dollars. But upon learning of BMW’s big plan to launch the European 1 Series for the first time in America, the town hatched an idea that would change its destiny forever. The idea was simple: build a gigantic Ramp to launch the new BMW 1 Series from Bavaria to America. Literally. This momentous event would be held during Rampenfest, a festival so big and amazing that it would attract press from around the globe, foreign dignitaries and millions of tourists with wallets full of money. Oberpfaffelbachen would soon be mentioned along side Paris, London and Disney World as a premier tourist destination. In the fall of 2007, a young American documentary filmmaker, Jeff Schultz, traveled to Oberpfaffelbachen and filmed the townspeople, the Ramp and the bizarre events that would unfold during Rampenfest.

Well, at least that’s what we told everyone. In reality, to build buzz for the BMW 1 Series launch in America and appeal to its new, younger demographic, we filmed a fictitious 35-minute documentary — and then from the perspective of our imaginary filmmaker Jeff Schultz — released it exclusively online at Rampenfest.com. Shot on location in Bavaria, we created the village of Oberpfaffelbachen. Using actors and real locals, we assembled an extensive cast of oddball characters – the overconfident Events Manager named Franz Brendl, the town’s naïve mayor Loisl Eder, the local construction owner Hans Unterholzner and his dimwitted stunt driver son Sepp and finally, Evi Gruber, a down on her luck single mother who invested her life savings in Ramp souvenirs. And over the course of five days, we filmed the story of a ridiculous idea and the gullible town that sunk every dime they owned to make it a reality.The following is an edited version of that 35-minute online documentary.

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