by Next Wave Team | Jul 13, 2005 | Advertising, BMW Advertising
Since 1923 BMW has been making motorcycles. Very good motorcycles. So good in fact, that when the Japanese first started moving hard into the higher performance bike market, the bike they dissected wasn’t a Harley- but a BMW.
Unfortunately, BMW Motorrad (that’s the motorcycle division in BMW speak) either:
1) doesn’t get advertising at all, or
2) their agency (that doesn’t get the bike or the rider) has some sort of magic potion that makes the people who approve the ads become stupid.
The headline in the ad is “You don’t need a hibachi to cook Japanese” the copy that follows is:
“So I’m riding through the city and I pass this guy over the bridge. Apparently, he wasn’t too happy about it because he wound up trying to pass me back. Guess he saw that BMW logo and decided to put me in my place. Well, that didn’t happen. Because I shifted up a gear, flicked the throttle, and there went Mr. Hot Shot Racer Boy, disappearing in my rearview mirror. I guess he didn’t know that I was packing 163 horsepower. But you know what? He knows now.”
This is an ad for a K1200 R- “the most powerful naked bike ever”- you can find out more at bmwmotorcycles.com (which isn’t working today)- but, here’s what I have to say to the micro-dick copy jock who wrote this ad: you suck.
The K1200 R is a $14,250 MSRP motorcycle. Hardly something that crotch rocket boys can afford- you can buy all kinds of “rice-burners” with splashy graphics, a seat that only someone who doesn’t value their family jewels can love (not saying BMW makes great seats either) and a high pitched whine that makes your head hurt- for about half the price of the K bike. Plus, this isn’t exactly a bike for beginners- no 1200R is.
Now, BMW has a slight problem with their line to begin with- with no true BMW bikes under 1100cc’s (the 650’s are all equipped with a non-BMW engine- and have a totally different feel). So there is no entry-level BMW competition for the crotch rocket crowd. But that shouldn’t stop the agency from understanding who should be interested in this bike- and how to craft the story that goes with it. The agency by the way is Merkley & Partners (who’s lame site fails to list Arby’s as a client since Sept. 2004 (update: Sept. 18 2005- they now list Arby’s and have Arby’s work on the site- too bad they still haven’t redone Arby’s lame site).
Update: Jan 30 2006- Arby’s site STILL SUCKS. But, Merkley and Partners is producing TV spots that cost 100x more than what it would to at least put up something close to relevant to the campaign.
So- what is the answer to this advertising problem? Well, at one time an agency wanted to win the BMW car business, so they sent out disposable cameras to 1000 new owners of Volvo, Mercedes and BMW- and asked them to take pictures of their cars- and send them in. Not a cheap research exercise, but really revealing. When they put the pictures up on the wall, the strategy became clear- and I believe it also applies to the BMW motorcycle messaging.
The photos were amazingly similar:
Volvo owners had pictures of the cars with their kids.
Mercedes pictures all were of the car and the house, on the curved driveway- with people dressed up- and BMW- well, those motorheads all took detail pictures of parts of the car: the BMW roundel, the gearshift knob, the logo on the back of the car, the engine. These people loved the machine. Hence- “the ultimate driving machine” came to be. At least that’s the story as I recall.
Back to the bad bike ads: the tag “the ride is on” means nothing. “The ultimate riding machine” means everything. The BMW riders I know, and the ones I see (when the weathers bad- that’s all I see) ride BMW because it is a technologically superior, reliable, responsive bike with things like ABS brakes and heated handgrips, that are there for one reason and one reason only- the ride. It’s not about being macho; it’s about being a rider who rides, who puts miles on the bike, who does it with style and confidence. Others get it, as evidenced by this dealer site: http://www.danburybmw.com/miscpage_002.asp. The BMW site, that’s another matter.
The BMW rider doesn’t need a 100 lbs of chrome to say, “I’m a biker” because they spend more time riding than polishing chrome. Actions speak louder than chrome. Next time you walk by a row of bikes- start looking at odometers, the BMW will be the one with the most miles on the newest bike almost every time.
Most of the time I ride past the rice-burner crotch-rocket crowd, they aren’t even on their bikes, they’re all milling around, posing. I don’t need 163 HP to blow by them; I don’t even need to shift out of second.
