The Ramp: BMW’s New 360 Viral Campaign

Written by Igor Beuker on March 29th, 2008 |

As ViralBlogger I get offered so many “wanna be” virals. Most of these virals are cheap rubbish and not hilarious, horrifying or horny at all. They lack any kind of WOW-effect or respect for consumers. CMO’s please take my free advice: rubbish virals will damage your brand! Put in passion, time and money into your viral strategy, concepting and production. Or don’t try to be viral at all and rather stick to your tv commercials!

But BMW’s latest attempt to get viral spread and buzz effect, in their launch the 1-series coupe in the US, has so much potential, that all CMO’s and agencies must see BMW’s engagement strategy. So buckle-up and let’s drive deeper into BMW’s Rampenfest viral.

The idea behind BMW’s viral campaign is simple but witty. Build a 454 meter-high ramp that will launch the BMW 135i over the European landscape and across the Atlantic onto US shores. Here the joke starts. Jeff Schultz, a (faux) documentary filmmaker, has produced a great movie trailer that will cover the entire event.

You can also visit Jeff Schultz’s weblog to read more. And if you’re 21, female and willing to upload a photo to be voted as Miss Ramp, you can enter with the rest of the contestants here.

Also BMW has created the fictional Bavarian village Oberpfaffelbachen’s website where you are greeted with the Oktoberfest anthem. From there, you can read up on the town’s history, get a quick “Hallo” from the town’s mayor and begin to understand the marketing ruse that BMW is launching.

But BMW offers more to explore. You can be part of the The Ramp’s Facebook page the Friendster page of Franz Brendl the Oberpfaffelbachen town’s council

Or take a look at more trailers at Jeff Schultz’s YouTube page. My point is; everywhere you go, you are 360 degrees surrouned by the viral campaign. Shall we call it surround sound marketing; since you are in the epic center of this viral campaign everywhere you go?!

I feel BMW has really executed impressive, when launching this 360 viral campaign The Ramp. I applaud BMW for it’s guts and wish them lots of glory selling the BMW 1-Series Coupe.

The Ramp also reminded me of the imaginary Olympics Bucharest 2003, the viral old skool campaign, created by Trojan Condoms many years ago. Tell us what do you think of this BMW viral campaign?

Source: Autoblog and Luxvelocity.

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