The beginning of 2021 didn’t look good for the events industry. The cancellation of Oktoberfest, further waves, borders closing. No one knew if the IAA, the brands most important physical event in 2021, could go ahead. Even if it did, what would that look like?

BMW sought out a solution for future events to not only feed users’ demands for deeper, more meaningful and individualized experiences in the digital space, but also a way to showcase and deliver the brands key topics.

The beginning of 2021 didn’t look good for the events industry. The cancellation of Oktoberfest, further waves, borders closing. No one knew if the IAA would go ahead and even if it did, what would it look like?

These limitations pushed BMW to pursue a limitless alternative. Instead of staying home, what if BMW could take everyone out, out of this world? With a global, virtual, event that everyone could be a part of.

Visit Joytopia, a brand entertainment metaverse where BMW thinks out loud about the future. A virtual world experience that transforms their digital presence and invites you to Reimagine Today.

With a completely circular vision at the centre of the story, reality as we know it was fully thrown into question. What if you could fall up instead of down? Could circles be more circular? How would you like to fly inside a car?

Responding to the demand from our customers for individualised experiences, the platform acts not as a translation of on-site activations, but as a unique event that lives first and foremost in the digital sphere.

We need to hand the power over to the user, giving every visitor a personalised experience unique to them, based on; their journey, their interactions, their curiosities.

Both visitors, journalists and target groups that never thought of visiting a mobility fair should connect with the brand stories that engage them, explore the spaces that excite them and take what they wanted from the world.

We address them by creating exclusive moments delivered on a highly accessible platform. Content brought by brand ambassadors, creators and artists should lead users directly from social media assets to a web-based environment playable on every device.

Launched at the IAA, Joytopia builds above and beyond BMW’s physical presence. Responding to the demand from our customers for individualised experiences, the platform acts not as a translation of any on-site activations, but as a unique event that lives first and foremost in the digital sphere.

Joytopia is home to a series of islands, RE:THINK, RE:IMAGINE and RE:BIRTH. Each exploring different themes central to BMW’s visions for the future, including topics such as; Circularity, Electro-Mobility, Urban Mobility and Sustainability. With an exclusive performance from Coldplay and Christoph Waltz as a narrator the different environments let visitors explore BMW’s future, while offering a myriad of entertainment and installations filled with stories.

As an artful, lively and hyper-real world, not mimicking physical brand spaces or any real-world place. The platform's appearance creates a unique view of BMW's future topics. From worlds that were inspired and built from textures of circular materials, to surreal environments that exaggerate the brand’s products.

Joytopia was built as a web-based cloud-streaming platform on the Unreal Engine, democratising access to the IAA by inviting everyone on any device.

The platform was opened from September 5 to 12, launching with an exclusive Coldplay performance on September 5.?

People from over 30 countries couldn’t wait to get in, and some couldn’t get in at all as they took to social media to share their desperation. In the first 24 hours, 152,000 people explored Joytopia. The average time spent in Joytopia was a whopping 12 minutes and 53 seconds, yes longer than it takes to cook a pizza. And the love on TikTok was big too, reaching 48.2 Mil. with all Joytopia contents.