This ad, on the inside front cover of Aug 2005 Playboy cost BMW sales. Here was the chance to explain why you don’t need a Harley for your mid-life crisis, you need to say, “I’m sophisticated, I’m different, I’m one who knows the best motorcycle on the planet” instead of screaming, I’m still a little boy with a little penis.
Someone needs to cook some agency creative ass. This ad is an embarrassment, and the dealers deserve better. Never mind the BMW faithful that always have to smile and tell people that BMW has made bikes since 1923, thank you.
What do you think?
added note: BMW (and any other major advertiser) should post their print ads on their web site. This post has been copied into biker forums where it is the subject of much (heated) discussion.
Seems that many “crotch rocket” riders are offended- these are the people that BMW might want to convert one day. Oh yeah, they do like the fact that the bike is popping a wheelie- a totally unsafe and unBMW type riding style.
by Next Wave Team | Jun 14, 2005 | BMW Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Marketing & the Web, Search and Business, Web strategy
The great thing about hosting your blog as part of your site, is it vastly increases the number of search terms your potential customers could be looking for. Especially if you use your web stats to see what people are searching for.
Since so many of our competitors build sites that search engines either can’t find, or will give lousy results for (every page has the same description- or they use frames or .asp to build the site- and nothing useful shows up in the results) we decided to make it easy for our potential customers to comparison shop- we listed all of our peers on our site. So, the potential client will find a link to their site, after they’ve come to ours. We believe when they compare, they’ll see, we do good work.
It’s also fascinating to draw people through who may not need an agency, but, think we’re cool anyway. Our musings have gotten us links from all over. Our clients also benefit. Note, I’ve added who or what the competition is in parens- so you can tell right away who needs help on their sites search engine optimization (SEO)- some of these agencies and design firms have sites- but don’t have them tagged properly- or designed them in Flash- which search engines don’t like.
Here’s a list of search phrases from just a few days in June:
Keyphrases used on search engines
205 different keyphrases
\ the next wave\ marketing
23 second street hair salon dayton ohio (probably needs better tags on their site)
2821 green river drive
5 rivers metroparks
513 721-2272
614 east jeffrey columbus ohio
614-573-1010
614-792-0924
ad agencies
ad agency bghemagine (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
ad ventures (ad agency in Dayton- needs a site)
ad ventures kettering ohio (ad agency in Dayton- needs a site)
advertising agencies and
advertising agencies dayton ohio
advertising agency
advertising agency dayton
advertising agency portfolio sample pdf
agencies that might be the next crispin porter adage
barefoot advertising (ad agency in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
barefoot design cincinnati (ad agency in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
bghemagine (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
blf bash
blue dog productions (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
bmw marketing mini
bmw tv spots sa
bonner street dayton ohio
boutique advertising agencies
brand marks
branding & package design
bridge worldwide cincinnati firm (ad agency in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
buchanan & associates (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site) *
buchanan & associates advertising (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
buchanan & associates dublin (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
buchanan & associates ohio (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
buchanan and associates columbus ohio (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
buchanan associates (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
buchanan associates advertising agency (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
buchanan associates oh (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site) - hey someone was REALLY trying to find them….
c 1 bmw 2005
category public relations consultants
chalk sidewalk advertising
citywide development
cloonan and associates (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
cloonan centerville (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
cnn
columbus ohio sbc advertising
conrad phillips & vutech inc.
conrad phillips and vutech inc columbus
consumer marketing agency channel big box
conversational advertising
creative boutique
creative department cincinnati ohio (ad agency in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
crime wave poster
crispin porter media agnostic
crystal synergy
crystal wraps
david esrati
david ogilvy wasting half money
dayton advertising
dayton advertising agencies
dayton advertising agency
dayton bombers
dayton cincinnati advertising
dayton creative printing (print shop in Dayton- probably needs a better site)
dayton next wave
dayton oh cobbler
dayton poetry slam
design companies
design firms troy ohio
dove bodywash ads
dreamteam radio
earthlink-peoplepc-wssynd
find abc book of the wave with images
first wave dayton
five rivers metroparks
gerber tropical fish
gerbers aquarium dayton
gjpadvertising (ad agency in Cincinnati and Toronto- needs a better site- flash kills search engines! Gee Jeffrey and Partners should hire us to do their “creative persuading” - first thing to get rid of is “gjp” reads like gip- as in they gipped me off….)
