Check My Machine

BMW's latest method of communication has been extended to the production of music videos. This edition to the world number one premium car manufacturer's communications portfolio, follows from their revolutionary series of short films, 'The Hire'. BMW are not the only premium car company to make use of visual and audio technology, their competitors Audi also use their television channel, Audi TV to communicate its brand message. Whilst Mercedes and Jaguar also have 'TV' on YouTube, featuring their latest commercial adverts.

Although I initially felt that the 'Check My Machine' communications strategy had a striking resemblance to the BMW film strategy, my suspicions turned out to be false once I watched the video. The main difference with the two concepts, even though both employ the video format, is in the acoustics of the videos themselves. Both videos make use of images of BMW's, however the sound generated from the 'music video', is a compilation of the noises made by the car itself while being manufactured, on the assembly line.

The use of the assembly line in car advertising has been about since the seventies when televisions became available to masses of people, however the artists behind this concept have given this tried and tested method and innovative twist.

The video films the different stages of manufacturing the up and coming 1-series. If you watch the video, you will notice the sounds are a mixture of seat belts, indicators, the sat nav voice, doors closing and alarms going off. Altogether, it is quite amazing.

By the end of the video, my appreciation for the new 1-series was also increased, proving that this method of communication is successful. [Hopefully I will be lucky and get to see it in the metal at this years Frankfurt motor show.]

The film was made by two German artists, Jonas Imbery and Mirko Borsche. They both felt that the music could be played in clubs across the world whilst being artistically challenging. The idea behind the concept is certainly ingenious and may provide inspiration for other artists and DJs.

How BMW chose to deploy this communication method shall be interesting. At the moment, it appears just to be on YouTube, I am curious as to what other avenues they decide to go down with this idea. Furthermore, can we expect more music videos from BMW, like we had a full series of 'The Hire'?

Let me know what you think of the video and this new method BMW are using.