2015 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

The Media Stunt ran for 8 consecutive days, alternating between designated areas. Drivers and Passers-by turned heads and reacted to the sound, which led them to the BMW reveal on the RoarBoards. Some BMW enthusiasts even emailed the Client congratulating them. This reflected on Showroom traffic, which saw an approximate 50% increase in footfall between November 10 and 21, and more than 300 visitors in a week. Reservations of BMW cars upped 30% that same month. The Campaign isn’t over: in January 2015, BMW shared the documentation videos on its social media. The number of views are growing exponentially, and bloggers are writing about it.

Creative Execution

When our Creative Agency first pitched the idea of adding sound to billboards and synching OOH visuals with it on more than one LED at each location, we faced opposition. Such a first-time campaign required getting municipality permits and getting different media suppliers to team up. Something not many were ready to do. The Media Agency identified the high traffic intersections in Beirut area - allowing us to book multiple LEDs covering multiple angles - and facilitated our contact with the final media suppliers. We briefed them on the synching required between the BMW ads so that they appear together on the Billboards, while we handled Permits and Sound installation. We also had Cameras on various angles recording people’s reactions, and our team was on the ground making sure the RoarBoards took over every intersection. The videos were to be used on Social Media to expand on word-of-mouth.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The challenge was to promote “Fascination Days” at the BMW showrooms and encourage test drives during the busiest quarter of the year for automotive advertising. Given that the target audience was the mass, we decided to focus on a medium that addresses the mass where they actually experience cars: The streets. Hence the focus on Outdoor as a medium. BMW cars in Lebanon are synonymous with raw, unadulterated power. And a powerful car on the road always turns heads, quite particularly in Beirut where people love to see and be seen. The idea was to remind the Lebanese audience of BMW’s Sheer Driving Pleasure. BMW’s signature muffler sound took over some of Beirut’s busiest intersections where we outfitted LED-boards with a component that billboards lacked: sound. Our ROARboards were equipped with 700Watt speakers that blasted BMW’s signature engine rev. And every time the audio turned on, so did the billboards.