BMW Campaign, Essay Example

BMW recently exchanged its long running and familiar advertising campaign “Ultimate Driving Machine” for one known as “Story of Joy” in 2010. The company believes that the new campaign will be effective because it applies to a new audience; while the “Ultimate Driving Machine” campaign targeted customers who are driving enthusiasts and loyal to the company, the “Story of Joy” campaign appeals to a more fun-loving crowd who just likes to live life (J.D. Power and Associates). Since the company did not completely replace its “Ultimate Driving Machine” campaign with its new concept, it would be useful to compare the two campaigns to determine which one is more effective for its particular audience. This is useful for the company because it will allow them to better understand how to increase the sales of their products. The efficacy of these two different advertising campaigns will be analyzed on the basis of their rhetorical strategies, which include elements known as logos, ethos, and kairos. These elements will be studied in a way that describes how the advertisements appeal to the audience and why one particular group of people may be drawn to the advertisement compared to others.

An individual advertisement that belongs to BMW’s “Story of Joy” campaign is entitled “Designed for Driving Pleasure”. This is a part of the companies attempt to sell their cars at an international scale and was released in Germany. The visual advertisements all depict a car moving so quickly that it gives off a beautiful and blurred image. Several of their coupe models are portrayed this way, with words under the image such as “fasterpiece: designed for driving pleasure” and “roarrrdster: designed for driving pleasure”. These words were meant to emphasize the fact that people who would enjoy these cars are those who enjoy driving (BMW Group).

In rhetorical terms, logos refers to logical appeal and requires that a speaker using logic in order to convince the audience. In this advertising campaign, BMW does this by providing a deductive argument to their viewers. Firstly, it is important to emphasize that they are marketing their car to people who like to drive nice cars and who like to drive quickly. Then they state that their car is capable of doing this. The argument that the company makes to their audience is therefore as follows: We have cars that drive nicely and quickly, you like cars that drive nicely and quickly, and you will therefore enjoy our cars. This provides a convincing argument to buy a BMW for people who enjoy driving cars and are looking to make a purchase.

In addition, BMW uses kairos as a rhetorical element in the way that they deliver these advertisements. These advertisements are images that were meant to put in a variety of places, such as bus stops. Since the audience is stationary and so is the advertisement, it will be more likely for the audience to view the advertisement while they are waiting somewhere and begin to think about owning a BMW. This will be made more effective by the fact that they are waiting for a bus and not driving a car to wherever they are headed. They also may begin fantasizing about being able to drive to work instead of waiting for the bus and imagining how good feeling a BMW will be.

The third rhetorical element that BMW uses in its advertising campaign is ethos, which means appeal to emotion. In this situation, the company is able to make the rhetorical appeal to ethos even before the audience views their advertising campaign. Many people are already aware of what BMW is and the quality of the cars that they produce. Furthermore, a BMW is typically an exclusive car that usually only people that are well off can afford. As a consequence, many of the people viewing the advertisement likely already fantasized about being able to own the car. This want to own a BMW is substantially bigger for car enthusiasts who visit car shows and like to test drive new vehicles. As a consequence, this advertisement is able to cause a feeling of emotion in the audience because of the gratifying feeling that they will feel if they are able to own this car. In addition, they will feel proud of owning a BMW because this is, in a sense, an accomplishment. Since this advertisement is a part of BMW’s “Story of Joy” campaign and not “Ultimate Driving Machine”, it was meant to target the audience that would typically not buy a BMW due to price restrictions. Since this car is more affordable on the other BMW’s on the market, it will stir more emotions from the audience because they will be financially able to buy it. The envy of those that could afford to drive BMW’s will quickly switch to wanting and needing a BMW after viewing this campaign.

Overall, BMW’s “Story of Joy” campaign does an excellent job in appealing to a new audience that typically would not buy luxury cars. Although these cars are still more expensive than many on the market, the advertising campaign emphasizes how nice it would be to drive one which will motivate many people that have not purchased a BMW car in the past to do so. Furthermore, it adequately targets its audience by providing advertising campaigns near bus stops. People who have become incredibly frustrated by waiting for the bus and not be able to take control of their transportation may be particularly motivated to purchase a BMW car after seeing these advertisements after a long time while waiting for the bus.

BMW’s “Ultimate Driving Machine” campaign also uses many rhetorical elements in trying to reach its audience. Despite this however, it is important to note that the audience intended to be persuaded by the “Ultimate Driving Machine” campaign is very different from the one targeted by “Story of Joy”. Since the customers who were meant to be reached using “Ultimate Driving Machine” are typically wealthier individuals who have a greater ability to select whichever car they choose to drive, the company uses this campaign to convince consumers that it is the best car and should therefore be bought. In addition, the campaign aims to appeal to the company’s current customers. This component of the campaign is meant to convince people who have bought BMW’s in the past that they should continue to do this and be loyal to the company. Therefore, this campaign focuses on the uniqueness of the car itself (BMW).

The company uses rhetorical elements in this campaign to reach their audience as well. Firstly, they use logos by making an argument stating that they are the best car company due to quality, uniqueness, and exclusiveness. It states that is a person wants the best car on the market, they need to buy a BMW. Although the advertising campaign “Story of Joy” uses kairos, the company doesn’t do this in this campaign because it doesn’t need to. The advertisement shows up in various places such as television and magazines, but it serves as more of a reminder to buy another BMW as your next car rather than as a persuasion to buy one and switch loyalty from another company. Wealthier BMW owners generally only buy cars from that company and stick with them because they are already aware of the quality and service that they will be getting with a BMW. Lastly, the company uses ethos in this campaign indirectly. There is nothing about the advertisements themselves that evoke emotion in the audience, however good memories about driving a BMW may. Since people who drive BMW’s likely had family members that did and owned other cars, they may have a lot of good memories associated with their BMW that will persuade them to buy another one in the future.

In conclusion, both of BMW’s advertising campaigns “Story of Joy” and “Ultimate Driving Machine” are effective for their respective audiences. People targeted in the “Story of Joy” campaign are typically those who do not believe they can afford a BMW but want one because they believe that it is a good quality car that will allow them to reliably get to and from the places they need to go. “Ultimate Driving Machine” appeals to wealthier people who are already aware of the BMW quality and persuades them to continue being loyal to the company. The elements of kairos, logos, and ethos used in these campaigns allow the audience to effectively identify with each of the advertisements depending on their unique target group. It is likely that BMW will continue to produce effective advertising campaigns in the future.

References

BMW. BMW Innovations, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/content/innovations/default.aspx>

BMW Group. New BMW campaign: “DESIGNED FOR DRIVING PLEASURE”, 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/pressclub/p/pcgl/pressDetail.html;jsessionid=hL7tSP1NpSv5njptNXhy3pLhRDlHqyz9QKSW2y8hdJrnbF4Szrps!1814452534?title=new-bmw-campaign-designed-for-driving-pleasure&outputChannelId=6&id=T0137101EN&left_menu_item=node__809>

J.D. Power and Associates. How BMW’s “Story of Joy” Advertising Campaign Is Reaching New Consumers, 2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. http://images.dealer.com/jdpa/pdf/10-US-BMW-CS.pdf

Tier10Lab. Throwback Thursday: BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine, 2013. Web 22 Nov. 2013. <http://tier10lab.com/2013/09/26/throwback-thursday-tbt-bmw-ultimate-driving-machine/>