The ‘BMW Giving Way’: The first zero-cost BMW logo stickers to give competitive drivers the ultimate sense of BMW exclusivity.

Drivers in Moscow can rarely experience the pleasure of speed and manoeuvrability of their beautiful cars because of the ubiquitous traffic jams. Additionally they also like to avoid paying for steeply rising parking charges and tolls in the city because they classify it as an ‘unnecessary’ expense.

Consequently, to celebrate its 100 years anniversary, BMW treated its customers to sheer driving pleasure through the first free of charge reserved tollbooth on the traffic-free, brand new M11 highway to the main city airport. This exclusive gift was extended to competitors’ drivers through a simple zero cost promotional idea: Printable BMW logo stickers for competitors’ cars to ‘transform’ their own cars into a BMW and drive with pleasure, free of charge.

0 budget for stickers posted in social media

600 Euro budget for stickers printed and distributed in dealerships

The offer was promoted on automotive, news and lifestyle websites and forums ((e.g. drive.ru, motor.ru, auto.vesti.ru, newinform.com, autorambler.ru,vc.ru, gazeta.ru, 360tv.ru etc.).

BMW’s social media pages became the key hub for posting specially customised printable BMW logo stickers. These were designed to fit exactly on the logos of all of BMW’s competitor brands. Drivers of competitor cars could easily download the particular logo sticker for their cars, stick it on the badges of their own cars and drive past the reserved fast track BMW tollbooth without paying any charges. Cashiers were instructed to let any car with a BMW logo pass for free.

The campaign started in June 2016 and lasted till the end of summer

Over 342 051 drivers benefitted from the unique offer.

More than 4 million cars of all the brands saw the unique offer driving M-11.

6% more cars were sold in the declining market vs. the previous period.

More than 70 FREE of charge articles in Internet media (on Russian websites such as https://vc.ru/p/bmw-m11 and even on German ones such as https://www.wuv.de/marketing/so_ueberzeugt_bmw_in_moskau_selbst_audi_fans), press, TV within 2 days after the project started.

15 million media impressions.

In social media >200,000 organic reach, more than 10,000 interactions.

Brand perception rose among competitors (2016 vs. 2015):

• Aided brand awareness 33% vs. 30%

• Aided advertising awareness 24% vs. 18.7%

• Unaided advertising awareness 38% vs. 29%

Zero budget stickers promotion

Mercedes Benz followed BMW’s innovative example by providing free parking to drivers of Mercedes and other premium brands at Sheremetyevo Airport in December 2016

The BMW brand essence is ‘Sheer Driving Pleasure’. The work brought this essence to life not just for owners of the brand but also gave competitor drivers a real taste of the brand’s point of difference. This path breaking zero budget promotional idea incited even loyal drivers of competitor cars to betray their own brands and ‘convert’ their cars into a BMW so that they could get the pleasurable and exclusive BMW driving experience, first hand.

The main target audience were drivers of premium competitor cars. They constantly research innovations and offers provided by different brands and use social media and online automotive forums as key sources of information.

BMW promoted awareness of the free ride on websites and forums that had the highest reach among its current and potential customers. In addition thousands of fliers were distributed.

Within the first two days of the offer, social listening revealed that competitor drivers, impressed with BMW’s initiative, expressed a desire to get the same benefit. It was a golden opportunity to engage these potential customers favourably by extending the exclusive driving experience for them. The brand responded instantly by launching a never seen before zero cost promotional idea: Stick the BMW logo on your car’s badge and enjoy a pleasurable free drive.

The premium automotive market in Russia witnesses intense competition between the three German players- Mercedes, BMW and Audi. In the last 3 years, the automotive market has come under severe pressure due to the recessionary climate necessitating brands to bring alive their point of difference in the most cost-effective way.

The brief was to come up with an impactful yet cost-efficient promotional idea for BMW’s milestone 100 years anniversary celebrations to emphatically prove to premium automotive customers and especially drivers of competitive cars that BMW is the most innovative brand- BMW not just makes great cars but also provides the most enjoyable and exclusive driving experiences.

The objectives were to increase brand awareness, drive sales, raise awareness and favourable sentiment among competitors’ owners & uplift BMW’s exclusive perception.