BMW continue with their hostile "OK Boomer" marketing angle, despite criticism...

Soldato
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Have BMW forgotten that they were the ones creating the 'old' cars? Is there a pre 'i' cars and post 'i' cars BMW company that is like a Chinese takeover that has the same name but is completely different?

I wonder how someone who paid 100k for a 760 feels when looking at this advert?

They have lost their tine little minds!
Hah, to the point of the advert, I doubt a person who bought a 760iL is watching this video.

The 760iL at the time was the equivalent 'game changer' that BMW are hoping the new i range to be. I remember loading a TV into one in my old job, decades ago. I was blown away by the tech in there. The design was hugely divisive. But blokes in their late 40s who had the £ thought it was the future and bought them. Bit like a successful Sinclair :p
 
Soldato
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I haven’t seen the video, but however much we cringe and take the mick, it won’t stop the company being successful, even with the latest designs.

Remember when Mercedes started using Wayne Rooney in their ads? A few people
commented that his image didn’t suit the brand, me included. But funnily enough, ten (or whatever) years later when you look at the customer profile of many A-Class/CLA/GLC drivers, it wasn’t far off (though they don’t have Rooney’s money). Not Merc’s traditional audience, but still customers.
 
Man of Honour
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Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they put out this complete atrocity of an advert. I couldn't watch the whole thing, such is the level of pure cringeworthiness.

What the **** are they playing at...

The whole "living car" concept is one thing.
What the new living car is saying to the old living car, however.... wow.

It feels like BMW are saying "Dear customers over the age of ~35, you are old, closed minded, behind the times and worthless. Best regards, BMW"

Combined with the ads you posted earlier in this thread, it seems to be a pretty clear direction they are taking on this.
 
Man of Honour
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It feels like BMW are saying "Dear customers over the age of ~35, you are old, closed minded, behind the times and worthless. Best regards, BMW"

Which would be an error as I'd imagine people outside that bracket make up the majority of new BMW buyers.
 
Man of Honour
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Check, check, check and check

damn, right in the feels* :(

*am I saying that right?
Probably, I'll ask one of my apprentices :D

Which would be an error as I'd imagine people outside that bracket make up the majority of new BMW buyers.
Which makes this current marketing strategy all the more confusing.
If they're trying to "sex up" the brand and make it more modern and appealing, then I don't think that undermining the current customer base is the recognised way of doing it, surely? I don't recall Mercedes-Benz doing anything like this when they started modernising the brand.
 
Soldato
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Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they put out this complete atrocity of an advert. I couldn't watch the whole thing, such is the level of pure cringeworthiness.

What the **** are they playing at...

So I can have a car with the personality of a 1980's Decepticon or a bratty teenager from a Pixar movie... hmm... I'll pass!

Seriously thought that advert is high in both 'WTF?' and 'Urgh'.
 
Man of Honour
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Many (most?) people who end up buying new cars spend their 20s aspiring to own newer/new cars and then finally achieve that when they reach their 30/40/50s, people PCPing crap base models aside. So to set up a campaign that ends up alienating people just when they are getting to the point where they are at the stage in life where they can buy your products, rather than second hand versions of your products you sold to someone else 6 years previously, is an odd strategy.

But then their entire EV strategy is odd. That new SUV thing seems to contain almost nothing about BMW which makes it a 'BMW'. Where is the fully EV sport saloon? The all-new 3 Series is barely 18 months old - why is there not a full EV variant of it? Why are all BMW full EV's with the exception of the Mini a bit weird?

I'd find it very hard not to make a case to go for a full EV 3 Series M Sport. BMW driving dynamics, BMW classic sport saloon looks and a modern EV drivetrain. But such a car still doesn't exist some 9 years after the Tesla Model S was basically that. Instead we get bizarre things like the car in that video above. Just.. what?
 
Soldato
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Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they put out this complete atrocity of an advert. I couldn't watch the whole thing, such is the level of pure cringeworthiness.

pretty self deprecating lingo, too, about the newer models - emotional connection, immersive experience, curated. ... so that add works in the UK the land of satire.


Madonna&CliveOwen add, and James Brown add, are the only adds of theirs I remember
 
Caporegime
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Many (most?) people who end up buying new cars spend their 20s aspiring to own newer/new cars and then finally achieve that when they reach their 30/40/50s, people PCPing crap base models aside. So to set up a campaign that ends up alienating people just when they are getting to the point where they are at the stage in life where they can buy your products, rather than second hand versions of your products you sold to someone else 6 years previously, is an odd strategy.

