The document summarizes BMW's "The Company of Ideas" advertising campaign from the early 2000s. The campaign aimed to reposition BMW's brand from "The Ultimate Driving Machine" to appeal to a wider range of affluent consumers beyond yuppies. It emphasized BMW's culture of innovation and design. However, the campaign received criticism for possibly diluting the brand's values with vague messaging and for its veiled competitor bashing. The curvy car designs of BMW's new design chief also drew some criticism.

1. BMW’s
“The Company of Ideas”
Campaign
Major and Minor issues

2. Major Issues
• The ad campaign focused primarily on the
culture of innovation and design prowess
that BMW cultivated and was a significant
departure from its earlier communications.
• From “ the Ultimate Driving Machine” to
“the Company of Ideas”.

3. Major Issues
• The campaign aimed repositioning the
brand to appeal the wider spectrum of the
affluent class (the creative class) going
beyond the yuppies.

4. Major Issues
• A research revealed that more then 75%
of people in US didn’t consider BMW as
their first choice for luxury cars.
• BMW felt that if it had to increase its
market share it had to communicate what
went into creating the “ultimate driving
machine” so that creative class can
associate themselves with the brand.

5. At BMW ideas are everything and
we make sure great ideas live on to
become the “ultimate driving
machines”

7. We can say NO to
compromises, we can say yes to
great ideas.

8. Minor Issues
• The campaign received criticism from
most of the quarters and experts felt that
the campaign could dilute the values that
the brand stood for, by entering “the new
age marketing mumbo jumbo”.

9. Minor Issues
• The curvy car designs that the new design
chief Mr. Bangle encouraged, drew a lot of
criticism.

10. Minor Issues
• The strategy of veiled competitor bashing
in the BMW campaign was not
appreciated by many.
• In spite of the strong performance in the
previous years BMW took up this major
departure of its marketing strategy.

14. Recommendations
• In addition to the advertising
agency, BMW should have hired a Public
Relations Agency to take care of
criticisms.
• A company of BMW’s stature should not
have engaged in veiled competitor
bashing as it could annoy the “creative
class”.

15. Thank you
Now take a BMW ride!!!