The nameless transporter

As much we love the automobile industry for their beastly engines and smart technologies, we constantly criticise and praise their top-notch advertisements. That is the beauty; they are either too good or too bland, nothing in grey.

At a point in time when most automobile brands were flaunting their looks, showing-off their curves and boasting their ultramodern technologies, one brand decided to do something dangerous to their product and film it.

Remember how Jason Statham shook the Hollywood industry in ‘Transporter’, back in 2002? But there was someone else who had conceptualised a similar series, if only better, way back in 2000.

The then Vice President of BMW, Jim McDowell, along with his team had commissioned the idea of producing and marketing a web series, centredon a transporter, in 2000. Titled ‘The Hire’, the web series is a set of short films that not only changed the way marketers perceived product advertising, but was also the first campaign ever to win a Titanium Lion at Cannes.

Across the series, the nameless dude transported people and highly confidential consignments in his BMW. Drawing sturdy insights and developing content for a generation that is captivated by movies like ‘Mission Impossible’ was the first line of the big, outrageous series.

Believing in an extremely radical idea from the contemporary standpoint and sticking by it, was a big deal for the German automobile giant. The company not only believed in the idea, but also shelled out over seventeen million dollars and produced the content under their proprietary production BMW Films.

With some of the most renowned storytellers of that time on-board (Ang Lee and John Frankenheimer), ‘The Hire’ stands a signature in branded content. It is not just the idea and script of the film that was unique, but also its distribution and market penetration. Unlike the late 20th century and the just-started 21st century way of blasting content through television, ‘The Hire’ capitalised on the power and potential of the internet, before it became obvious.

BMW knew how three quarters of its consumers were already visiting the brand’s website; BMW chose to make the video online-exclusive. Now imagine people downloading these videos, and watching them in 2001. Yes, it took hours together, for one episode (approximately 7 minutes) to be downloaded and watched, and then suggest friends to do the same.

All this, four years before YouTube even came into being. The idea resonated with the target; we discussed the achievements already. ‘The Hire’ is not just a testimony to prove that believing in an idea and exploiting channels before it becomes mainstream can widen the orbits of a campaigns success, but also proves that if content, in any form, is truly mesmerising, and has a strong connect, it will spread among the target group, breaking all the barriers.