BMW’s performance sub-brand M is the ultimate embodiment of BMW. With its 50 years heritage, BMW M has now become a powerful culture icon. When people see the three colors and stripe formation, they immediately think of BMW M. Nonetheless, in China, where racing culture is still very niche, consumers only relate BMW M to a premium sports car. In particular, young consumers don’t know about BMW M’s glorious racetrack achievements and the true meaning of M Power. So, in 2022, for BMW M’s 50th anniversary, BMW M wanted to strengthen its bond with young people by introducing them to its winning past. Without BMW M’s heritage, it is no different than Mercedes AMG and Audi RS. Our challenge was how to engage consumers with M Power when interest in racing culture is low?

On the streets of China, we can regularly see the three-color stripes of BMW M. Not on the cars, but on haircutter poles! Like BMW M, street barbershops have a long and storied heritage. This tradition was starting to fade, but it was recently revitalized by young Chinese who chase things that are “classic but everlasting”. This generation grew up getting street haircuts as a functional solution. Now they are making it a trend by getting and sharing their streetside cuts online.

For BMW M’s 50th anniversary, we combined two classic but everlasting cultural icons – BMW M and street barbershops. We created the BMW M street salon to curate M styles and show young consumers the true meaning of M Power in a never-before-seen way.

First, we created the BMW M Street Salon kit. Five of the most iconic BMW M racing cars were transformed into stunning capes and packaged with haircutting accessories into a salon light pole with BMW M colors. These kits were sent to fashion influencers, along with an invitation to the offline M salons. The street M salons then popped up in several major cities. Here, consumers were wrapped in the cape and got one of five styles inspired by the iconic BMW M race cars. With their M Power haircuts, young consumers were transformed into “Moving tricolors”! This activation was amplified on RED, China’s top fashion and lifestyle social media platform, and Tiktok. Finally, we created the BMW M lookbook with Bazaar, a top fashion media in China. By playing with fashion and culture, we found a new way to express M Power racing culture.

The BMW M Street Salon captured the attention of young Chinese and got them talking about BMW M’s glorious past and its cultural icon status. M lovers said on social media "BMW is indeed a fashion brand", "the M1 cape is so amazing and “right now M1 is my dream car", "the common thing between M cars and hairstyles? The coolness".

With 10+ branded posts amplified by fashion bloggers, The BMW M Street Salon campaign drove 350k+ views and 5K+ engagements.

The comeback of street barbershops is being driven by young Chinese seeking authenticity and a deeper understanding of what they do and own. Plus, it is just plain cool. That’s why it was the perfect match with BMW M.

We linked the BMW M Street Salon with BMW M’s heritage by focusing on five of the most iconic models:

1) 1973, 3.0 CSL, Hippy Fashion

2) 1978, E26 M1, Punk Fashion

3) 1986, E30 m3, Superstar Fashion

4) 2015, Z4 GTLM, Retro Fashion

5) 2021, M4 GT3, Meta Fashion