Experience BMW: Internet adventures rev up the new BMW X5

Munich. BMW is using spectacular internet adventures to get the new BMW
X5 off the ground. The campaign is the first step in the marketing
activities in support of the market launch. "Extreme
Sightseeing" is the name of the eight adventure tours online,
which not only test the driving dynamics and functionality of the
Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV). Video cameras accompany a protagonist on
his trips through Europe and the USA. On his journey in the X5, by
bicycle or on foot, he faces a number of challenges - cycling on the
roof of the Olympic Stadium in Munich, a dizzying walk across the
pillars of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, a frantic trip
through the caverns of the London Underground or racing the BMW X5
against a powerboat on the idyllic Amalfi coast in Italy. On the
Mediterranean near Valencia, the X5 adventurer tested what kind of
experience the BMW brand could offer on board the America's Cup racing
yacht owned by BMW ORACLE Racing. These sketches of ideas intrigued the
German entertainer Klaus-Jürgen "KJ" Deuser. He became
involved in the adventures - and the risk of maybe failing. His
experiences during the preparations for the "Extreme
Sightseeing" trips can already be viewed online. In the BMW X5,
Deuser set off to search for fascinating stories and new horizons. With
this approach, he discovers some surprising aspects of familiar sights
and experiences and conveys the first impressions of the most important
characteristics of the new SAV. The videos will come online to coincide
with the world premiere of the BMW X5 at the Los Angeles Motor Show at
the beginning of December 2006. Brief introductions show the new BMW X5
in action and introduce the next part of "Extreme
Sightseeing". New episodes will appear online at regular intervals
until April 2007. For BMW brand boss Torsten
Müller-Ötvös, the internet campaign will allow the brand
and the X5 product to be experienced more easily: "The innovative
Extreme Sightseeing Tour offers exciting entertainment in a new style
of premium reality TV. It provides unique, exclusive insights into the
world of the new BMW X5." With this strategy, BMW is reacting, in
the words of Müller-Ötvös, to the change in media
behaviour, where the internet is becoming increasingly important.
People are looking not only for a pure depiction of the product, but
also for the creation of innovative platforms which process information
dynamically and allow messages to be accessed actively. "Today,
consumers are deciding quite deliberately what information they wish to
absorb. With 'Extreme Sightseeing', we want to make a further
contribution towards establishing BMW as an attitude to life and a
world of experience", said Müller-Ötvös. The
internet, he continued, was now way ahead of other media when customers
want to find out about automobiles. "The X5 online campaign is a
perfect example of how a brand can use the wide range of opportunities
offered by the virtual world to appeal emotionally to customers and
others who are interested", continued the BMW brand director:
"The emotional link with our customers is becoming more and more
important. A brand - and this applies particularly for BMW - must be
able to offer exciting experiences." BMW has been successfully
using the interactive possibilities of the internet for some years to
acquire customers and increase customer loyalty. For the market launch
of the BMW 1 Series, the new communication platforms outshone the
classic channels in advertising by 60 percent. Vodcasts and postcasts
with stories about BMW are moving dynamically: the stories were
downloaded more than 1.5 million times within just a few months
(www.bmw.com/vodcast und www.bmw.com/podcast). At
www.bmworacleracing.com/blog, sailing enthusiasts can explore the
sailing world of BMW ORACLE Racing, including the 2007 America's Cup,
and follow the team's activities. Around 30,000 visitors make use of
this opportunity each month. BMW started a revolution in the internet
with the short film series "The Hire". The eight films made
by famous Hollywood directors, starring Clive Owen, and featuring
Madonna, James Brown, Mickey Rourke and other blockbuster stars could
only be viewed online - and attracted more than 100 million viewers
between 2001 and 2005. The action-packed films with a BMW automobile as
their focal point gave the marketing trend of "branded
entertainment" a totally new face. With the current internet
campaign, "Extreme Sightseeing", BMW is supporting the market
launch of the second version of the BMW X5, the successful founder of
the Sports Activity Vehicle segment. The BMW X5, first presented in
1999, has sold around 580,000 vehicles, and has now become a successful
model that is popular throughout the world. With its strategy of
offering a spacious, luxuriously equipped yet robust premium vehicle
which, thanks to its four-wheel drive and increased ground clearances,
provides superb driving performance both on and off-road, BMW has
triggered a completely new trend in the global automobile market. The
advantages which made the world's first Sports Activity Vehicle so very
attractive are even more apparent in the new BMW X5. It embodies a
successful concept which has been consistently developed so that it now
offers a wide range of additional qualities that meet the sophisticated
demands of this still young segment.