BMW tasked GS&P with launching BMW’s brand-new electric vehicle, the iX.

BMW was late to the electric-car game, which at least meant that we didn’t have to extol the virtues of driving electric. But that lateness also meant that the marketplace was already saturated with competitors. Tesla had already disrupted the space by positioning its offering as stylish technology. And soon both new and established players were relying on rational (if indistinguishable) “techs and specs” to sell their vehicles.

On top of this, BMW was keen to reassure the audience that their new offering would live up to the classic BMW promise—that it would be, with its fuel-combustion chamber replaced by a battery, the Ultimate Electric Driving Machine.

The objectives were broad—to raise awareness, to generate talk value, to pique interest and to drive purchase intent.

Zeus, the Greek god of thunder and lightning, retires from Mount Olympus with his goddess wife, Hera, for a quiet life in Palm Springs, California. However, retirement isn’t what Zeus expected. He quickly becomes underwhelmed and frustrated with earthly electronics and his mortal neighbors asking him to recharge their hedge trimmers and golf carts. Hera then finds the perfect gift to recharge her husband’s excitement: the all-electric BMW iX.

We needed a creative idea that would inject us into a conversation we were late in joining. Until we entered into it, much of that conversation had been about changing the car you drive. To stand out, we needed to elevate ourselves above the category and resonate at a cultural level. And to do that we needed to imbue our message with more emotion. We decided to invert the narrative: it’s not that you should change cars—it’s that this car has the power to change you.

GS&P introduced the campaign with all the elements you would expect from a Hollywood feature film. The fully integrated approach launched with a single image on social media, made to look like a promo poster. The tease was then stepped up with bite-size content alluding to the Big Game, then interviews on late-night TV that helped continue the conversation far beyond Sunday’s game. “Peggy,” a miniature Pegasus, stole the second screen on Super Bowl Sunday, and BMW is now producing fluffy toys for fans across the globe.

BMW successfully reached a broad audience both in pop culture and the auto press. We earned 4.6B+ PR impressions, with a variety of media outlets praising the campaign, from NPR to Forbes to Men’s Health. The teaser and film accrued 106M online-video views.

The message effectively connected with our audience. Of those surveyed, 74% understood that the BMW iX was “a new, all-electric vehicle,” and 3 out of 4 reacted positively. Ace Metrix ranked BMW #3 overall in likability and ranked BMW #1 in auto for purchase intent, with over 50% noting increased likelihood to buy. The BMW website saw 776K+ visits, with a 624% increase in traffic during the week of the game.

The ad made it to the top 10 of multiple Super Bowl ad rankings, including #7 on the USA TODAY Ad Meter.