2022 was BMW M’s 50th anniversary. It was also the year where BMW was introducing more “M powered” versions of their regular cars. This made BMW M more accessible to a wider target. But this also meant it is time to get closer to the mass audiences, to enlarge the fan base, to make more people aware of and fall in love with the brand. Thus, the brief was for the 50th anniversary, beyond all the brand communication, how can we build the value of the M badge and enlarge the community of M lovers?

BMW M badge has a distinctive logo, color pattern and three stripes. This badge is beloved because it symbolizes performance, power, and Ultimate Driving Machine. In China, M cars are still rare. But it’s very easy to find people who love BMW M but don’t own one. They are the ones who are sticking M badges on their cars or decorating them with M tricolor. While some call this “fake badging”, we call this love. No matter what they drive, they share BMW M spirits.

We welcome these fans into BMW M community with a video acknowledging and thanking them for their love. We used organic footages found on the street and made an emotional interpretation of the brand message “We Are M”. And then we engaged more with the community by creating a website where fans can learn about authentic M designs and decorate their own cars with them.

For this campaign, we needed to completely break our usual way of talking about BMW M. Traditionally, we target purchase intenders who want to know about the car’s performance. So, we show the car’s speed, maneuverability, and racing thrill. But the “We Are M” campaign had a completely different purpose. We wanted to target a bigger audience than just owners. We wanted to acknowledge and thank everyone who shares the M spirit. No screeching tires, no hairpin curves –we wanted to tell a love story and we want the community feel related and spread the love.

For BMW M’s 50th anniversary, we first made a video welcoming BMW M lovers made of authentic photos and footages of cars with unofficial M decorations, gathered from social media and fans. Then we composed a love song to emphasize that this is an embrace, a “thank you”, not an accusation. Since this was a campaign for community, we let the community release it. The video was given exclusively to BMW’s passionate fans to share. “We Are M” didn’t appear on any official channels – it was a gift owned and shared by the community. BMW M fans reposted the video on China’s major social media platforms, including Tiktok, Weibo, Wechat, RED and Bilibili. After the video, we released a website where fans could learn more about M heritage designs and decorate their car with them. Fans could download and share their “Ultimate Driving Machine” Audis, Buicks and Volvos.

The campaign was only released by the community. The video did not appear on any official channels nor was there any media spend. Nonetheless, it achieved:

- 33.8M impressions

- 6.5M video views

- 40k engagement

More importantly, we got a very passionate response from the community. Fans resonated with the video’s inclusive message saying, “Everyone is a BMW M fan in their hearts” and “Happy to get love from my dream car”. Some commented on BMW’s bravery, saying "This boldness is what makes BMW M so legendary". Finally, many showed their undying love, saying "Proud to be an M owner", "Another emotional experience with BMW M" and "M power forever!". With the website, fans’ imaginations went wild. Some printed the M designs and stuck to their real cars! And fans even went beyond the campaign, customizing BMW M cars in video games and using AI to re-imagine M cars.