Site www.bmwfilms.com
This is more than a just a website as BMW has cleverly disguised a
series of car advertisements.
The site features its own short films with leading directors such as Ang
Lee of the award-winning Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon hit and John
Frankenheimer of Ronin fame, and Guy Ritchie of Lock Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels.
There are also movie stars - the new Mrs Ritchie is one of them - and
great BMW cars.
In all, it's an online film festival, courtesy of BMW. The car-maker has
used streaming media on the web to create the site.
When you first visit, it might not appear a strong concept, but download
the BMW Film Player and watch some great short films and you get the
full experience of the site.
The site is well designed, features strong help, and has multiple
formats and viewing sizes. User registration and privacy are handled
well.
Branding is consistent with BMW, yet has a film festival feel. With the
new film notification feature there's good reason to opt in for email
updates.
BMW is building a vast, high quality database and extending the brand
and target audience reach.
Suggestions would be to promote the Film Player more aggressively as it
really makes the experience.
BMWFilms.com is a site I've told many people about.
Don't just advertise on television, or put BMW's in James Bond
movies.
Make your own movies and distribute them in your own channel.
It's the ultimate in marketing, branding and relationship building.
Look for the famous stars, interactive features, and how the films
relate.