graphic design
graphic design companies
graphica columbus ohio
graphica dayton ohio (design firm in Dayton- needs a better site)
guru vinyl record single respect the architect
hate it or love it sample
hauer music
hermes advertising
honda ridgeline truck tv commercial theme song
if you want to change the world better tools
imagine nation dayton ohio (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
ipod hate
j walter thompson
jeff and flash wmms
jewelery tv
joint venture advertising dayton (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
joint venture advertising dayton ohio (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
lamar advertising toledo ohio
libby perszyk kathman cincinnati ohio (design firm in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
lionel freeman
local television news branding
logo factory
logo wave
lpk cincinnati ohio (design firm in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
lpk graphic design in cincinnati oh (design firm in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
lpk ohio (design firm in Cincinnati- needs a better site)
main title sequence
manistique lakes drive ohio
mansions for sell
mark philips salon
marketing ideas for seminary
marketing innovation
matt the cat wmms
mendelson jewelers
mendelsons
mercedes $ 2.4 million car
mercedes 2.4 million
michelle murphy
million dollar trucks
mini scooters columbus ohio
money back news abc fox ipod apple
next wave
next wave advertising
next wave buying television stations
next wave chair
next wave dayton ohio
next wave design
next wave logo
next wave marketing
next wave television
ninjamarketing
nip/tuck opening credits
old mansions
opening title sequences
opening title word
pacchia
packaging pizza
penny ohlman… (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
philips brand awareness
philips tv spot
pizza design
pizza factory
pizza packaging factory
pizza wave
plum ludlow street
poetry about tropical fish
production companies
radio positioning strategy
real art (“Digital design” firm in Dayton- needs a better site)
real art design group dayton oh (“Digital design” firm in Dayton- needs a better site)
real art design group dayton ohio (“Digital design” firm in Dayton- needs a better site)
restaurant t-shirt
restaurant t-shirt
rivets inc advertising (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
ron foth advertising columbus ohio (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
sabatino/day advertising cincinnati (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
sample portfolio advertising
self promotion packaging
shumsky enterprises ohio
sidewalk advertising chalk
site thenextwave.biz
six feet under intro title sequence
sounds for radio spots
stephens advertising (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
stephens advertising dayton ohio (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
synergy packaging
t shirt designs for restaurants
tdh marketing (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
technoconnecto
television branding
the next wave
the next wave business
the next wave david
the next wave dayton
the next wave dayton oh
the next wave design
the rivets columbus ohio advertising (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
thenextwave.biz
turner marketing dayton ohio (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
under car specialty
undercar specialty warehouse
united way of columbus ohio advertising agency
urban real estate
versicom commuications dayton ohio
victory wholesale
visual marketing associates dayton (design firm in Dayton- needs a better site)
visual marketing associates dayton ohio (design firm in Dayton- needs a better site)
walmart traitor
water radio
wave designs
wave graphic
wave logo
wave promotion
we build excitement pontiac advertising
westerville advertising- powers
what is a good advertising
wilson advertising dayton oh (ad agency in Dayton- needs a site)
wilson advertising dayton ohio (ad agency in Dayton- needs a site)
wilson advertising miamisburg ohio contact (ad agency in Dayton- needs a site)
wmms 101 bumper sticker
wmms cleveland t-shirts
www.the wave.com
www.thenextwave.biz
yeck brothers group (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
young isaac inc advertising agency (ad agency in Columbus- needs a better site)
ze design dayton ohio (ad agency in Dayton- needs a better site)
If we can build this kind of site traffic for our site- imagine what we can do for you.
* Jan 19 2006, it seems that the folks at Buchanan & Associates got the message- they now have a new site- but, for the life of me- I’ m wondering what they are doing. It’s some kind of “agency seekers!” site- a take off on a search engine interface- they call it the “The Most Biased Search Engine in the World™” and think they are slick- but there is nothing to search there- so how people will find it- I’m not sure. They should probably head to one of our Blogosopher seminars
by Next Wave Team | Jun 13, 2005 | Advertising, BMW Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising
I ride a BMW motorcycle. I think they may make one of the finest touring motorcycles in the world. Smooth, quiet, responsive, reliable and a joy to ride, that’s my bike. (mine is an 1996 R1100RS)
They’ve been making BMW motorcycles since 1923. Not quite as long as Harley Davidson, but long enough. So, invariably, I’m out riding, meet someone, and they say “I didn’t know BMW made motorcycles.”
