The "Ultimate Driving Machine" is back, baby!

[SCOTT27]

Ha ha!! Oh my God!! Unbelievable. How on Earth can you arrive at that conclusion unless you had two parallel worlds, one with the "joy" campaign and one without? As that is impossible you cannot possibly draw any conclusions from it. It's like somebody believing in God because nobody can prove he DOESN'T exist.

How do you know that market share wouldn't have grown even MORE had it not been for the "joy" campaign?

The sheer arrogance and self-importance of marketing is hard to digest sometimes.

Did you not read my explanation?

 

[Deckhook]

The point is Scott that most here understood the original 'Ultimate Driving Machine' ads but these newer 'JOY' ads are non descript and do little to promote the principles BMW are meant to hold dear.

 

[K-A]

Actually Klier, when you think of other cultures looking to westernized cultures for inspiration and emulation. JOY Which was about "How You Feel about driving and owning a BMW" Lets get specific about this it was more personal about the BMW owner than the car itself. Given that in rising BMW markets the greater majority of these cars are bought as status symbols other than by straight-out enthusiasts . Then they like to emulate whether in cars , fashion or other types of products and the feeling you have with a BMW was emulated in JOY because it showcased cars as status symbols , luxury products par excellence.

What JOY did teach is that BMW were not pidgeon holed . Far too many make the assumption that BMW have and should only focus on one market - The US. JOY was about spreading the company globally , US Enthusiasts did not like it but it was symbolised across the globe , because BMW does not just have one market it is a global company.

Personally, I feel like what JOY may have done more than anything, to the general public, was make BMW seem "friendlier", more effete, therefore maybe giving it a less hardcore and perhaps intimidating effect to the general public? As anyone could understand, those very traits would alienate the enthusiasts who bought the cars for those latter traits.

Personally, when it comes to Marketing, certain angles have an "IT" factor, and some don't. Steve Jobs' legacy toward Apple will be remembered by some great slogans, such as "Think Different". BMW's "JOY" is antithesis to timeless, cleverness, or anything that people will remember the brand by in the future. IMO, it just lacks that sharp and cunning "IT" factor, which "The Ultimate Driving Machine" very much does have.

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Did you not read my explanation?

Yes, indeed I did. It's all very nice and provides an explanation as to the thinking behind the "Joy" campaign........but I wasn't refering to the explanation. My issue is with you stating........

JOY did work for BMW because its global market share increased since its 2009 introduction.

The logic of the above statement baffles me. Tell me this. How can you deduce that sales grew BECAUSE of the "joy" marketing campain? How do you know what sales would have been if "joy" HADN'T have been used? How do you know how many people were turned off by the "joy" campaign?

You cannot deduce that the reason market share increased in 2009 was because of the "joy" campaign.

 

[NarutoRamen]

Wow, I'm so overjoyed.

I see what you did there Martin.... And I concur.

 

[Wolfgang]

It appears BMW plagiarized "The Ultimate Driving Machine"?

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1967 Pontiac GTO Commercial

1967 Pontiac GTO Commercial - YouTube

 

[K-A]

Damn! So Pontiac is the OG "The Ultimate Driving Machine".

60's Car Ads > Today's Car Ads.

 

[bmwownage]

"The Ultimate Driving Machine" is used by some global markets such as the USA,UK and Australia.
But the principle message is "Freude am Fahren" - "Joy in Driving" which has been the principle BMW marketing line for many years before JOY on its own- But JOY is an abbreviation of the original message. The International term is "Sheer Driving Pleasure".
But we have always had Joy.

JOY began with the approach to the markets and how BMW's in some markets become status symbols for the owner. JOY was interpreted to suit how you feel having and driving a BMW. It is not like you could put "Super" , "Fantastic" or F****** A".
JOY did work for BMW because its global market share increased since its 2009 introduction.

JOY will return with the introduction of the BMW City Compact which is also known internally as "Project JOY"

If they kept "ultimate driving machine" market share would probably be more than what it is now.. you can't gauge.
Honestly the "hype" that "ultimate driving machine" drawn was way more than "joy", no one i know now cares crap about Joy, it doesn't sound cool, it doesn't sound sporty, you can get "joy" doing other things (right??) other than driving, probably even more joyful.

 

[Levi68]

"Joy" in driving would be "Adrenaline", but it would be dangerous for other road users in case something bad happens. Maybe "The Ultimate Driving Machine" is back but now it should be proven.

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

Fellow GCFers, I think I can say the vast majority of us here are men, right? So let me pose this question to you all...How enticing is the whole "Ultimate Driving Machine (UDM)" tag to the female demographic versus "Joy?" The reason I ask is that I know there are few ladies out there who actually find UDM appealing, but I also think a fair number could be turned off by the implicit machismo of it. I know this hard to quantify, but I want to get your opinion.

Now, SCOTT's claim that the "JOY" campaign brought joy to more customers could be true, but how can one verify that was one of the major factors in BMW's growth? Where was the control group where they used the UDM slogan? Was there any customer feedback that indicated JOY was an underlying reason? If I had to say why experienced growth, I'd list these reasons....
1) Product expansion and revised product line.....X1, X6, 1-series, etc. allow new customers to look at BMW that before wouldn't have.
2) Emerging markets like BRIC, Middle East, southeast Asia, etc. They are just hungry for these kinds of cars. JOY may have helped to broaden its appeal, but BMW, like the other luxury makes, have an established cachet. The advertisements could of said anything short of "Our cars drive like poo," and they still would been purchased by an emerging wealthy populace.
3) Design....this cycle's designs are not as polarizing as the previous generational cycle. It's much more refined and has a more universal appeal.
4) Established cachet while maintaining generally good quality.

Just based on that, to think JOY a huge factor for BMW's growth is just specious reasoning.

Now, regarding BMW's marketing efforts....in the past, I feel that that the marketing team that came up with UDM was more concerned BMW's engineering ability, thus leveraged that. Engineering is much more intrinsic, thus less initially tangible. Then, at the beginning of the last decade (BTW, am I the only one who finds it weird that we are in the 2nd decade if this century?) we had the E65 7er, and design came center-stage. Mr. Bangle became the de facto spokesman of BMW, and marketing thus worked closer with the design side, as it was intriguing and also more visually tangible. Alot of the engineering credentials were there but they were placed on the side-stage. Now, this is only one commercial, but if it's a harbinger of things to come, I think they have found a solid middle where both attributes can be emphasized, and BMW wins.

BTW, for the record the whole JOY campaign, to me, was a killJOY. (The wordplay sounded better in my head)

EDIT: This bit from The Simpsons does a great job explaining why JOY is not necessarily such a major factor in BMW's improved fortunes.

http://www.criticalthinking.org.uk/tigerrepellantrock/

Yup, The Simpsons can explain anything.

 

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

Joy's definition seems to be watering down the M brand.

 

[NarutoRamen]

Well, with Joy finally being gone. I went ahead and made an advert for BMW. LOL It ain't perfect, but...

 

[mini_cooper4]

^ I like it

 

[NarutoRamen]

^^Thanks bro.