BMW has a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Coachella, one of the most influential music festivals in the world. Through the sponsorship, BMW became the official mobility partner of the festival, but had to create their own campaign outside of the festival footprint. The Coachella audience is notorious for rejecting traditional brand sponsorships and blasting inauthentic campaigns.

So how could we help BMW reach a festival’s fickle international audience and leverage a local sponsorship without being at the festival itself?

Our objective was to connect with Coachella fans at the festival and those tuning in via social media internationally, turning a localized sponsorship into an international story and making BMW an active participant rather than a passive sponsor.

This campaign celebrated what the previously untapped journey to Coachella looks like for fans and artists, turning the anticipation and lead-up to the festival into a co-branded celebrated experience. Along with RCA records, we partnered with headlining festival performer Khalid to focus on what his Road to Coachella looks like while also capitalizing on and building around his album release. Through this unique cross-promotion, original content, integration of Khalid’s album art, partnerships with a team of international influencers, and local experiences, we were able to expand BMW’s messaging to reach people all over the world during this holistic campaign, all without stepping foot in the festival. Whether people were going to Coachella and seeing the wrapped vehicles, attending the Pit Stop, or watching from home and engaging in social conversations around the festival, the campaign reached tens-of-millions of people and created a connection amongst fans all over the world.

To speak to Coachella fans at the festival and beyond, we needed to identify and partner with an artist we anticipated would be a festival highlight, a year before the festival. Khalid’s audience represented the next generation of Coachella with a diverse fanbase growing rapidly.

With BMW, we centered the campaign and content around the release of Khalid’s new album, Free Spirit, which dropped days before Coachella. This gave us the opportunity to incorporate elements of his album art and assets throughout the campaign providing for key cross-promotional success, in addition to media attention.

We partnered with 30+ international influencers who spoke to our target demographic and were aligned with Khalid’s brand to drive messaging and flood social media internationally.

A live experiential activation with the Khalid x BMW Pit Stop brought fans together on their journey with exclusive merch, photo ops, and even meeting the star, completed the experience.

BMW announced Khalid as the campaign’s featured artist weeks ahead of the festival. Co-creating each aspect with Khalid, we debuted a custom-designed car inspired by the album and his journey, promoting the campaign through engaging original content. Fans and media went crazy.

We then partnered with iHeartMedia for an on-air sweepstakes where two lucky fans could join Khalid on his Road to Coachella.

With BMW, we teamed up with 30+ international influencers who shared their road trip in our fleet of custom-wrapped BMWs via social media content, garnering tens-of-millions of impressions. We also curated a road trip for select influencers, including meals with brand executives, guided drives, and a trip to the Khalid x BMW Pit Stop.

The co-branded Pit Stop experience brought fans together featuring an exclusive merch shop, games, free co-branded custom bandanas, social filters, a meet-and-greet with Khalid, and billboards along the main road to the festival.

Along with BMW and RCA Records, we extended the festival by transforming the physical journey into a universally-shared experience.

- Reached 1 billion+ people

- Over 20% more social reach than the 2018 campaign

- Dozens of celebrity publications featured stars and influencers seen in the wrapped BMWs

- Global outlets like Forbes and Billboard used the campaign as a case study of how brands should effectively engage with festival audiences

- W`e succeeded in anticipating, identifying, and partnering with a rising star and festival highlight.

During the campaign:

- Khalid became the #1 streaming artist in the world with the album Free Spirit debuting #1 in the US while Khalid was at the Pit Stop

- Khalid became the first and only artist to occupy the entire Top 5 of the Billboard R&B Songs chart

- Khalid became the youngest artist in history to sell 74.5 million US units