Bmw Films Case Essay

In 2001, BMW came out with its latest innovative marketing strategy titled BMW Films. In partnering with Fallon and Anonymous Productions, who connected with A-list directors, actors, and production value, created a series of five films collectively called â€Å"The Hire† that generated 2. 5 millions viewers with over 24,000 more unit sales than the 2000. And the question now rise to what should BMW’s next move be. ANALYSIS It took the firm about 50 years from its first automobile in 1929 to be firmly established in North America. But right when other Japanese cars entered the market in in the late 1980s, BMW went from one of the most brought luxury car to falling behind Lexus who became the number-one luxury import in the country. The brand had an outdated image and U. S sales went from 96. 8 (thousands) in 1986 to 53. 5 (thousands) in 1991 supported by Exhibit 1 and 4. But after taking drastic measure of reinvigorate itself in North American by introducing newer models and series that were more suitable for the North American market, a new brand image arose and BMW sales rebounded reach records level from 1996-2001. In 2001, BMW was definitely in its maturity phase where it has enough brand awareness amongst its target market that it didn’t’ need an extravagant marketing budget. In Exhibit 2, out of the luxury brands top 5 highest total sales, BMW was the second most selling brand while only spending half (62. 4 million) of its competitors (134-215 million). BMW attracted a different psychographic than its competitors. It looked for highly educated affluent person who wants to have a great driving experience. Exhibit 7 shows BMW’s Customer Base vs. the Competition where the highest percentage of its target age group is 30-44 compared to everyone else. Besides Volvo, BMW customer base is predominately married men. BMW has one of the highest numbers of customers under 45 with no children and the lowest number over 45 with no children. Compared to other luxury brands in Exhibit 3, BMW is right in the middle with pricing its Sedans. Its neither has the highest or the lowest price, which is right in line with its target market who’s income is also in the middle range from the other’s. (See Appendix 1 for SWOT analysis). ALTERNATIVES The different options for BMW is summarized by: 1. Make the films available to a wider audience by distributing in places like the theatres 2. Develop 3-5 more short films in relations to it’s current series 3. Develop a full length movie that would showcase in theatres 4. Do nothing and simply move on to the â€Å"next thing† RECOMMENDATION With all its success with the BMW Films, I would recommend BMW go with option 4 and do nothing and simply move on to the â€Å"next thing†. According to McDowell, 90% (2 million) of the series’ viewers wanted to see more films, but in Exhibit 11 when BMW came out with 3 additional films, only 13%, 18%, and 29% of the number views compared to first film in the series respectively. I think BMW was able to successfully reach its targeted market and with it’s position as being the leader in the market. Where not only if the other companies starts copying BMW, but BMW when â€Å"copies† itself, just like the Goldeneye taught the company, repeat performances are rarely as compelling as premiere performances.