BMW selects Vizeum for $10 million South Korea media business

The agency landed the account after a review process and Vizeum will oversee the BMW and Mini brands.

“BMW is one of the world’s most innovative brands in terms of its product and the way they advertise,” Kristian Barnes, CEO of Vizeum Asia Pacific told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “Our goal is to work closely with the client, grow its business, and push the boundaries of communication in an extraordinarily innovating market.”

The move comes a few months after South Korea announced free trade deals, reducing import duties to the benefit of foreign automakers in a market heavily dominated by homegrown players like Hyundai. As a result, BMW, which is the leading luxury car importer in the country, sold 33,066 vehicles last year, up 17.5 per cent from a year ago, while its Mini brand sold 6,301 cars, an increase of 6.3 per cent.

For Korea, Vizeum is keen to do more work around digital. “If you look at BMW across the world they do some best-in-class digital work,” Barnes noted. “If you talk about Korea and Asia in general digital is growing so we are interested in doing more work in that arena.”

Jae-Joon Lee, brand management and sales director of BMW Korea praised Vizeum's team for its huge effort and investment into the pitch process.