Quote:
Originally Posted by ///BYU
For context, I believe this is my first post about the grilles, but not my first post about BMW's recent marketing campaigns.
I've heard that the opposite of love isn't hate -- it's indifference. Be glad for the hate for what you've done, BMW. It means people care deeply about BMW, ///M, and the M3 and M4 brands. Now do something about it.
It's one thing when an enthusiast forum gets out the pitchforks, but it's a whole other thing when your normally adoring global YouTube audience soundly rejects what you've done.
I'm more disappointed in the direction of your ad campaigns than the new grille design, impossible as that may seem. The ads are objectively terrible, though I won't take time here to deconstruct exactly why. I can't believe something like this even happened. How?
Ultimately, the following people are accountable for this and ought to own the consequences, good or bad (recognizing I may be wrong, they ought to get credit if credit is deserved). There are probably more. And no, it doesn't matter that decisions may have pre-dated these people assuming their roles; leaders gotta lead:
- Oliver Zipse -- Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG
- Domagoj Dukec -- Head of Design for BMW
- Markus Flasch -- Head of BMW M (to the extent he has any influence over design, which he may not)
And especially:
- Jens Thiemer -- Head of Brand Steering and Marketing for BMW
- ...And whoever runs the global ad agency BMW selected
Signed,
Not Indifferent
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I like the design of the G8X but agree with you on the marketing.... I have been a stakeholder in creative reviews at this scale and this (and the whole m town theme) really feels like the agency was allowed to run wild with the brand identity. No one stood up to say "hey, I get the artistic pop but how will this connect with in market consumers", it is like the modern interpretation of the m art car heritage took over the entire brand instead of being a cool one off. Even the M next concept I was scratching my head. My assumption is the agency was directed to be different and was able to convince them anything less radical was business as usual.
But we know they can do it right, contrast these G8X ads to x5 and especially x7 launch ads which were dead on target, really well done and expressive to both target demo and aspirational cohorts.