BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
BMW M4 CONVERTIBLE
Advertising Messages Analysis
Almas Rares Tudor Florian Dan Ionescu Cristina
20/04/2016
We hereby certify that we are the sole authors of this report. All assistance we have
received from outside sources have been documented in the report, as well as, listed
after the conclusion under “Works cited.” This report was created exclusively by us
specifically for the English course.
Table of Contents
Link of the commercial .............................................................................................................2
The Brand: BMW .....................................................................................................................2
Analysis of the source and its features ......................................................................................3
Analysis of the content, structure and form of the message .....................................................3
Identification of behavioural approach .....................................................................................4
Description of the audience and the marketing target ...............................................................5
Works cited ...............................................................................................................................6
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Link of the commercial
By accessing the following link, the commercial can be seen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0bNFjOb93E
The Brand: BMW
Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or
B2B. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets.
We will thus explain more about BMW’s marketing strategy.
Company’s mission: “The BMW Group is the world's leading provider of premium
products and premium services for individual mobility.”
Company’s vision: “We are Number ONE. We inspire people on the move: We shape
tomorrow’s individual premium mobility.”
Competitive advantage:
“We unite excitement, responsibility and success:
We have the most emotional products and attractive services.
We offer the best customer experience.
We have a unique customer understanding through our ongoing, direct dialogue with our
customers. We focus solely on premium products and services. We anticipate customer needs
and desires. And we bring these to life - quickly and precisely - in innovative and emotional
offerings and experiences.
We have the most aspirational brands.
We continuously grow the value of our brands through focused brand management and
outstanding design.
We shape future technologies.
We develop innovative technologies for tomorrow’s products and services.
We inspire people to work for and with us.
We lead our associates with integrity and respect, securing our position as the most attractive
employer.
We are an active part of the communities in which we operate.
We embrace our responsibilities within the wider community and achieve positive results.
As a consequence, we consistently generate excellent results.”
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Strategic approach:
“We are leading the BMW Group into a new era:
We leverage innovative technologies, digitalisation
and sustainability to deliver unique customer experiences.
We embrace the opportunities that the transformation of our industry offers.
We are committed to expanding our technological competence in the years to come, to
enhancing the interaction of individuals, vehicles and services and to driving progress in
sustainable mobility. This will secure our success and set new standards amongst our
competitors. Our strategic approach comprises:
Brands & Design
Products
Technologies
Customer Experience & Services
Digitalisation
Profitability”
Analysis of the source and its features
The source of the commercial presented is the car manufacturer BMW, more precise
the M department. The letter M comes from Motorsport as is renowned for their fast, agile
and beautifully designed cars with millions of fans around the world.
Analysis of the content, structure and form of the message
BMW is one of the car manufactures with an extremely well developed, customer
oriented marketing message. By combining two different personalities behind the wheel of
the new BMW M4 Convertible they blend both emotional and rational appeals.
An emotional appeal is a method of persuasion that's designed to create an emotional
response. Emotion (also known as pathos or suffering in Greek) is one of the three modes of
persuasion identified by Aristotle. In our case, when the car is tested by a pilot to its limits on
a professional race track, it appeals to the “child” in each driver, to the dream of owning a
fast and aerodynamic car. It makes you picture yourself at the wheel, thus sending you an
imaginary rush before actually testing the car yourself.
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The rational appeal, on the other hand, is concerned with an appealing price point and
with highlighting the benefits of owning the product. The rational appeal is widely used by
small businesses to fend off competition. BMW uses the rational appeal in contrast to the
emotional one, by presenting a down to earth, successful business man enjoying other
benefits of the car such as luxury, comfort and safety. The BMW marketing team fits the new
M4 with multiple personality in order to satisfy each side of their customers.
The coding process is rich in non-verbal symbols. Right from the beginning of the
commercial, the song is meant to give you an adrenaline rush in contrast with the calm,
natural scenery. The two characters are presented in an antithesis, one is calm and enjoys the
comfort of the car on winding roads through mountains, while the other is committed to
pushing the car to its limits on the tight curves of the racetrack. The chorus of the song “I’m
free to go” suggests the absolute liberty of driving, a unique sensation, offered only by a
BMW M car.
The advertisement focuses mainly on the advantages of driving the car. It pictures
only the best of what the car has to offer, from luxury, to safety, elegance, speed and
aerodynamics.
At the end of the commercial, we are left with an obvious conclusion, seeing the cars
beauty and skills. This is also highlighted by BMW by showing the M symbol at the bottom
of a black page, a symbol known world-wide by all BMW drivers and car fans in general.
This helps the consumer to associate everything they have seen with the M brand from BMW.
Identification of behavioural approach
We were able to spot two different kinds of approaches in the BMW commercial. The
first kind is the Psychological Approach. This targets the emotional side of its viewers by
giving them a taste of what would actually feel like to drive the M4. This triggers feelings
which may sometimes overwhelm the rational side.
The second approach used by BMW is the Psycho-Social Approach. The professional
driver is anonymous by wearing his mask, thus making it easy for each individual to relate to
him. We have to admit it, most men dream of driving a fast car around the track. The business
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man on the other hand is very individualised. We consider him to be an aspiration due to his
good looks, elegance and maybe success. After all, he is driving a 120.000 EUR car.
Description of the audience and the marketing target
The powerful message sent by BMW targets the upper class of the society, as well as
the truly passionate one. The characters behind the wheel show exactly what they target, but
at the same time are figures to which people can aspire: either a successful business man, or a
talented professional driver.
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Works cited
Emotional Appeal: Definition & Examples. [ONLINE] Available at: http://study.com/
academy/lesson/emotional-appeal-definition-examples-quiz.html . [Accessed 19 April 2016].
Jeremy Bradley and Demand Media. What Is Rational Appeal in Advertising? [ONLINE]
Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/rational-appeal-advertising-59886.html .
[Accessed 19 April 2016].
John Williams. The Basics of Branding. [ONLINE] Available at: https://
www.entrepreneur.com/article/77408 . [Accessed 19 April 2016].
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., 2014. Principles of Marketing. Pearson
Youtube. [ONLINE] Available at: www.youtube.com . [Accessed 19 April 2016].
2016. BMW group profile. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bmwgroup.com/en/
company/company-portrait.html . [Accessed 19 April 2016].
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