A Tale of Two Short Films – Part 2

As mentioned in my previous posting BMW created the benchmark marketing short film when they created The Hire. So, after creating the benchmark short film in The Hire, clearly they had mastered the medium. Or had they?

In 2007 BMW released a mockumentary called The Ramp about a fictional Bavarian town’s attempt to use a giant ramp to catapult a BMW to the U.S. The movie (see below) itself is amusing and certainly draws attention to the car. However, according to this Wall Street Journal article the company chose to not mention their involvement in the project. The idea was to create buzz through a viral marketing campaign that eventually included fake websites and merchandise.

For BMW the campaign was successful and no one seemed to mind when they admitted their involvement. That is not always the case as companies like Wal-Mart have learned. In 2006 Wal-Mart created a viral campaign about a couple traveling through the U.S and posting their experiences, including visiting Wal-Mart stores. When it finally came to light that the bloggers were real people who had been paid by Wal-Mart, the company was criticized mercilessly for their campaign. Click here to read a comprehensive review of the campaign in BusinessWeek.

The bottom-line is that if you intend to make a short film to market a brand it better be well-planned. Whether you like both BMW films, it is very clear that the company ultimately left nothing to chance and therefore succeeded both times. Click this link for the Rampenfest Video

Tags: BMW, Marketing, Rampenfest, Short films