BMW UK

The Objective

BMW is known world-wide for its innovative and industry-leading motor vehicles – it needs no introduction. It’s objective was to drive mass brand awareness with a new, younger audience on TikTok.

The Solution

Led by Creative Lab, whose mission is to help key brands and agencies create best in class work on TikTok, the solution intelligently weaved the features of BMW’s latest 1 Series in with visuals of two Team GB athletes – a gymnast (Joe Fraser) and BMX’er (Chaz Worther). The campaign, referring to the 1 Series as ‘The 1’, sought to bring to life BMW UK’s core value, aligned with the passions of both Joe and Chaz. The two backflipped and wheelied their way around the car, whilst showing innovative features like the optional parking assistance and gesture control through clever edits.

BMW UK used two of TikTok’s most effective branded solutions for driving high levels of exposure and engagement to bring this concept to life; TopView and In-Feed Ads. TopView ads display as soon as the app is opened, full screen and with sound on. It’s an ad format that truly sings and is completely unmissable. On the other end of the spectrum are In-Feed Ads – masters of disguise and brilliantly engaging. This is because they sit natively in the For You feed, running alongside the content a user would normally see. Combine both and you have a mix of organic engagement and huge, impactful awareness – the perfect mix for a brand like BMW UK.

The Results

The campaign was a resounding success, pulling in a stunning 27 million impressions overall and a 16.08% click-through rate, showing just how powerful expertly crafted creative can be at funneling new users in. It was also cost efficient, whilst growing BMW UK’s ad recall by 10.7%. Users watched and they remembered – and who wouldn’t when an ad is as captivating as that.

Fiona Jones, Brand Communications Manager at BMW UK, said, “We wanted to test TikTok with a native, platform-first approach. Our objective was simple; drive brand awareness amongst a new younger audience. We worked closely with TikTok's Creative Lab to develop a campaign that used creators from Team GB performing stunts and tricks around our latest BMW 1 Series.. It's been great to see the campaign perform so well and we were particularly pleased to be not only the first automotive brand in the UK to run a Brand Lift Study but also the first automotive brand, globally, to have made and run bespoke creative in partnership with Creative Lab.'”