Title	FREE AT LAST
Brand	BMW AG
Product/Service	BRAND BMW
Category	A03. Durable Consumer Goods including Automotive
Entrant	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Idea Creation	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Production	HOCHKANT FILM Munich, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Thim Wagner	Jung von Matt AG	Executive Creative Director
Max Lederer	Jung von Matt AG	Executive Creative Director
Andreas Ernst	Jung von Matt AG	Managing Director
Jan Anderßen	Jung von Matt AG	Group Client Service Director
Erik Höhn	Jung von Matt AG	Creative Director
Lars Grübler	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Copywriter
Philipp Wagner	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Project Manager
Marc Schölermann	Hochkant Film GmbH & Co. KG	Director
Ekkehart Pollack	Hochkant Film GmbH & Co. KG	Director Of Photography
Pascal Bohlen	Hochkant Film GmbH & Co. KG	Executive Producer
Auro Stagge	Hochkant Film GmbH & Co. KG	Producer
Simon Licht	/	/
Jens Thiemer	BMW AG	Head of Brand Steering and Marketing
Ann-Kathrin Raabe	BMW AG	Head of international Advertising and Campaign development
Daniela Sykes	BMW AG	Project Manager international Advertising and Campaign development

Why is this work relevant for PR?

The constant competition of German luxury car-makers is always tough, everyone is watching each other’s moves. So if you were to see a Mercedes CEO driving a BMW, it would be downright scandalous. It would make the news. And it would be an instant PR success for BMW. So that’s what our film did – in a charming, humorous and classy kind-of-way. It was PR for BMW, but also a creative tribute to a respected, long-standing competitor.

Background

May 22nd 2019 was Retirement Day for Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche. This was a big deal, as he stepped down after 13 years of being at the helm of Mercedes. Dr. Zetsche was the public face of Mercedes - easily recognizable with his signature moustache look which he hasn't changed in decades. He even starred in commercials for the brand as Dr. Z. So the retirement of Mr. Zetsche was sure to make headlines - internationally. So we needed an idea. How could BMW pay an honest tribute to this much-respected competitor? And maybe leverage the great public attention on the Mercedes CEO to score one for BMW as well?

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

A tribute, documentary style, film with twinkle-in-the-eye humor. A film showing Mercedes CEO Dieter Zetsche saying good-bye to his colleagues on retirement day – only to arrive at home and - finally - being able to drive his secret desire: a BMW. He was free at last to drive the car of his dreams. This picture, the main Mercedes man driving a BMW was bound to surprise, even shock everyone with only the slightest interest in the two brands. It’s like Michael Jordan suddenly taking the court in Adidas shoes – it simply would never, ever happen. Our film made it happen.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

The main message is simple: BMW cars are so enjoyable, that even the big boss of Mercedes would rather drive one. Of course, he’d had to wait until his retirement to do so. The target audience is basically anyone, with a basic knowledge of both brands: BMW and Mercedes. Since these two brands are among the world’s elite brands, our simple message was understandable and relatable by the public at large. Proven by the fact that many general news media reported about the film. All we did was to post the film on BMW’s media channels – then we waited for the media and the community to spread the word and share it. So this film moved different target groups, loyal BMW customers, as well as loyal Mercedes fans who respected our BMW’s creativity and last not least the general public without a strong interest in automotive.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The buzz around Dr. Zetsche’s retirement was sure to culminate on his actual retirement day. As all media were bound to portray a piece of him anyway – regardless of what BMW had to say. So on a day were all the spotlight was supposed to be on Mercedes, we enabled BMW to share a bit of the limelight – for almost no cost. So naturally, we released the film on all owned BMW channels on the day of Dr. Z’s retirement – and let things run its course from there.

List the results (30% of vote)

The news media had substantial coverage of the film, from Germany’s public channel late evening news to Germany‘s number one newspaper website. Also, many international media reported about the film. The video posts on Social Media had 23.5 Million reach, generating 8.5 millions views on BMW's owned channels alone. It was also BMW's most successful Twitter post ever. With a production budget of 200k and no media budget, we earned an activity media value of 28.8 Million Euro. There were more online discussions about the Zetsche post, than there were about the previous to car model launches from BMW. Page visits to the BMW i8 page – the coupé driven by Dr. Zetsche in the film – went up by 37% following the film release compared to the pre-release week.