'Made in India, made for India' campaign for new BMW 3 Series

The first BMW 3 Series was launched 37 years ago in 1975. Since then, there have been five generations of the series, and the sixth edition, the 'Ultimat3', was officially launched in India on Friday, 27 July 2012. The launch also marked the beginning of the 'reveal' communication campaign, on television, press and outdoor, based on the thought 'Superior by Evolution'. This particular campaign has been created in India, for Indian audiences, by creative agency Liquid Campaign's India office.

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Asked whether this would be the first campaign for BMW made in India for India, Kay Koester, executive creative director, Liquid Campaign India, said, "I would say 'Yes'. BMW started in India five years ago, and we've been doing a lot of Indianised, localised campaigns. But this is more or less the first one to introduce the car in a very different way than what has been done internationally."

Christian Saffer, director marketing, BMW India, said, "Normally, we get all our communication from headquarters. But sometimes, you feel the need for an adaptation. In Europe for example, no one has a driver for the 3 series. Here the target audience is different. That's why we needed to emphasise other topics. So the campaign had to be adapted to our needs in India."

On the reasoning behind the campaign thought, Koester said, "Other markets emphasise the sportiness of the car with lines like 'Goosebumps vs speedbumps'. In India, we wanted to go back to the core of the brand and make the product our hero. That's why we decided to go for a totally different approach. Being a leader in the highly competitive and dynamic Indian market, BMW needed to make a strong statement. The line 'Superior by Evolution' explains the attitude of the brand, that is continuously evolving to be the best and is future-ready."

Explaining the TVC, Koester said, "The TVC is based on the heritage and milestones of the 3 series. It's a statement on BMW and the series being a hero in its class. The ad comprises classic material from the BMW archives, driving shots from international footage from a UK based agency, and the whole TVC was produced by Contra and Weareflink in Germany."

Prior to the reveal, the agency had created a teaser campaign that ran for around two weeks, and worked in three phases.

In the first phase, the campaign made use of QR codes to directly connect people to the central campaign platform: www.ultimat3.in. The 'Milestones' phase celebrated historical moments associated with the last five generations. A special teaser video of the same was posted on the central campaign website.

The second phase presented the BMW 3 Series heritage. The phase highlighted how each generation of the BMW 3 series evolved, along with the innovations therein.

Phase three involved releasing sneak glimpses of the car, on-ground, camouflaged with QR codes. It was seen in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and other cities. Scanning the QR code lead directly to the campaign website. QR code ads and online banner campaigns were also used.

Koester believes the campaign has potential to have a second wave in other markets.

On whether we will see more India-made campaigns by BMW, Saffer said, "We always do India-specific campaigns when needed. Sometimes, you need to do a little bit more, sometimes you need to do a little bit less, because what is there internationally fits to our requirements."

Credits:

Creative agency: Liquid Campaign India
Agency lead: Claudia Woelfle (General Manager)
Creative lead: Kay Koester (Executive Creative Director)
Project lead: Aman Kishore (Client Service Director)
Copy: Kay Koester (executive creative director), Bhavna Mathur (creative director copy), Anton Gusarov (senior copywriter)
Art: Kay Koester (executive creative director), Sunil Gupta (creative director), Elizaveta Averbukh (senior art director), Harmeet Singh (art director), Harsimran Matharu (art director),
Final artwork: Jasvinder Singh (director studio), Deepak Kar (studio operator), Anil Kumar (studio operator)
Online, mobile & social media: Kay Koester (executive creative director), Klaus Irmer (creative director concept), Margaux Gunepin (account manager), Patrick Decaix (creative director), Bharat Chauhan (senior art director), Alex Milde (interactive developer)
Account management: Aman Kishore (client service director), Ratish Kayrat (account manager), Karan Karol (account manager)
TVC "MIL3STONES" Production Company: Contra Productions, China
TVC "MIL3STONES" Second production company: Weareflink, Hamburg
Short Film 'THE 3VOLUTION' Production company: Show & Tell, New Delhi