For 35 years, influential artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein have embellished BMWs with their personal creative visions. Last November we wrote the next chapter in BMW's rich art history. Emerging artist Robin Rhode was commissioned to create an abstract painting that captures the joy of driving the new BMW Z4 using the Roadster itself as his paintbrush. This massive painting took seven hours to complete and required 40 HD cameras to document. The footage was then edited into various films — including this two-minute cinema commercial — to officially launch the 2009 BMW Z4 to the world.

The campaign officially launched November 2008, when artist Robin Rhode created an abstract painting the size of a football field using the Z4 as his paintbrush. We invited world press, art journalists and influential bloggers to attend, and following the event, news stories spread of the Z4 and this ambitious painting. Forty HD cameras documented the creation, and that footage was edited into various films for TV, cinema, video sharing sites, PR and internet. Several photographers were on hand, and their images were used for print, outdoor, cinema posters and internet. A documentary was filmed for Discovery Channel covering the entire project from start to finish. To unveil the campaign, we held a public art exhibition at Grand Central Station showcasing the painting and the paint-splattered Z4. We then launched our microsite — ExpressionOfJoy.com — and our iPhone app that allowed users to create their own painting driving the Z4.

Overall media impressions for this campaign: 296 million.It has been covered by The New York Times, USA Today, CBS Early Morning, ABC News, Vanity Fair, Art in America, Art News, Discovery Channel, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg.com, Wallpaper, Auto Channel and hundreds of blogs.

And while the Z4 doesn’t officially go on sale until May, pre-sale figures have exceeded expectations and the campaign has already generated more sales leads than there are Z4s available.