Winners & Shortlists

SOUNDTREE

TitleSOUNDTREE
BrandBMW (SCHWEIZ)
Product/ServiceBMW M4, M235I, X5, I3
Category A05. USE OF DIGITAL IN A DIRECT MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Entrant Company SERVICEPLAN Munich, GERMANY
Advertising Agency SERVICEPLAN Munich, GERMANY
Advertising Agency 2 SERVICEPLAN SUISSE Zurich, SWITZERLAND
Production Company PUMPKIN FILM Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Alexander Schill Serviceplan Chief Creative Officer
Sacha Moser Serviceplan Suisse Executive Creative Director
Markus Maczey Plan.net Executive Creative Director
Axinja Werner Plan.net Creative Director
Cornelia Blasy/Steiner Plan.net Creative Director
Ulrike Schumann Serviceplan Suisse Copywriter
Volker Heine Plan.net Copywriter
Carina Disch Plan.net Copywriter
Julia Bochanneck Serviceplan Suisse Art Director
Christian Sommer Serviceplan Suisse Art Director
Florian Panier Serviceplan Creative Producer
Christian Baertschi Serviceplan Suisse Account Director
Klara Zuercher Serviceplan Suisse Account Supervisor
Roxana Hudson Serviceplan Suisse Account Supervisor
Marina Gnann Plan.net Account Supervisor
Karim Huu Do Pumpkin Film AG Photographer/Director/Cinematographer
Tobias Kreutzer Heimoto AG Programmer
Martin Richi ZAAK Zurich Producer
Kay Rueegsegger ZAAK Zurich Producer
Anna Wiget ZAAK Zurich Producer

The Brief

BMW’s wish was to send a surprising Christmas message that would not only make people smile, but also promote the current BMW models and provide a teaser for upcoming launches. In addition, the goal was to demonstrate BMW’s innovative strength and engage people interactively, sharing the spirit. The target was clear: reach and engage all existing BMW customers and partners in Switzerland. But that was not all. The client explicitly tasked us with developing an initiative with the potential to reach a worldwide audience as a second step.

Creative Execution

The BMW Soundtrees not only combined sheer driving pleasure and the Christmas theme, but also fulfilled all the other requirements of the brief in one strikingly simple, yet surprising idea. The Soundtree creations promoted upcoming BMW models in a joyful, Christmassy, share-friendly and highly innovative way. Thus they reinforced the progressive image of BMW. Furthermore, they generated additional test drives during the holiday season, as all drivers received a three-dimensional “souvenir” of the engine sound of the model they had test-driven. Besides, the 3-D trees of BMW engine sounds laid the foundation for the first brand-appropriate and sustainable Christmas decoration.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We created the perfect Christmas present for BMW customers, partners and for everyone celebrating Christmas: the BMW Soundtrees. The key element was the graphics of BMW engine sound waves. Rotated through 90 degrees, they produce striking images of Christmas trees. Each BMW has one of its own. We used the trees as key visuals for the Christmas mailing itself. But most important: everyone could create their own trees by simply putting the pedal to the metal on soundtree.ch – and then share them afterwards.

Results

The direct mailing was sent to existing Swiss customers to create a direct response with the qualitative goals of bringing (Christmas) joy and strengthening BMW’s image as an innovator. In total, 6400 DMs were sent out. Between 15 December 2013 and 23 January 2014, www.soundtree.ch received 14,400 visits, and 8236 Soundtrees were created. Without additional communication efforts, the number of visits increased by 1900, and 736 more Soundtrees were created (January). The number of Soundtrees created, plus the media attention BMW received from all over the globe, prove that the idea did fulfil its goal of bringing and sharing joy.