Which says to me, someone in advertising dropped the ball.
That’s the sentiments of the people I know who work at BMW motorcycle dealerships- the ads suck. I’ve seen a few, and frankly, I agree. But, what’s even more amazing is that a few years ago, someone caught on to the “universal truth” about BMW motorcycles, and crafted a line for a t-shirt that worked: “I didn’t know BMW made cars until I passed one” BMW motorcycles.
Yeah, every BMW rider who didn’t own a BMW car (and there are quite a few) wanted one. Unfortunately, someone at BMW marketing in the car division thought that this campaign concept was blasphemous. No more t-shirts.
Way to kill a great idea. So, even if I ride the ultimate riding machine, I can’t proudly proclaim my love of my bike in an entertaining way, that solves one of their major marketing problems, because some brand manager just doesn’t get what makes this advertising stuff work.
If anyone at BMW motorrad in Woodcliff Lake NJ is interested in talking to an agency that might be able to explain how to make BMW motorcycle advertising work, give us a call.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | May 30, 2005 | Advertising, BMW Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising
Yes, you heard it here first. After the amazing success of relaunching a car based on a car that only the British could love, what do you do for an encore? Well, the obvious was the convertible, and then maybe a 4 door version- a mini-wagon, but, the real brilliant next move is for BMW to launch their scooter- which “sips, not guzzles” (to steal the ad line from the campaign by the ad godz at Crispin Porter Bogusky) with the best of them.
In the world of $7 a gallon gas (the rest of the world for those of you who don’t travel much) scooters rule the streets. Just starting to catch on here on the coasts, scooters are a very efficient, fun way to get one person almost anywhere, as long as it’s not raining, snowing, or idiots in cars on cell phones aren’t trying to run you over.
Enter the BMW solution- the BMW C-1, not available in the USA, yet, and you have a scooter with a roll cage, roof… just what the doctor ordered- safe, dry, visible, and another fun vehicle to bring customers into the Mini showroom.
When I was in Europe, I lusted after one of these. Even if Mini didn’t want to bring in the C-1, a Mini branded scooter of the more conventional sort, would fit the brand mystique quite well.
The next Mini?
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Jan 29, 2005 | BMW Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising
Leonard Pitts Jr. is a opinion writer for the Miami Herald. His column in the Dayton Daily News is one of the bright spots in a generally unbright paper.
Yesterday I wrote about satellite TV killing the last easy way for local business to reach a market efficiently. Today, Pitts writes about how Johnny Carson was a uniting force in our country(he died this week)- and how back in the good old mass media days, with only three TV networks to choose from, a show like “I Love Lucy” would garner a 67.3 rating while today’s “American Idol” is considered a hit with an 18.3.
As I said in a Business Week letter to the editor, there never was really a “Mass Market” just big players in a small sandbox- now that the sandbox has enlarged (more media to choose from) it leveled the playing field. Satellite TV is a step back to a smaller sandbox.
The reason I like Pitts so much, is his commentary on humanity is usually idea driven, instead of personality. His thoughts have a longer life expectancy than just today’s news. This is a mark of a good ad campaign as well, if the idea can keep going and going, it’s generally a good one. Favorites of mine: Got Milk, Absolute __________, The Ultimate Driving Machine- you get the point. Sometimes even great campaigns get ditched due to stupidity- and then the “Hot Agency” (in this case Crispin Porter) “rediscovers” it- like Burger King’s “Have it your way.”
Great ad campaigns from major marketers can have a unifying effect on our country, just like Johnny Carson did- remember “Where’s the Beef” or “Whatzzup.”
I’m placing a link to this Pitt’s piece, “With Johnny gone, a piece of our culture is gone too.” The link I found is from the Detroit Free Press- which may want to charge you to read this tomorrow, but hopefully it will still be there and they won’t have made fun of their name…. (or is a “Free Press” that kind of freedom of the press that existed pre-the current political atmosphere where journalists weren’t getting sued to expose their sources? The latest lawsuit by Apple against thinksecret.com comes to mind).
Enjoy the day.
