A Look Back at BMW's Great Advertising Experiment, BMW Films

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Some of you may remember BMW’s great advertising experiment from the early 2000s, The Hire. Originally posted on the fantastic BMWFilms.com, these short films put the advertising in the background and let some of the world’s great film directors put Clive Owen through hell all while driving various BMWs. The level of talent that BMW brought to bear for these films was absolutely staggering, featuring directors such as Guy Ritchie, Tony and Ridley Scott, Ang Lee, and John Frankenheimer. They didn’t keep all the talent behind the camera though as we were treated to performances by the likes of Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke, Madonna, and Don Cheadle. The cars were the stars in their own right too. The early 2000s were something of a golden era for BMW. It was the time of the E46 M3 and its wailing S54 engine and the E39 M5, possibly the greatest four door sedan of all time.

These films were a really new and daring experiment in marketing at the time and BMW’s gamble paid off big, with the company seeing a 12% increase in sales for the year after the films began airing. During the time that BMWFilms.com was active, the videos were viewed over 100 million times, and thus it helped to usher in the era of viral video.

These films, 8 in all, are as incredible today as they were in 2001, possibly even more so because even the storied M cars of this era are now affordable to the majority of the enthusiast market. If you have $20,000 to spend on a car, you can go and pick up that E39 M5 of your dreams and live out your Star fantasies. In case it isn’t obvious, we here at Pelican LOVE these short films and think they deserve a place in the pantheon of great car movies. What are your favorites?
contributor: Kyle Hyatt/Pelican Parts

[winter_baby]

The Follow, Star and Beat the Devil. Hands down!!

[gherardini]

Watching Madonna get thrown around the back seat [and sometimes the front] of the ///M5 was EPIC! I'll forgive them not abusing the ///M for some of the scenes and sticking in a 5-series stunt-double. Almost as great as seeing Marilyn Manson knocking on the door telling them to keep it down!

[ehart13169]

Definitely Star, but Ambush is a close second!

[Ramv36]

If you're a fan of E46 M3s and its wailing S54 engine, and who isn't, the following videos are for YOU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOX6NZqstPs

AND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfybHTtCy3Q

[Jpark]

Besides the short films being well made... the secrets of the films put them on a whole nuther level.

The genius BMW subplots... from the shortfilms, there were secret clues, phone numbers, websites, etc... and if you were savvy enough to try it, it took you into another puzzle and challenges, confusing enough for people to call the FBI about... if the subplots were real. Sort of a cloak and dagger feel to it.

So apparently out of thousands who tried, only 250 solved the puzzles and eventually got invited to a BMW VIP party, where the first person to solve the last clue, won a brand new BMW Z4. I think the clue was to find a man in the hat in Vegas, at a specific place and time... I believe the winner was a couple on their honeymoon... they decided to chase the BMW subplot clues instead of going to some island getaway... and it paid off.

Brilliant.