BMW OF NORTH AMERICA
BMW of North America drove a 36% increase in unique reach during a key vehicle launch by running different creator-built video ads in Instagram and Facebook placements, including Reels, alongside its usual ad creative.
Established in 1975, BMW of North America, LLC, imports, manufactures, markets and sells luxury motor vehicles. Its corporate headquarters is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. BMW of North America is a subsidiary of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, headquartered in Munich, Germany.
increase in unique reach by adding creator assets to the campaign
lower creative similarity score than previous launch that did not use creators
more efficient cost per action for BMW's priority website actions1 with creator assets and standard brand assets combined versus standard brand assets alone
BMW of North America wanted to reach new audiences and boost awareness about the relaunch of its X5 and X6 mid-size luxury sports utility vehicle (SUV) models.
THE SOLUTION
Testing Reels creative
Automotive manufacturers can struggle to differentiate their ad creative from the "sea of sameness," as ads from different advertisers can look quite similar. One way to avoid viewer fatigue is to optimize ad creative specifically for social-first placements like Reels.
Curious about how best to build ad creative for Reels, BMW of North America partnered with Meta for guidance. The team at Meta advised shooting creative in the “language” of Reels, which means videos that are:
- entertaining and use a mix of visual effects, music or storytelling
- easy to understand and rewarding to watch
- relatable for the intended audience, unpolished and spontaneous
The Meta team also advised finding content creators to shoot unique creative that is complementary to—but different from—BMW of North America’s usual digital assets that are cut down from TV ads.
THE CREATIVE
Tapping the right creators
BMW of North America’s media agency, Universal McCann, and influencer agency Popular Pays by Lightricks selected the creators and developed the test-and-learn approach. BMW of North America’s creative agency, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, provided profiles of each car model and the target audiences to help with the creator selection and briefs. BMW’s post-production and creative agility partner, Shuttlerock, adapted the creator assets to fit all placements.
The X5 model profile is that it’s a versatile vehicle for any occasion—from classy date nights to rugged last-minute getaways—and comes equipped with technology that recognizes different driver needs. The teams chose creator Phil Cohen because of his advanced editing skills and ability to show the model’s versatility in a fresh way. The X6 is promoted as a stylish, high-performance model for people who like to stand out from the crowd. Creator Drex Lee was chosen for his ability to highlight these attributes and showcase the vehicle’s features in a captivating way.
BMW of North America delivered all ads to a chosen audience of high-value luxury vehicle shoppers in Feed, Stories and Reels. To understand how well the new creative performed, BMW of North America ran multi-cell measurement studies that compared:
- Cell 1: its usual ads without creators
- Cell 2: its usual ads plus creator-built video ads with an organic Reels style (for example, using the Reels font)
- Cell 3: its usual ads plus creator-built video ads with added upfront branding and text overlays
BMW of North America determined the results of its May 17–July 3, 2023 campaign using multi-cell Meta brand lift and conversion lift studies and reporting data from Meta Ads Manager, which together revealed:
- 36% increase in unique reach by adding creator assets to the campaign
- 37% lower creative similarity score than previous launch that did not use creators
- 20% more efficient cost per action for BMW's priority website actions (build your own vehicle, find a dealer, submit a lead) with combined creator assets and standard brand assets versus standard brand assets alone