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BMW Launches First Original Campaign for Certified Pre-Owned Brand

by Staff
April 24, 2003
3 min to read


BMW announced it is launching a new four-spot TV advertising campaign for Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) BMW. The new campaign via Publicis New York, part of Publicis U.S.A, communicates the relationship between car and driver, according to the company.



"As the leader in Certified sales within our category, we decided it was time to invest in an original ad campaign," said Bill Bates, pre-owned marketing manager of BMW of North America, LLC. "We decided to show the emotional attachment that BMW drivers have for their car but not identify the brand as a Certified Pre-Owned BMW. After all, every Certified Pre-Owned BMW is first and foremost, a true BMW. That's the special quality we wanted to communicate."

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According to the company, in "Fun," one of the new TV spots, a woman arrives at work in her Certified Pre-Owned 3 Series. As she pulls into a parking space, she notices a security camera above the spot. Climbing on top of a garbage can, she adjusts the camera so it's focused on her car. From her office, she is making repeat trips to the water cooler where cups are mounting in the trash and water is spilling on the floor. She is not thirsty, but rather watching her 3 Series through the cameras, which are in close proximity to the water cooler. A super-imposed title comes up saying, "Certified Love" and the voice-over states, "We have the BMW you're looking for. Certified Pre-Owned by BMW. Only at your authorized BMW center. "


"Our goal is to let drivers know it's OK to relate to your car in the way you would relate to your first crush in high school," said Peter Nicholson, executive creative director, Publicis New York. "The work focuses on the joys of driving, with a clear message that the CPO driver loves their car and simply can't get enough of it."



Publicis New York is part of Publicis U.S.A., a unit of Publicis Groupe S.A. Publicis in New York clients include BMW, Citizen Watch, Ernst & Young, Fujifilm, Heineken, L'Oréal, OfficeMax, Pfizer, The Principal Financial Group, Procter & Gamble, Siemens and Whirlpool.




BMW of North America has been present in the United States since 1975. Since then, the BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales and financial service organizations for the BMW and MINI brands and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, an industrial design firm in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Corp. in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all Z4 Roadster and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 340 BMW car, 327 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle, 148 BMW Motorcycle retailers, and 70 MINI dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North, Central and South America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.



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