But then their entire EV strategy is odd. That new SUV thing seems to contain almost nothing about BMW which makes it a 'BMW'. Where is the fully EV sport saloon? The all-new 3 Series is barely 18 months old - why is there not a full EV variant of it? Why are all BMW full EV's with the exception of the Mini a bit weird?

I'd find it very hard not to make a case to go for a full EV 3 Series M Sport. BMW driving dynamics, BMW classic sport saloon looks and a modern EV drivetrain. But such a car still doesn't exist some 9 years after the Tesla Model S was basically that. Instead we get bizarre things like the car in that video above. Just.. what?

Agreed, they seem insistent on shunning the very market that does actually buy their products new, which begs the question, where are all the used models going to come from that the current 18-24 year olds will be buying in five year's time? Very odd strategy.

The current crop of BMW "i" models are simply weird, none of the styling cues that made a BMW a BMW, no brand identity other than the roundel (I don't think the amorphous blob that is now the "kidney" grills even counts any more), they couldn't be more generic, yet weird looking if that was the design brief. Frank Stephenson's videos on Youtube are a good insight from a former BMW designer's perspective.

I'm seriously struggling to think where I'll go next. Audi is out as they now feel that all control surfaces should be touchscreens... nope, not for me thanks. BMW is out because, well, look at the things. Mercedes I've just never gelled with aesthetically.
 
Man of Honour
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I don't think I could be accused of being anti BMW but all I see left for me in the current range is the 3 Series - until they facelift it and presumably ruin the front end - and the 5 Series (Though the LCI is IMO a step backwards from the pre LCI).

I'd imagine both of these are on borrowed time and will significantly change when replaced.

Meanwhile every electric Audi looks like... well, an Audi.
 
Soldato
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Where are these ad campaigns being run?

You'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt and consider that they presumably think they're targeting younger buyers by using Twitter and YouTube to run these sort of ads.
 
Soldato
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I guess it's supposed to be edgy but it just comes across as cringe worthy.

Likewise, trash talking your previous generation products to try and sell a new one doesn't seem like a good marketing plan. It's likely to alienate your most brand loyal customers.
 
Soldato
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To play devils advocate though, I did watch the whole of that advert. I would A) probably never have come across it at all and B) would have just skipped past it if it wasn't brought to my attention.

I mean I still have zero interest in the car but in the weird world of marketing maybe the fact I watched the advert is still chalked up as a win? :o
 
Soldato
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So the best thing they could think of on the new car was ambient lighting? No one even uses that ****.

Im not a "boomer" but I still think it looks like arse. I would be embarrassed to drive that car.
 
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Soldato
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I guess it's supposed to be edgy but it just comes across as cringe worthy.

Likewise, trash talking your previous generation products to try and sell a new one doesn't seem like a good marketing plan. It's likely to alienate your most brand loyal customers.

I agree entirely. Instead of trying to belittle the previous generations in some weird human talking car rubbish, they should be focussing on the evolution of the cars and what they can achieve now that they couldn't before due to technological advancement - in a positive way, rather than their negative way. The whole advert just seemed cringey and annoying.

Their use of the word "boomer" is as divisive as when someone calls someone a "millennial" or "*********" (edit: flakes of snow is a banned word?). In common everyday use, they are both linked to negative characteristics of a persons behaviour - which BMW seem to be trying to play upon. And we all know how people like having their negative behavioural traits pointed out...

To play devils advocate though, I did watch the whole of that advert. I would A) probably never have come across it at all and B) would have just skipped past it if it wasn't brought to my attention.

I mean I still have zero interest in the car but in the weird world of marketing maybe the fact I watched the advert is still chalked up as a win? :o

They say any exposure is good exposure, but I disagree. If you come away feeling more negative about the brand, all that's happened is that brand have spent millions on an advertising campaign which makes people less likely to buy their products.
 
Soldato
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Their use of the word "boomer" is as divisive as when someone calls someone a "millennial" or "*********" (edit: flakes of snow is a banned word?). In common everyday use, they are both linked to negative characteristics of a persons behaviour - which BMW seem to be trying to play upon. And we all know how people like having their negative behavioural traits pointed out...
It's a joke right?

Can we get "boomer" censored as well? I'm just kidding! That would be stupid, a bit like censoring *********...
 
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